Vietnamese War Films
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Director, Francis Ford Coppola. Cast: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Larry Fishburne, Dennis Hopper. Coppola's vision of man's heart of darkness revealed through the peculiar madness of the Vietnam War. 153 min. (2 discs) DVD 139; VHS 999:429
Apocalypse Now Redux 202 min. DVD 942
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
Documentary about the filming of the Vietnam War based motion picture, Apocalypse Now, made by the director's wife, Eleanor Coppola. It's the history of a film beset by physical and personal troubles, such as the destruction of the sets by a hurricane and the heart attack that almost cost the life of one of the stars, Martin Sheen. Includes recent interviews with cast and crew. 96 min. Video/C 4751
Bat*21 (1988)
Directed by Peter Markle. Cast: Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, Jerry Reed. Vietnam, 1968. Based on a true story of a middle-aged air force officer, LTC Iceal Hambleton, who's never seen combat before. He is stranded behind enemy lines and all he can do is wait and hope. Then a voice crackles over his radio, and he has found a friend. 105 min. DVD 4258
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Director: Oliver Stone. Cast: Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Barry, Jerry Levine, Frank Whaley, Caroline Kava, Willem Dafoe. Follows the young Ron Kovic from his days as a zealous teen who eagerly joins up for the Vietnam War, to his return from the war as an embittered veteran, paralyzed from mid-chest down. Chronicles his disillusionment with the country's continued involvement in Vietnam, his physical struggle and his emergence as a brave new voice for thousands of disenchanted vets. 145 min. DVD 769; VHS 999:740
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
A Bright Shining Lie (1998)
Director: Terry George. Cast: Bill Paxton, Amy Madigan, Vivian Wu, Donal Logue, Eric Bogosian, Kurtwood Smith, Robert J. Burke, James Rebhorn, Ed Lauter, Harve Presnell, Pichariva A dramatization based on true events of LTC John Paul Vann and his work as a military and civilian advisor in Vietnam over a ten year period (1962-72). As a military advisor, Vann attempted to fight corruption in the Vietnamese army, recognizing the need to build trust among the Vietnamese peasantry. When his recommendations were ignored by the U.S. military, he exposed falsified battle reports and other deceptions to a New York Times reporter, effectively ending his military career. As the war escalated, however, Vann returned to Vietnam as a civilian advisor under Nixon's "Vietnamization" program, ending as the defacto commander of Vietnamese forces in the successful defense of the Central Highlands during the 1972 Easter Offensive. Based on the book by Neil Sheehan (Main Stack DS558.S471 1988; Moffitt DS558.S47 1988)Videocassette release of the May 30, 1998 television motion picture. 118 min. 999:2689
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
A Case of Honor (1988)
Directed by Eddie Romero. Cast: Timothy Bottoms, John Phillip Law, Nick Nicholson, Robert Marius, Nigel Hogge, Jeff Griffith. Five men escape a Vietnamese POW camp after five years. Hungry, they raid a whorehouse looking for supplies to help them get out of the country -- and run right into a group of Russian soldiers. After agreeing to the pleas of the call girls to take them along on their journey to freedom, the group of refugees fights their way through the unforgiving jungle where they discover an abandoned plane that may just be their salvation...if they can get it working. 82 min. DVD 4397
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Casualties of War (1989)
Director: Brian DePalma; featuring Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, Don Harvey, John C. Reilly, John Leguizamo, Thuy Thu Le. Based on the true story of a squad of soldiers caught in the moral quagmire of wartime Vietnam. Witness to the gang rape and murder of a Vietnamese civilian, Private Ericksson is forced to stand alone against his fellow soldiers and commanding officer Sergeant Meserve in this devastating and unforgettable tale of one man's quest for sanity and justice amidst the chaos of war. Based upon the book by Daniel Lang. 120 min. 999:2689
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Coming Home (1978)
Director: Hal Ashby. Cast: Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern. A sad, poignant love story set against the social upheaval of the Vietnam war. Set in 1968, the story concerns a woman who, while her husband is serving in Vietnam, falls in love with a paraplegic while performing volunteer work at a San Diego veterans hospital. And when, wounded and disillusioned, her husband returns home, they must each grapple with the full impact of a brutal, distant war that has changed their lives forever. 130 min. DVD 8553; vhs 999:1833
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Cutter's Way (1981)
Directed by Ivan Passer. Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Heard, Lisa Eichhorn, Stephen Elliott. Suspectd of murdering a teenage girl, Richard Bone, a laidback Santa Barbara boat salesman and gigolo, turns to his best friend, Alex Cutter, a disabled Vietnam veteran, for help in finding the real killer. But Bone gets more than he bargained for when Cutter instead of contacting the police, tries to blackmail their suspect who violently turns the tables on them. 109 min. DVD 1452
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Dead Presidents (1995)
Directors, Allen & Albert Hughes. Cast: Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, N'Bushe Wright, Freddy Rodriguez, Bokeem Woodbine. On the streets, they call cash dead presidents. And that's just what a Vietnam veteran is after when he returns home from the war, only to find himself drawn into a life of crime. With the aid of his fellow vets he plans the ultimate heist - a daring robbery of an armored car filled with unmarked U.S. currency. 119 min. DVD 1069
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Director: Michael Cimino. Cast: Robert De Niro, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken. Tracks a group of steelworker pals from a Pennsylvania blast furnace to the cool hunting grounds of the Alleghenies to the lethal cauldron of Vietnam. It is a drama of friendship and courage and of what happens to these qualities under stress. 183 min. (2 tapes) DVD 95; VHS 999:708
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Director: Stanley Kubrick. Cast: Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Ermey, Dorian Harewood, Arliss Howard, Kevyn Major Howard, Ed O'Ross. Vietnam War drama which begins with a depiction of the brutality of Marine Corps training and then shifts to Vietnam, focusing mainly on a group of Marines responding to the Tet Offensive of 1968. 117 min. DVD 97; VHS 999:785
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Gardens of Stone (1987)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola. Cast: James Caan, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones, Mary Stuart Masterson, D.B. Sweeney, Dean Stockwell. The elite Old Guard, made up of decorated veterans of Army service, tends Arlington National Cemetery. When a young soldier is assigned to the unit temporarily while training for a tour in Vietnam, two of the Guards help to prepare him for the environment of war, amid protest, uncertainty and violence at home. 111 min. 999:2698
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Go Tell the Spartans (1977)
Director, Ted Post. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Craig Wasson, Jonathan Goldsmith, Joe Unger, Dennis Howard, David Clennon, Evan Kim, Dolph Sweet, Marc Singer. A story about a hard-boiled major in command of a grubby Vietnam outpost in 1964 when the war was still a 'conflict' and American soldiers were merely 'advisors.' Although the action concentrates on a single, obscure incident, the film illuminates a vast landscape of an entire era. 113 min. 999:3214
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
Directed by Barry Levinson. Cast: Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, Tung Thanh Tran, Chintara Sukapatana, Bruno Kirby, Robert Wuhl, Noble Willingham, J.T. Walsh, Richard Edson, Juney Smith, Richard Portnow, Floyd Vivino. Imported by the Army for an early morning radio show in Vietnam, irreverent, nonconformist disc jockey Adrian Cronauer blasts the formerly staid, sanitized airwaves with a constant barrage of rapid-fire humor and the hottest hits from back home. The G.I.'s love him, but the brass is up in arms! Special features: Promotional diary; how the movie came to be; actor improv; music of the movie; origin of the Good Morning Vietnam sign-on; shooting in Thailand; an overview of the film a year later; original theatrical trailer; original theatrical teaser trailer. 121 min.DVD 9184; vhs 999:2601
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Green Berets (1968)
Directors: Ray Kellogg, John Wayne, et al. Cast: John Wayne, David Janssen, Jim Hutton, Aldo Ray, Raymond St. Jacques, Bruce Cabot, Patrick Wayne, Luke Askew. John Wayne leads his elite Special Forces troops, the toughest fighting force on earth, hand-picked and trained for anti-guerilla warfare in Vietnam, against a deadly and determined enemy. The film combines rugged action with spectacular special effects. 142 min. DVD 8972; vhs 999:1157
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Hamburger Hill (1987)
Directed by John Irvin. Cast: Anthony Barrile, Michael Patrick Boatman, Don Cheadle, Michael Dolan, Don James, Dylan McDermott, M.A. Nickles, Harry O'Reilly, Daniel O'Shea, Tim Quill, Tommy Swerdlow, Courtney B. Vance, Steven Weber, Tegan West. Filmed on location in the Philippines and at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Washington D.C. Based on true events, fourteen American soldiers in Vietnam battle for a mud-covered mound of earth in this most realistic portrayal of the Vietnam War. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives for ten days with 70% casualities in this true account of war at its worst, and men at their best. 110 min. DVD 8280
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Hanoi Hilton (1987)
Directed by Lionel Chetwynd. Cast: Michael Moriarty, Jeffrey Jones, Paul Le Mat, Stephen Davies, Lawrence Pressman, Aki Aleong, Gloria Carlin, John Diehl, Rick Fitts, David Soul. Based on true events, this drama focuses on the sufferings, torture and brutal treatment American P.O.W.s had to deal with daily while in North Vietnam's Hoa Lo Prison, the most infamous prisoner of war camp in Hanoi. The film focuses on the resistance the prisoners gave to their captors and the strong bonds formed by the Americans during their captivity. Produced as a tribute to all Americans who served in the Vietnam War. 126 min. 999:3217
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Heaven and Earth (1993)
Director: Oliver Stone. Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Joan Chen, Haing S. Ngor, Hiep Thi Le. The powerful story of an American soldier who fought, a Vietnamese woman who endured, and a love caught up in the explosive wartime upheaval in Vietnam. 142 min. DVD 771; VHS 999:1661
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Heroes from Another Country (Heroes de otra patria) (Puerto Rico, 1998)
Director, Ivan Dariel Ortiz. Cast: Jorge Castillo, Jimmy Navarro, Alba Raquel Barros, Adamari Lopez. An emotional drama about Puerto Rican soldiers in the Vietnam War told through the interconnected stories of Carlos and Raul, a Puerto Rican draftee and his volunteer sargeant; of Carlos' mother and sister in Puerto Rico; and of Esteban, a fellow soldier whose tour of duty ends permitting him to return to Puerto Rico. 83 min. DVD 2708
Credits and other information from Internet Movie Database
Jacobs Ladder (1998)
Directed by Adrian Lyne. Cast: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello. Jacob is a man living in a nightmare. Having survived Vietnam, he's back home in New York City. But memories of both his wartime demons and the accidental death of his son haunt and terrorize him. Jacob's grip on reality begins to slip and only his friend can save him. 116 min. DVD 44
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
The Killing Fields. (1984)
Directed by Roland Joffe. Cast: Sam Waterston, Dr. Haing S. Ngor, Craig T. Nelson, John Malkovich, Athol Fugard. Dith Pran is an aid, translator and friend of two journalists who are covering the war in Cambodia. He saves them from execution but they in turn cannot save him. He is eventually exiled to the labor camps in Cambodia's countryside, where he endures four years of starvation, torture and war before escaping to Thailand. Based on the novel "The Death and Life of Dith Pran" by Sydney Schanberg. 142 min. DVD 6935; vhs 999:762
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Platoon (1986)
Director: Oliver Stone. A young soldier in Vietnam (Sheen) discovers that his enemies are not just the Viet Cong, but fear, physical exhaustion, and anger within himself and others. Based on the first-hand experiences of director Oliver Stone. Oscar nominees Berenger and Dafoe portray sergeants Barnes and Elias; one hard and callous, the other tough yet compassionate. The two sergeants draw a fine line between the war they wage against the enemy and each other, dangerously dividing the loyalties of the platoon. 120 min. DVD 455; VHS 999:805
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Rambo
First Blood (1982)
Directed by Ted Kotcheff; featuring Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Charles Napier, Steven Berkoff, Julia Nickson-Soul. John Rambo, an ex-Green Beret hero and now a peacetime misfit, is haunted by memories of Vietnam. He soon wages his own war against a small-town sheriff who has unfairly jailed and grossly mistreated him. A life or death manhunt ensues in the "jungles" of the Pacific Northwest, where the former soldier uses his old skills to stay alive and outwit his pursuers, which now include the sheriff, his posse, and more than 200 National Guardsmen. Includes the documentary "An American hero's journey: the Rambo trilogy" and short feature "First Blood: a look back" following the feature presentation. Based on a novel by David Morrell. 96 min. 999:2227
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Rambo: First Blood, Part II (1985)
Directed by George P. Cosmatos; featuring Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Brian Dennehy. John Rambo, the ex-Green Beret hero, is recruited for a covert, dangerous mission in Southeast Asia, in order to locate American MIA's. But the soldier is soon deserted in the hostile jungle with only his knife, bow and arrows. With the help of a Vietnamese girl, he vows to bring revenge to all who have become his enemies. Includes the documentary "An American hero's journey: the Rambo trilogy" following the feature presentation. 96 min. 999:2227
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Streamers (1983)
Directed by Robert Altman; cast: Matthew Modine, Michael Wright, Mitchell Lichtenstein, David Alan Grier, George Dzundza, Guy Boyd. Four young recruits and two veterans in an army barracks await the orders that will send them to Vietnam. Threatened and altered by forces beyond their control, herded, confined and stripped of all protective armor, they are driven into a confrontation as violent and psychologically devastating as war itself. 118 min. 999:3177
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Three Seasons (1999)
Directed by Tony Bui. Tells the stories of several people living in or visiting post-war Vietnam, including James Hager (Harvey Keitel), an ex-G.I. searching for the daughter he left behind in the war. 110 min. 999:2389
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Tigerland (2000)
Directed by Joel Schumacher. Cast: Cole Hauser, Thomas Guiry, Russell Richardson, Clifton Collins, Jr., Shea Whigham, Matthew Davis, Colin Farrell. Just released from the base stockade, recruit Roland Bozz joins a platoon of young soldiers preparing to ship out to Vietnam. His independence and outright defiance draw fire from his own men as well as commanding officers. But when the platoon is sent to Tigerland, a hellish training ground, Bozz's leadership and loyalty bring his men together, triggering extraordinary consequences. 101 min. DVD 7458
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Uncommon Valor (1983)
Directed by Ted Kotcheff. Cast: Gene Hackman, Fred Ward, Reb Brown, Randall "Tex" Cobb, Patrick Swayze, Harold Sylvester, Tim Thomerson, Robert Stack. For over ten years, Colonel Jason Rhodes has been living a nightmare searching for his son who is listed as "missing in action" in Vietnam. After useless appeals to the government for information, Rhodes takes matters into his own hands. With financial backing of a Texas oil tycoon and the help of his son's five Marine buddies, Rhodes prepares to carry out a daring mission. After weeks of grueling training, the courageous veterans leave for Laos. The final battle of the Vietnam conflict is about to begin. 105 min. 999:2688
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Vietnam Movies, The Way It Really Was.
Examines how Hollywood once viewed the Vietnam War and how filmmakers see it today. Looks at the new wave of movies that try to tell the story the way it really was by examining such films as "Platoon" and "Hanoi Hilton." Includes interviews with filmmakers, vietnam veterans and war correspondents. A segment from the television program: Nightline, December 19, 1986. 24 min. Video/C 5771
The Walking Dead (1995)
Director: Preston Whitmore. Five young marines leap out of a helicopter and into the unknown. They all joined the marines for different reason, but they find themselves in the same place - bound together in a desperate struggle for survival - lost in a jungle minefield on a suicide mission. 90 min. 999:1313
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
The War at Home (1996)
Directed by Emilio Estevez. Cast: Kathy Bates, Martin Sheen, Kimberly Williams, Emilio Estevez, Carla Gugino, Lane Smith. Estevez plays a returning Vietnam War hero whose haunting experiences leave him unable to adjust to the quiet reality of small town America. At odds with his domineering father, his desperately cheerful mother and free-spirited sister, tensions at home soon escalate, finally reaching the breaking point one fateful Thanksgiving Day. 123 min. 999:3212
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
We Were Soldiers (2002)
Directed by Randall Wallace. Cast: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Chris Klein, Keri Russell, Barry Pepper, Don Duong, Ryan Hurst. Lt. Col. Hal Moore is the commander of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry. As part of the Pleiku Campaign of late 1965, Moore is assigned to action at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, an area known to be overrun by North Vietnamese troops and nicknamed "The Valley of Death." Moore soon finds himself and his men contained to an area about the size of a football field, surrounded by more than 2,000 enemy troops and engaged in the first major battle of the war. Heroism becomes the order of the day as the men refuse to yield, in spite of heavy losses of life. 138 min. DVD 1317
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine
Who'll Stop the Rain (1978)
Directed by Karel Reisz. Cast: Nick Nolte, Tuesday Weld, Michael Moriarty, Anthony Zerbe. An anti-social ex-marine agrees to bring heroin back to the States from Saigon during the Vietnam War and deliver it to an apartment in Oakland and discovers that he, his friend and his wife have been set up. 126 min. DVD 2817
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Kinney, Judy Lee. "The mythical method: fictionalizing the Vietnam War." Wide Angle Vol VII nr 4 (1985); p 35-40
Roginski, E. "Who'll stop the rain?" Film Quarterly Vol XXXII nr 2 (Winter 1978-79); p 57-61
|
The History of the Cold war: A Comparative Perspective 
