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Isn't it hard to say what the best Nam flick is?

downtownrobbrowndowntownrobbrown 446 Posts
edited July 2012 in Strut Central
But most Vets will tell you Deer Hunter which I can back. Still Apocalypse Now has so many layers and kills on Blu Ray. What kind of movie begins on "The End".

Your thoughts?

Side Note: Is that Dennis Hopper's best role? Is he even acting?
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  • phatmoneysackphatmoneysack Melbourne 1,124 Posts
    the great thing about Nam movie genre is that many of them took place after the war was over and focused on POWs, secret missions and whatnot.

    these ones get an honorable mention from me:

    The Killing Fields (Related)


    Eastern Condors


    Platoon
  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    I'm sorry but I can't back the Killing Fields. It's a typical mighty whitey having to save the colored people movies. The best part is when the Cambodian journalist is in the Khmer Rouge camp, which unfortunately is only about 10-15 minutes long.
  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    Instead of the Killing Fields I would submit Full Metal Jacket
  • BallzDeepBallzDeep 612 Posts
    Lee Donowitz's Coming Home In A Body Bag
  • leonleon 883 Posts
    That's True Romance related right?
    For me Apocalypse now (redux!) transcends the genre and is a top ten movie overall.
  • tabiratabira 856 Posts
    downtownrobbrown said:
    But most Vets will tell you Deer Hunter which I can back.

    Completely. Like with coming home it tells the story on the front and back home
  • FrankFrank 2,379 Posts
    downtownrobbrown said:
    But most Vets will tell you Deer Hunter which I can back. Still Apocalypse Now has so many layers and kills on Blu Ray. What kind of movie begins on "The End".

    Your thoughts?

    Side Note: Is that Dennis Hopper's best role? Is he even acting?

    I like Deer Hunter although some argue that it's pretentious, boring and racist in its portrayal of the Vietcong. There's also not a single documented case where captured Americans were forced to engage in a game of Russian Roulette.

    The ten best Vietnam movies are Apocalypse Now.

    Dennis Hopper, at his own admission, was rarely acting in any of his 60s-70s features. All he did was be Dennis Hopper and be high as fuck. His best "acting" (and directing) by far though is in Out Of The Blue which together with Apocalypse Now is far up in my all-time, all-genre top ten.
  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    The Killing Fields isn't about Vietnam, though... Apocalypse Now gets my vote.
  • PunditPundit 438 Posts
    BallzDeep said:
    Lee Donowitz's Coming Home In A Body Bag

    a great fuckin movie
  • BallzDeepBallzDeep 612 Posts
    Frank said:


    There's also not a single documented case where captured Americans were forced to engage in a game of Russian Roulette.

    What does this have to do with anything?
    Did someone say they were?
    Pretty sure there's one or two documented cases where GIs were tortured, though. In probably worse ways.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Birdy

    I gotta see Off Limits again. I cant recall it that well seeing it the theatre.
  • OligeeOligee 289 Posts
    Excellent thread.
    The Fog of War is a great doc narrated by defense minister Robert McNamara. A good portion of it is about what was going in internally within the government during the time.

  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,794 Posts
    Does Jacob's Ladder count?



    My dad lied about his age and joined up at 17, went straight to Vietnam. He said that some of the scenes in Forest Gump were really good, particularly the way it started raining for months, not a single sight of the Viet Cong, then the rain stopped abruptly only for the jungle to start firing at you. Then panic, and entire mountainsides napalmed for what might've been one sniper. He said it was more realistic than any of the "serious" Vietnam war films from the '70s-'80s that he'd seen.
    The US military was a massive fucking joke in his eyes, corrupt as hell, buying heroin from the enemy.

    Reagrding Deer Hunter (returning home angle), I was surprised when he described getting back to the US to be despised for something he'd done to escape poverty.
  • tabiratabira 856 Posts
    Duderonomy said:
    Does Jacob's Ladder count?

    Reagrding Deer Hunter (returning home angle), I was surprised when he described getting back to the US to be despised for something he'd done to escape poverty.

    reminds me of a scene from Electra Glide in Blue where the cop pulls overs a truck driver and discovers that he is a recently discharged vet like him. he says something to the effect of ....

    "look buddy I'm going to do for you what they did for me when I got back from nam"
    "Yeah? thanks man, appreciated....what's that?"
    "Nothing. Absolutely nothing, now show me your license!"

  • youngEINSTEINyoungEINSTEIN 2,443 Posts
    my dad is a viet nam vet(marines), we went to see the deer hunter when it came out. he said it was the truth.

    peace, stein. . .
  • tabiratabira 856 Posts
    The roulette scene is also a fucking good metaphor for the lottery of the war. In jungle war, any one could have been picked out at any time. It must have felt like that permanently. It has to be one of the single most powerful scenes in movie history ever. Your stomach is knots until they finally break out and it's like a "Whoooosh" of adrenalin. Debating whether it happened or not is legitimate for reasons of historical accuracy I guess but cinematographically it doesn't alter the power of that scene and the sheer horror it conveys.
  • BallzDeepBallzDeep 612 Posts
    tabira said:
    The roulette scene is also a fucking good metaphor for the lottery of the war. In jungle war, any one could have been picked out at any time. It must have felt like that permanently. It has to be one of the single most powerful scenes in movie history ever. Your stomach is knots until they finally break out and it's like a "Whoooosh" of adrenalin. Debating whether it happened or not is legitimate for reasons of historical accuracy I guess but cinematographically it doesn't alter the power of that scene and the sheer horror it conveys.

    historical accuracy shmistorical accuracy.
    should we call into question every scene from every movie about a historic event then?

    DOES THERE EXIST ONE DOCUMENTED CASE OF A MARINE DRILL INSTRUCTOR DISCOVERING A JELLY DOUGHNUT IN A RECRUITS FOOT LOCKER?
    NO?
    I'M OUTRAGED.

    ;-P

    good post, i like your metaphor idea.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Some favorites:

    We Were Soldiers.

    Bat 21.

    Go Tell the Spartans.

    The Boys in Company C.

    Tribes.
  • badder_than_evilbadder_than_evil 951 Posts
    batmon said:
    Birdy

    I gotta see Off Limits again. I cant recall it that well seeing it the theatre.



    Wow - You must be the first person I know of that rates Birdy highly like myself.
    Modine was superb in that.
  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    badder_than_evil said:
    batmon said:
    Birdy

    I gotta see Off Limits again. I cant recall it that well seeing it the theatre.



    Wow - You must be the first person I know of that rates Birdy highly like myself.
    Modine was superb in that.

    So long since I've seen this but cosign on a great movie.
  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,783 Posts
    BallzDeep said:
    Lee Donowitz's Coming Home In A Body Bag

    Lee, I'm not satisfied until the spoon stands straight up
  • downtownrobbrowndowntownrobbrown 446 Posts
    I TREATED YOU LIKE A SON!
  • rootlesscosmorootlesscosmo 12,848 Posts
    NerdAlert said:
    Excellent thread.
    The Fog of War is a great doc narrated by defense minister Robert McNamara. A good portion of it is about what was going in internally within the government during the time.


    visually this movie was kinda cool, but it was not informative at all IMO. very confusing; maybe that was on purpose.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    badder_than_evil said:
    batmon said:
    Birdy.

    Wow - You must be the first person I know of that rates Birdy highly like myself.
    Modine was superb in that.

    Modine killed it and Cage was still in his good stage.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    motown67 said:
    I would submit Full Metal Jacket

    Apocalypse Now aside, I'd put this up there with Deer Hunter as contending for second place.
  • ketanketan Warmly booming riffs 3,180 Posts
    DB_Cooper said:
    motown67 said:
    I would submit Full Metal Jacket

    Apocalypse Now aside, I'd put this up there with Deer Hunter as contending for second place.

    I agree.

    Haven't seen Birdy. Just checked out the trailer and it looks heavy, but I don't expect it to be better than AN as a whole.



    edit: the amazing thing about AN is that it works whether you've read 'heart of darkness' or not. (though reading the book does make it better.)
  • BeatChemistBeatChemist 1,465 Posts
    NerdAlert said:
    Excellent thread.
    The Fog of War is a great doc narrated by defense minister Robert McNamara. A good portion of it is about what was going in internally within the government during the time.


    Just wanted to cosign the Fog Of War doc. Watched that a few times and it's interesting each time. McNamara makes for an interesting subject with a great perspective into the complexities of war.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Full Metal Jacket is an adaptation of this book...



    Blended with elements from this book...

  • BallzDeepBallzDeep 612 Posts
    Never read the Nam book, any good?
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    BallzDeep said:
    Never read the Nam book, any good?

    Yes.

    And might as well read this one with it...

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