A friend of mine and I went out to Chapel Hill for this thing where his history prof held a presentation of the Vietnam War, and about 11 vets came on stage and answered questions from the students. He and I were going to study for an Arabic project afterwards but we got caught up in the presentation and the dinner afterwards where we got to talk with the vets one-on-one, which was interesting.

One thing I remembered from that night was that they all agreed that We Were Soldiers is the most accurate movie they've seen about the war.

What do you think?

6/8/2006 6:30:05 AM

most accurate, or best in your opinion ... cause i dont think anyone on here can speak from experience about Nam'

6/8/2006 7:08:47 AM

I know the worst is Apocalypse Now.


Yep, flame away at me

6/8/2006 7:33:00 AM

I'd like to see what people think is an accurate movie according to what they know about the war. I know, I'm a history major, blah blah blah, but I'm sure there's others out there that have an opinion on this. I just get tired of seeing a movie, thinking Hey, that's gotta be close to what happened, and then seeing my dad throw his hands up with some type of guffaw and pick the newspaper back up.

6/8/2006 7:53:40 AM

Good Morning, Vietnam.

6/8/2006 8:23:03 AM

Hamburger Hill is a good one

6/8/2006 8:24:48 AM

uhhh....forrest gump....duh

6/8/2006 8:56:43 AM

Lewtennint DAAAAYYYYNNNNN!

6/8/2006 9:01:24 AM

Quote :

"Good Morning, Vietnam."

I agree

[Edited on June 8, 2006 at 9:10 AM. Reason : lol]

6/8/2006 9:10:46 AM

this thread title is extremely misleading

you say you want the "best" and then you name we were soldiers

6/8/2006 9:41:30 AM

platoon...but vietnam is gay. WORLD WAR II is where its at

6/8/2006 10:03:29 AM

Born on the Fourth of July was good.

6/8/2006 11:47:56 AM

Apocalypse Now. Not the most accurate, I guess, but the best (that I've seen). One of the best movies ever made, war or not.


p.s. How many Vietnam vets does it take to change a lightbulb? YOU WOULDN'T KNOW MAN, YOU WEREN'T THERE!!!

6/8/2006 11:51:12 AM

Platoon/Apocalpyse Now

6/8/2006 11:58:38 AM

Apocalypse Now was fantastic in my opinion, artistically. I feel ashamed that I don't own a copy.

OH yeah, I'm broke. >.<

6/8/2006 12:05:14 PM

Apocalypse Now > Full Metal Jacket > Platoon >>>>> Any other Vietnam movie

Two excellent directors and one who is above average

6/8/2006 12:34:39 PM

very surprised no one has said Deer Hunter

[Edited on June 8, 2006 at 12:36 PM. Reason : ]

6/8/2006 12:36:14 PM

DI DI MAO!

6/8/2006 12:56:54 PM

WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, NUMBNUTS?

6/8/2006 1:26:03 PM

Nothing like the smell of napalm in the morning.

6/8/2006 1:42:53 PM

"Why don't ya tell us about the war man"

"The war in Vietnam?"

"The war in Viet-Fuckin-Nammm!!"

6/8/2006 1:46:16 PM

This thread's a disaster and I'm not helping. >.<

6/8/2006 1:49:40 PM

Quote :

"WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, NUMBNUTS?"

OMG NOOOOOOOOOOOO

That's one of the only parts of that movie I've succeeded in seeing.

6/8/2006 1:52:06 PM

Rushmore

6/8/2006 2:16:54 PM

ah shit i forgot Deer Hunter

For quality it prob goes b/w FMJ and platoon but i liked platoon better.

then again, i watched deer hunter when i was about 16 and my opinion would prob be diff today

6/8/2006 2:40:27 PM

Full Metal Jacket

6/8/2006 4:37:46 PM

I love the FMJ for some strange reason.

6/8/2006 4:49:34 PM

Miss Saigon

6/8/2006 4:51:41 PM

It occurs to me that I see Apocalypse Now in the same way I see The Life Aquatic (though I vastly prefer TLA). They're a mish-mash of some great parts and some mediocre parts that don't work as a whole.

6/8/2006 4:53:35 PM

Quote :

"throw his hands up with some type of guffaw"

. lmao

My dad, who was a vietnam vet, claims WWS to also be the most realistic depiction, and Apocalypse to be the least realistic. But for the record, Apocolypse wasn't meant to be realistic. It was a spinoff of another story (Heart of Darkness) with many exaggerated parts (surfing)

6/8/2006 4:57:26 PM

Exactly

6/8/2006 4:58:13 PM

Apocalypse Now (along with 2001) is probably the most powerful movie ever. (However, I couldn't tell you what exactly 2001 was trying to convey. But it sure as fuck conveyed it.)

Apocalypse Now was a movie about it's own story, that just happened to take place in Vietnam.

My favorite movie about what happened in Vietnam is actually Rambo. And that takes place entirely in America.

6/8/2006 5:20:16 PM

Were you in the shit?
Yeah, I was in the shit.

6/8/2006 5:57:25 PM

hahahaha spookyjon gets it

6/8/2006 6:02:15 PM

We were soilders

6/8/2006 7:05:03 PM

"Beautiful morning, Sergeant!"

"What are you a fucking weatherman now?"

6/8/2006 7:39:56 PM

Apocalypse Now.

6/8/2006 8:14:24 PM

we were soldiers is among the worst vietnam movies i have ever seen.

6/8/2006 8:15:59 PM

jacob's ladder.

jk

6/8/2006 8:17:10 PM

I wanted to see exotic Vietnam... the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill!

6/8/2006 9:37:22 PM

You made me lol and Tony's asleep, dammit.

6/8/2006 9:57:32 PM

it's like you sqeezed the essence of Deliverance into this website or something

6/8/2006 10:24:28 PM

I like Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and The Deer Hunter. But they're good for different reasons. The Deer Hunter takes a very "this is what they did to us" tone to the war. Where as Platoon takes a more "there are no good guys bad guys" approach. I dont mean that certain individuals cant have good intentions, thats obviously not the case with Platoon. Also I am always interested in the movies My Lai (sp?) interpretation. I think Platoon may be one of the most honest approaches, in that it doesnt romanticize the war. Although i would argue that this nonromantic approach is a consistent theme through all vietnam war movies, with the exception of Green Berets and possibly We Were Soldiers. Apocalypse Now is great for a lot of reasons, mostly because of the Dream Like approach it takes. Less realism more surrealism. But i cant forget full metal jacket, its a great movie as well

6/9/2006 10:25:49 PM

Bridge on the River Kwai, bitches. Classic.

6/9/2006 10:39:57 PM

part of dead presidents

6/9/2006 10:51:05 PM

Apocalypse Now, FMJ.

[Edited on June 10, 2006 at 5:15 AM. Reason : sp]

6/10/2006 5:15:02 AM

1. Platoon
2. We Were Soljas! (cue Kellen Winslow pick)
3. FMJ
4/5. Deer Hunter/Apocalypse Now
6-... all others
worst. Green Berets

6/10/2006 8:02:44 AM

Quote :

"Bridge on the River Kwai, bitches. Classic."

wrong war

my favorite is full metal jacket by far, 2nd place probably to Platoon.

i've heard alot of good things about born on the 4th of july though, but i haven't seen it yet.

6/10/2006 6:48:12 PM

FMJ, methinks

6/10/2006 8:41:39 PM

Apocalypse Now simply because it presents the Vietnam War is a clusterfuck where nobody knows what the hell is going on. And that acid-tripping scene.

6/10/2006 9:31:59 PM