My dad was a Vietnam vet. My brother and I saw this in the theater when it was released. We were in our mid/late teens and left the theater trembling and in tears. The film had a very divided reaction from the Vietnam veteran community. Ironically the ones who criticized it were largely unaware that Stone served two tours (he volunteered) in combat and was decorated for bravery. I've spoken to many vets who hated it when it came out but have since come to appreciate it. In 1986 the war and its complexities were still open wounds for many and it was difficult to grapple with them. One guy told me "I couldn't admit to myself at the time how true it was. My mind rebelled against the fact that I had seen and done those kinds of horrors."
"Platoon it made me just visibly nervous those guys out in the jungle on on ambush. The other part of it I was going God that wasn't happening sure wasn't where I was but that's Hollywood." "oh and no one smoked at night. I don't mean pot. cigarettes our guys didn't smoke pot you you're going to be out in combat with a guy that smokes pot. I don't think so. You aren't going to be with him, he isn't right. No one did that they do it in the movies." Source Vietnam War veteran Richard Tangel interview Vietnam Voices: 'You're alert all the time. If you're not alert, you're going to die' My dad is also a Vietnam Vet and he said these movies are pure BS. It's just to slander the vets that's all.
@@paultaylor9498 Myth: Drug Use Was Rampant In Vietnam Much has been made of drug use among personnel in Vietnam. What is ironic is that the overwhelming percentage of American drug users were civilians, and a very high percentage of anti-war activists were drug users. The number of drug-related arrests by Military Police officers and CID agents during the war actually represents a much smaller percentage of drug use among the military than in the overall civilian population during the Vietnam War. Further, drug use in Vietnam was confined almost exclusively to personnel stationed at base camps and other relatively secure installations. These people had free time and the ability to go out on the local economy and buy drugs. Drug use in the field was rare and was discouraged even by personnel who used drugs in the rear. The reasoning was fairly straightforward: drug use in the field endangered lives. It was not a "victimless crime" in the field. Also, for people who were in the remote areas, such as the Central Highlands, there were few Vietnamese civilians to purchase drugs from. Peer pressure was usually enough to discourage drug use when in the field. Those who were stupid enough to use drugs in the field were often beaten senseless by their non-drug-using comrades. Those that persisted were usually killed in action, sometimes by hostile fire, and occasionally, tragically, by friendly fire.
@@patrickflanagan3762 He sure as hell slandered everyone else. Myth: Almost all US troops committed atrocities against civilians. Fact: Atrocities were rare and punishable offenses. The vast majority of troops acted honorably and professionally. This lie has been told repeatedly, most recently in Nick Turse's Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam. Turse's book is filled with inaccuracies, flawed assumptions and gross generalizations as well as communist agitprop typical of the NVA. The lie is based on three things; the US dropped a lot of bombs in Vietnam, artillery was used extensively and that the military was reluctant to report atrocities like My Lai. Although a lot of ordnance was expended in Vietnam, the vast majority of it was spent in the sparsely populated northern provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien and northwest of Saigon, where the heaviest concentrations of communist forces were. The Rules of Engagement for artillery use were very strict and required the approval of South Vietnamese officials in every case except confirmed active combat operations. Bombing and artillery were not allowed in populated areas unless troops were directly engaged in combat. Even then approval from above was required except in extreme circumstances. Throughout the war three major incidents were confirmed by investigators; My Lai, Son Thang and the Tiger Force operations. Approximately 2.6 million personnel served in Vietnam. If each of the 320 documented incidents involved an average of a company of 350 men, 4.3% of American personnel were confirmed as involved in or at least aware of atrocities. Investigations found enough evidence to formally charge 203 men with crimes. 57 were court-martialed, and 23 were convicted. The worst known atrocity, My Lai, involved a company of 350 men. 26 were charged with crimes. Between 350 and 520 civlians died. The only reason we know about atrocities committed in Vietnam is because eyewitness servicemen reported it and the military investigated. Total civilian mortality attributable to American operations in Vietnam is estimated to be about 70,000 people, of which 1500 were attributable to crimes. Many atrocity stories were told by soldiers who either never even set foot in Vietnam or never saw any combat. To put these in perspective, North Vietnam killed more civilians in the North alone during the "land reform" massacres of the 50's and 60's than the American military did during the entire war.
Over 50 years for me. I was a survivor. My brother & many brothers in arms are heros. They did not make it home, but they are in my thoughts daily. Thank you for reviewing this film.
Side note: Johnny Depp auditioned for the role. Explains why he has a short cameo. Yes, Sheen was proud of this role. He shared a connection with his father, Martin Sheen, about the Vietnam War. "Apocalypse Now".
I grew up in the 80s, and a lot of kids had fathers who'd been in Vietnam. One of my friend's dad had been a tunnel rat, because he was short and slim - so much so that when my friend and I were around 14 years old we were almost the same height as his dad. I remember the man as being exceptionally quiet, and he had this half intense, half lost look about him. My friend always said that we needed to be very, very quiet whenever he was around, and we always played outside, never in his house. About ten years after I graduated high school I ran into some folks who had kept up with my friend and his family. Turned out that my friend's parents got divorced just a few years after we all graduated, and his dad took his own life not long afterwards. War will always collect its bloody toll, even many long years after it is "over".
Oliver Stone was the officer on the radio in the bunker that got blown up. The purpose of the towels or scarves was two-fold; 1st, to keep insects like the airborne ants that flew from the trees above down onto our necks. 2nd was to control the sweat.
IDK why it’s so hard for some to say “Willem”. My father, in spite of loving him and talking about him frequently, just can’t seem to stop himself from saying “William”. Silly fact, Willem’s legal given name is William 😅
I was 17 when this movie came out. This is the only movie my dad ever took me to see. He was in vietnam and he never talked about it. Maybe this was his way of doing it. This movie will always get me. Thanks for the reaction.
Show me one actor in this movie that didn't act his ass off. But, yeah - Tom, Willem, and Charlie are very prominent here, but I also remembered Whitaker, Depp, and when I first saw "Scrubs" I was yelling int my screen towards Dr Cox "I loved you in Platoon!"
Saw this in the theater when it first came out. When it was over and a packed house walked out into the lobby where the next group was waiting it was complete silence.
Great reaction Ames like always, Platoon is the landmark definition of a war film. Pulse-pounding sequences stacked on well-performed portrayal of soldiers (Sheen, Berenger & Dafoe) as well as a couple of heart-wrenching scenes that would be somewhat difficult to view. The film is Oliver Stone's most significant to date, especially since it's based off his own personal experience in the Vietnam War. And some fun facts about this movie a number of actors who eventually became very famous, such as Johnny Depp, but others didn’t have much luck in auditioning. Ben Stiller walked into the audition room, but was turned down by Oliver Stone before he could even talk. The director said Stiller was “too cute” to be in such a gritty movie. Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe were specifically chosen Whenever being cast in movies, Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe were usually subjected to typecasting - Berenger typically played the good guy, while Dafoe was the villain, But Oliver Stone decided to reverse this and chose Berenger to be the ruthless and harsh Staff Sgt. Bob Barnes, while Dafoe played the caring and heroic Sgt. Elias. The actors were able to showcase their full acting ranges, and both received Oscar nominations for their performances. Keep up the amazing work.
I remember my first introduction to Willem Dafoe as the uber bad guy in the almost forgotten To Live and Die in L.A. It was amazing to see him transform into the good guy in this one.
I remember seeing this at its release. There were many vets in the theater. I can't tell you how many were brought to tears as well as those that walked out, they were traumatized. This film at that time was like no other war film seen before.
I took courses strictly on the Vietnam War when I was in college, and here’s something for people to keep in mind… They implemented the draft for this war, but they made a couple of exceptions: if you were in college and if you had a doctor’s note saying you had conditions or injuries. This made it to where it was a war of the poor and middle class. The rich were able to send their kids to college or have a doctor friend makeup a note for exemption. When these kids got there, their tours were a year at a time. Some did multiple tours. The only way to go home was in a body bag or if you were wounded in combat so many times (I think it was three or if a wound was debilitating). They spent 24/7 in these excruciating hot jungles with very high humidity and just swarmed by bugs. They would go into villages that they knew the Vietcong were in and ask where the weapons were hid. The villagers would lie, even though everyone knew the weapons were there. A lot of times they’d have some child come out of nowhere with a rocket launcher and surprise attack them. So they were going absolutely insane. They were stuck in this war completely against their will, couldn’t trust anyone, sleep deprived, exhausted, seeing the complete worst in humanity, and fighting for their lives. They got hooked on hard drugs at night because they knew that the military wouldn’t send them home. A lot of them felt they were sent there as a death sentence, so might as well do drugs. If they survived and were sent home they were welcomed at the airport with hippies spitting in their faces and calling them “baby killers.” Society was protesting the war, and instead of supporting the troops they were condemning them…. Some fuckin war, right?
I don't quibble with the REASONS for the war-- possible false-flag initiation aside-- it's the fact that it BECAME a "managed" war-- not enough will to win, and JUST ENOUGH to lose... which suggests to me that WARFARE in the modern world means the WHOLE CONCEPT of war... and SOME wars-- aren't meant to be won, they're meant to be CONTINUOUS. Read Michael Lind's book, "Vietnam: The Necessary War and then get back to me if you if you disagree with his thesis.
You forgot the fact that men whose IQ had previously been too low to serve in the military were drafted and died at 3x the rate of normal soldiers. It's one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard any nation do in a time of war.
So much bullshit. Like "implementing a draft' when modern conscription was initiated in 1926 and continued unabated through 1973 because there has only been 17 years the US was involved in some conflict or another; only two of which occurred AFTER 1940 (both under Jimmy Carter). Then there's that myth of gangs of hippies hanging out in airports to harass returning veterans. No documentation of it ever having happened has been found despite concerted efforts to find some. There's only been anecdotal stories which were rare until the Bush era when our government needed to pump up support for Desert Storm and villainize the people protesting the war. In reality there is AMPLE evidence of guys returning from Vietnam who ended up JOINING and being EMBRACED by the hippies anti-war movement. Ron Kovic, as just one example. A vet who was actually spit on by a pro-war Nixon supporter. And the notion of a child using a rocket launcher is BEYOND absurd. Carrying a grenade or other small IED, sure. And let's be COMPLETELY honest. The US were the villains here. We invaded them and, unlike the Japanese in 1941, they never attacked us; they only ever defended themselves FROM us. Even the Gulf of Tonkin event has turned out to be bullshit. I did notice you never once mentioned the truly brave and heroic people who risked their freedom and comfort to defy their draft notices by going underground or fleeing to Canada. Thanks to President Carter for pardoning all of them in 1977. On the whole, it kind of feels like you're just paying lip-service to the veterans while using them as human shields to defend the war-machine by regurgitating its easily disproven propaganda intended to glorify war service and denigrate those who oppose war, especially the veterans.
@@TheConstructiveCritic888 don't forget that men who previously couldn't serve in the military due to having too low an IQ were made eligible for the draft in high numbers. They died at 3x the rate of the other soldiers. It's one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard any country do in a time of war.
@@GyvonJante Can you believe that I just found out he was in The Thing?? He looks so young and serious in The Thing that I guess it made me perceive him in a very different way (he's usually this very likeable guy that brings joy to a movie) to the point of not recognising him 🤣
I served as a fire platoon leader in the Army so I understand a green lieutenant, often little more than a college kid who went through ROTC and an officer basic course, faces challenges as a new platoon leader but the failures depicted in this movie on Wolfe's part are unforgiveable. Fortunately in the real world platoon sergeants are highly experienced professionals who are almost invariably very supportive of new platoon leaders, helping them develop into competent junior officers; not pathological monsters like Barnes.
@@dritzzdarkwood4727read into these killings. Unfortunatelly it wasnt just a green LT, the problems run deeper. It started from an abrasive battalion commander and trickled down. Like Napoleon said, there arent bad soldiers, only bad commanders.
The one soldier that you thought was really calm during the firefight was Dale Dye. He spent several tours overseas during the war in the Marine Corps. He's the only actor to appear in all of Olivrt Stone's Vietnam trilogy films: Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven & Earth (1993)..
They ran out of budget for the final fight, and couldn't light the set, so they shot off every flare they had to provide light during the battle, making it look even more chaotic.
Dale Dye has done a lot of military consulting on movies. One thing i wondered if Ames would recognize is that he is the actor who plays Col. Sink - Winters’ commander in Band of Brothers.
he was more than just an actor in the movie, he was the military consultant and even made the cast do a quick bootcamp and made them camp out in the jungle and would throw ambushes at them. Thats why it feels like there is a real camaraderie between the actors. Dye would also do this for the cast of Saving Private Ryan and Band Of Brothers.
I have read that when Stone saw that 1000 yard stare from Dye he realized that he was having a flashback and kept the camera rolling on him. That Ghosted look was real not put on. He was recalling The Horror as Kurtz might have said.
This movie is part of Oliver Stone's informal trilogy on the Vietnam war, the other two being "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) with Tom Cruise in the lead as real life veteran Ron Kovic - incidentally Tom Cruise's best performance in my opinion - and "Heaven & Earth" (1993) about a young Vietnamese woman trying to survive the war. That one stars Tommy Lee Jones with not just his best scene ever, but one of the greatest and most chilling performances in a scene ever. 😮
This film will always hold a special place in my heart. My uncle Robert served in the 25th Army Infantry Division, the same unit this film follows. He was killed in action March 10th, 1968 during the height of the Tet Offensive. To think he and Oliver, who also served in the 25th at the same time, may have crossed paths is wild to think about.
Btw, often overlooked in this film as being a bit goofy, but John C McGinley has been a jobbing actor for 35 years and largely overlooked. His role in Scrubs, as Dr Cox his comedic timing is on point, but also there are moments where his talent absolutely shines through during more emotional parts of that role. Very underrated in my humble opinion.
I’ve heard that McGinley has appeared in every film made by Stone. Cool if that’s true. I think he’s very talented, and I appreciate that he’s been “quietly” busy and gainfully employed for decades. Must be doing something right!
This movie came out during my first 6 months in the Army. They made us watch it, scared the heck out of me. I survived 2 combat tours diring my 14 years in the military before I got hurt. A lot of the conflict between soldiers due to stress is real. Still a great movie. ❤
Its inclusion in "Platoon" and "The Mission" really pushed it into the popular conscious to the point where I believe the young people now use it as a meme. BTW Ames, you really need to react to "The Mission"; it's masterpiece. Some of the best cinemetography of the 80s, compelling script, Roland Joffe directed, Ennio Morricone score, starring De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn...
@@fusiliers It started to be noticed in pop culture with "The Elephant Man", though. I didn't know it was also used in "The Mission"... Are really sure of that?
@@georgezee5173 Good catch! Although I've seen the movie at least a dozen times, it's been a few years since the last viewing. My brain conflated Barber with Morricone's "Ave Maria Guarani".
The village massacre is reminiscent of the real massacre of My Lai by US forces in 1968. Wiki: "At least 347 and up to 504 civilians, almost all women, children, and elderly men, were murdered by U.S. soldiers from C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade and B Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (Americal) Division (organized as part of Task Force Barker). Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, and some soldiers mutilated and raped children as young as 12".
i will explain something about My Lai that is not generally known. There was an CIA op called Phoenix Program that built upon the Safe Hamlet program of the Diem Regime. Villagers were encouraged to identify and inform on VC operatives. CIA officers would coordinate with the ARVN to round up VC in the villages and make them safe. However Phoenix was a failure in that the ARVN was deeply and extensively penetrated by Communist Spies. By the time the ARVN came to grab the VC their spies in the ARVN had already warned the VC and they had escaped. One CIA man in the area of MyLai had this problem and to get around it and clear out the VC from his zone he bypassed the ARVN and enlisted the aid of the Americal Division. He told them that all friendly viets had been evacuated and everyone found there in the village were confirmed viet cong. The Division was sent in to destroy the VC in the area under the influence of a deliberate lie. This led directly to the slaughter.
Sorry if everyone beat me to it somewhere in the comments, but @holddowna have you noticed The Cameos for Dale Dye in this movie, Saving Private Ryan and Band Of Brothers. He worked as lead military advisor on all these projects.
@@christopher3391that part kind of weirds me out. He was an officer. I suspect that scene was likely a very real fear for him back then. Perhaps even the fate of other officers he knew.
@@ben2741Oliver Stone was never an officer. He was grunt in the 25th ID and later transferred to the 1st Air Cav in a LRRP unit. I'm not sure of his rank, but I doubt he made it past E5
I think Mr. Stone said in an interview once; that the part where Sheen makes the one legged guy "dance" while firing toward his feet is something Oliver Stone actually did while in Vietnam. However, It was an older man and he had both legs..
Most reactors miss the shot in "The Naked Gun" in which Frank Drebin and his new love Jane exit a movie theater laughing hysterically, and the camera pans up to show us that they've been watching "Platoon."
This is a rough movie to sit through, but like most movies that show harsh reality, it’s ultimately rewarding. Thanks for being one of the best reactors on RUclips
I worked at a sweatshop job for 17 years that had A HIGH turnover rate. After a while, I adopted a similar feeling about new guys; since they weren't likely to last long, I didn't bother to learn their names until they'd been there at least six months. The newbies were all just, Dude.
Your reactions to this movie are genuine and I feel what you are feeling. My uncle was a lieutenant and saw heavy action. The only thing that kept him sane was his jeep that he fixed repeatedly and a good wife and farm waiting if he made it back home. There are no good guys in any war. We did a lot of bad things but don't think the enemy was any better. Everyone under my uncle kept at least 1 extra granade handy becaue getting captured by the enemy was simply not an option.
The late great Tony Todd told me he never worked with a filmmaker more passionate than Oliver Stone. He said it’s not a job for him, he really believes in what he’s doing.
You reacted perfectly to it. Good versus evil. The guys in the platoon fought the enemy, the jungle, and each other. In the mid 1970s, my step-father told me about his experirences there in 1967 to 1968. He was there for The Tet Offensive, and had been left behind in the jungle with his best friend and another guy. His best friend didn't live through that day, and the other guy carried him on his back for 3 days to a firebase miles and miles away. Watching Platoon during Christmas of 1986 (opening night was December 19th, 1986) was everything he told me it was and more. I was 8 years old when he showed me a picture he took of a beautiful Vietnamese girl in a gorgeous long silk dress, laying dead in a rice patty. She was about 20 years old. She had just been killed minutes before he arrived there. The NVA had done it. The reason he took the picture was because it was so surreal. A gunshot right to the middle of the chest. He was right, it was surreal, even for an 8 year old. You didn't even notice the village burning in the background. Flames leaping as high as the tree tops. He told me nothing was alive. The jungle was dead silent. No birds. All you could hear was the flames. His worst memory of the whole time he was there was when he came back a week later. No sound. No birds. Nothing. Dead silence. As he walked down the path to the village, there she was. She was no longer beautiful. The 100+ F temperatures had robbed her lifeless body of her beautiful looks. It really disturbed him that no one was there to take care of her. He never spoke of these things with anyone that I know of. Just me. It has been 49 years since I saw that picture. It is burned into my memory. I don't have to close my eyes to see it. It's there. BTW - The guy in the foxhole during the final battle is Corey Glover, the lead singer of "Living Colour". Two years later the band came out with their first album, and it was a great one. Five singles off of a first album is a rare thing. Take a listen ..... ruclips.net/video/7xxgRUyzgs0/видео.htmlsi=X1nsen_3qUWa2vaF
This movie is a bunch of things Oliver Stone experienced during his tour in Vietnam. Charlie Sheen's character is Oliver Stone. He and other crew had flashbacks while making the movie. Oliver Stone had a major flashback during the village scene where he had an emotional breakdown and they had to stop for the day.
@bloodymarvelous4790 there were many village massacres throughout Vietnam. There a video where he said he watched fellow soldiers raping women and a couple kids, and he almost killed a dude to get him to stop. He didn't say where it happened just that it happened and then said I don't like to talk about that stuff on camera so they moved on.
Was gonna say there were MANY My Lai’s. Operation Speedy Express - became army policy to declare certain areas as free fire zones and basically anything you shot was fair game including civilians all so that the media could celebrate the “all important” body count of enemy killed. As brutal as it was the village actually got off rather easy. They were a confirmed VC village, were clearly giving material aide and comfort to enemy forces, had killed an American soldier (ie Manny), resisted lawful search and inspection. The fact that the village had kidnapped and killed an American GI would have been enough to revoke the villages protection under 1954 Geneva Conventions. Not saying it wasn’t brutal, but there were many villages that had suffered waaay worse for less.
Just remember that Hamburger Hill is a movie that even goes harder than Platoon. It does not shy away from showing you what high velocity rounds do to a human.
Hamburger Hill was my dad's favorite of the '80s Vietnam movies. He an infantryman humping an M-60 while serving in Vietnam. Thankful he shared some of his stories with me.
My father was a Choctaw Indian who had never left the reservation until the war. He became an Army Engineer in WW2 and had to bury hundreds of thousands of concentration camp victims with a bulldozer. He came home a violent alcoholic and was till the day he died. My older brother is a decorated Army Veteran and came back from Vietnam so messed up and full of rage that I had to physically prevent him from killing every person with an oriental face that he saw. He now lives in the desert by himself and does nothing but stay high and drunk. I haven't seen him in years What a waste. I got out of the Army in 1972 and joined the peace movement, but it was too late for him. My ex Marine brother in law was my best friend. He did 3 tours in Vietnam (13 months for Marines) and now lives in the woods somewhere in Washington state. They all needed help that they never got. Please help your veterans to get over their trauma. They deserve more for their sacrifices.
Damn. That's rough. My Grandfather fought against the Japanese in Papua New Guinea in WWII and had a very similar outcome. l'm an Australian, but l would love to see President Elect Trump to ask actor Gary Sinise who has done amazing work building state of the art homes for severely wounded veterans through the Gary Sinise foundation and also entertaining troops abroad with his band, to oversee a reformation of Veteran Affairs. All veterans should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity when they return from active duty and need physical or mental help.
Both Apocalypse Now and Platoon are difficult movies to watch. The hardest Vietnam war film to watch is The Killing Fields (1984) Some reaction channels just stop watching because of the brutality and cruelty. If you decide to watch be prepared. It's an unforgettable film and an incredible ending.
@@tsrgoinc Thank you. I was about to make the same comment. It's annoying when people make such inaccurate comments without checking historical facts first.
@@cliffwheeler7357 I actually was going to respond but since both of you assumed I'm connecting the Vietnam war with The Killing Fields film. I will point out that The Killing Fields was released DURING the 80s era of Vietnam war movies. Historically separated but connected in the film era. I may have to hand out crayons and blank papers next time. Cheers!
I like how Platoon's reputation for being such a dark and emotional film made The Naked Gun movie even funnier with the scene that has Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley on their date coming out of the theatre laughing hystercally like they had just watched a comedy but they had watched Platoon like it didn't even phase them!
There are various Vietnam films showing the American war. Platoon was one of those that showed a turning point in the war before things took a real downturn. If you look at the difference between Mel Gibson's we were soldiers, platoon, full metal jacket, And a few others they show the progression or rather digression that the Americans made throughout their war. At first trying to fight a traditional Army V Army War and then slowly adjusting to a war that they knew they couldn't win against a professional and well trained enemy. Their adjustment or lack of it in tactics over the first four years of the war sealed their fate. in contrast looking at two Australian films about the same war a few angry shots and danger close so shows a very different side of the same War. of course that should never have been fought in the first place.
Charlie Sheen & Martin Sheen read letters home aloud in intro's to son's "Platoon" & Dad's "Apocalypse Now" 'Nam War epics as Stone's tribute to Coppola: '78 & '87!
Born on the 4th of July is a fucking tough ass movie to get through with Tom Cruise in it😢 and what it would be like to be a veteran survivor and coming back home kind of storyline it's an interesting one it's a very underrated Tom Cruise movie back in the day❤ Platoon is a very hard movie to watch because it shows you what the soldiers go through daily and what they go through with each other to combat the choices they make over there❤
I hated this movie too. It portrayed the US military as either a bunch of druggies or booze hounds who were as likely to shoot each other as the enemy. I especially hated the scenes where soldiers were terrorizing innocent villagers including little kids.
Forrest Whitaker is on screen for like five minutes and is still memorable as Big Earl. No wonder his career took off not long after this film's release.
My favorite scene in Naked Gun is the music video montage where Frank and Jane are walking out of a theater laughing joyfully as the Marquee above reads “Platoon”. When I saw this back in the day, the theatre felt like a funeral procession.
This was the first film of Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy. There's also Born on the 4th of July and Heaven and Earth. All 3 are excellent films even though they pushed all my anxiety buttons. haha
BTW, I've seen many film reactions from female critics of this and other war films. But very few had realized just how fortunate women are that they have never been subject to military draft during war time. If you were a young woman, your future was never snatched away from you by the government and you were hauled off to a foreign land to fight and die a horrific death, like many men were. I'm old enough to remember my own mother was so sad, watching the busses of all the young draftees driving away to boot camp (I was too young and by the time I was old enough, the war was over).
Rhah told Chris, "The Only Thing That Can Kill Barnes Is Barnes." At the end, Chris's face was scarred, like Barnes's. So he had become Barnes, and thus he was able to kill Barnes.
One of the if not the best war movie ever made. My dad’s father who served in the Korea war as a medic told him this movie portrayed how war really was.. Never got to meet him but still respect him just as much 🫡
Hello Hold Down A, did you recognize former Soldier Dale Dye in this movie? He played Colonel Sink in " The Band of Brothers ". He was in other war films in this era. " Born on the fourth of July " for one.
Platoon is in a way an antiwar movie. It is about the madness of war and in particular of the vietnam war.. The dialogue at the end of the movie by the charlie sheen character says it all.
In pronunciation you’d be correct but I’ll be that guy and correct you in that Willem is the Dutch pronunciation of William and he was born William James Dafoe.
Willem is his stage name. His given name is William. Both are fine imo, and the actor doesn't mind either. It's mainly for differentiation like Topher Grace, who's given name is Christopher. And as an aside, Willem is the Dutch spelling for William.
I said the same thing hahaha it's like calling Charlie Sheen Charles Sheen....hah close but so disrespectful to keep calling someone their wrong name when it's not hard. These are very basic names lol
I remember seeing this in the theater with 3 other people. We were supposed to go out afterwards for drinks but all of us were not in the mood after seeing this film.
41:19 Captain Dale Dye had a genuine reaction in that moment, as he is a Vietnam combat veteran. He was the technical advisor of the film, putting the actors through boot camp weeks before filming began.
Great reaction to a great movie. Yeah some difficult scenes . War is difficult sometimes. I’m a former Marine but this is my favorite war movie. Not a love story for sure. 👏👏 Semper Fi. Happy Veterans Day Vets. 👏🥰
My favorite Vietnam War movie. Side note: Corey Glover, who plays Francis in this (the guy Chris shares the foxhole with in the last battle) is also the lead singer of Living Color, the band who put out the song Cult of Personality in 1988.
16:32 The Filipino kid who played that actor with one eye and one leg. After they wrapped shooting Charlie Sheen and Kevin Dillon, the guy who killed him in the movie, paid to have his eyes fixed
The company captain with the southern accent is Captain Dale Dye, USMC Ret. You have seen him before as Colonel Sink in "Band of Brothers, and in "Saving Private Ryan", and "Starship Troopers".
Platoon is one of the absolute best movies ever made. It's probably my favorite war movie ever. The portrayals of Taylor, Barnes, Ellias, Bunny, Junior, King, and O'Neil were acted out superbly.
One thing you may not be aware of is that Oliver Stone is a Vietnam veteran. The final scene with Dale Dye it's perhaps one of the most moving scenes because of the thousand yard stare. Only a veteran would recognize it, once you have it you never lose it, enough said.
i saw this movie with a pal and his VN Vet father opening night. His father went in upbeat. we left and he wouldn't say anything in the car. he wouldnt talk at home for three days.
my two uncles before passing who were both vietnam vets said that this movie took them back to the year they were in I corp with the marines. both had purple hearts and were lucky to come home.
Great review, and commentary. For my part I was visiting Washington (I am from Ireland) and I went to the war monument, and there was a candle lit commemoration of the soldiers that died in Vietnam. I very innocently and perhaps naively approached a man, he told me was a veteran, I wasked was it bad, and he said yes. In that one word I didnt need to know anymore, the look on his face was of pain.
It hink the word "authentic" is indeed the way to describe this film. Oliver Stone used his own experiences to make this the most realistic depiction of war, probably to this day. Just like from the soldier's perspective, it's less about politics and more about the value of morality and keeping one's humanity. It's harder to watch as I get older but may be a necessary reminder of how bad war really is.
People say this is the most realistic VN movie. It's based on Stones actually experience in the war. Another good VN movie from this time period with multiple future stars in it is Hamburger Hill. Its part Platoon, part Full Metal Jacket but closer to Platoon.
I admire your take on this movie and how you explained your experience. Aside from the horrors, Oliver Stone really captured the internal perspective of how soldiers from different parts of the country and all walks of life collide when we’re all stuck together and serving overseas. Love and hate.
When Platoon came out, I saw it in the theater. Every so often a Viet Nam Vet would scream out at the screen. It was said that this movie was so realistic of what it was like in Viet Nam, the only thing missing was the smell.
Winner of 4 Oscars including Best Picture.
RIP Tony Todd, 1954-2024.
Aaaannnd this is how I found out Tony Todd died....
Damn, I didn’t know he died. Shit.
@@petercastaneda5338couple days ago
@@somebodytoknow7408 Damn.
Tony Todd was a great guy, may he rest in peace
In The Naked Gun, this was the film that Frank Drebin and Jane go to on a date and come out of laughing uproariously.
I was just going to see if anyone mentioned this because none of the reactors ever seem to catch on to it when they watch Naked Gun.
e@@stealthimaster8583We Gen X understood it immediately in the 80s.
Most reviewers are too young and uneducated.
@@dr.juerdotitsgo5119Projecting much?
My dad was a Vietnam vet. My brother and I saw this in the theater when it was released. We were in our mid/late teens and left the theater trembling and in tears. The film had a very divided reaction from the Vietnam veteran community. Ironically the ones who criticized it were largely unaware that Stone served two tours (he volunteered) in combat and was decorated for bravery. I've spoken to many vets who hated it when it came out but have since come to appreciate it. In 1986 the war and its complexities were still open wounds for many and it was difficult to grapple with them. One guy told me "I couldn't admit to myself at the time how true it was. My mind rebelled against the fact that I had seen and done those kinds of horrors."
"Platoon it made me just visibly nervous those guys out in the jungle on on ambush. The other part of it I was going God that wasn't happening sure wasn't where I was but that's Hollywood."
"oh and no one smoked at night. I don't mean pot. cigarettes our guys didn't smoke pot you you're going to be out in combat with a guy that smokes pot. I don't think so. You aren't going to be with him, he isn't right. No one did that they do it in the movies."
Source Vietnam War veteran Richard Tangel interview
Vietnam Voices: 'You're alert all the time. If you're not alert, you're going to die'
My dad is also a Vietnam Vet and he said these movies are pure BS. It's just to slander the vets that's all.
@cyclone8974 Sorry but that's dumb. The idea that Stone made Vietnam movies to slander HIMSELF is pure conspiracy theory nonsense
@@cyclone8974 my stepdad, who blew his brains out in my house, said this was the most realistic Nam movie and refused to see it more than once.
@@paultaylor9498
Myth: Drug Use Was Rampant In Vietnam
Much has been made of drug use among personnel in Vietnam. What is ironic is that the overwhelming percentage of American drug users were civilians, and a very high percentage of anti-war activists were drug users. The number of drug-related arrests by Military Police officers and CID agents during the war actually represents a much smaller percentage of drug use among the military than in the overall civilian population during the Vietnam War.
Further, drug use in Vietnam was confined almost exclusively to personnel stationed at base camps and other relatively secure installations. These people had free time and the ability to go out on the local economy and buy drugs. Drug use in the field was rare and was discouraged even by personnel who used drugs in the rear. The reasoning was fairly straightforward: drug use in the field endangered lives. It was not a "victimless crime" in the field. Also, for people who were in the remote areas, such as the Central Highlands, there were few Vietnamese civilians to purchase drugs from. Peer pressure was usually enough to discourage drug use when in the field. Those who were stupid enough to use drugs in the field were often beaten senseless by their non-drug-using comrades. Those that persisted were usually killed in action, sometimes by hostile fire, and occasionally, tragically, by friendly fire.
@@patrickflanagan3762 He sure as hell slandered everyone else.
Myth: Almost all US troops committed atrocities against civilians.
Fact: Atrocities were rare and punishable offenses. The vast majority of troops acted honorably and professionally.
This lie has been told repeatedly, most recently in Nick Turse's Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam.
Turse's book is filled with inaccuracies, flawed assumptions and gross generalizations as well as communist agitprop typical of the NVA.
The lie is based on three things; the US dropped a lot of bombs in Vietnam, artillery was used extensively and that the military was reluctant to report atrocities like My Lai.
Although a lot of ordnance was expended in Vietnam, the vast majority of it was spent in the sparsely populated northern provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien and northwest of Saigon, where the heaviest concentrations of communist forces were.
The Rules of Engagement for artillery use were very strict and required the approval of South Vietnamese officials in every case except confirmed active combat operations.
Bombing and artillery were not allowed in populated areas unless troops were directly engaged in combat. Even then approval from above was required except in extreme circumstances.
Throughout the war three major incidents were confirmed by investigators; My Lai, Son Thang and the Tiger Force operations.
Approximately 2.6 million personnel served in Vietnam. If each of the 320 documented incidents involved an average of a company of 350 men, 4.3% of American personnel were confirmed as involved in or at least aware of atrocities.
Investigations found enough evidence to formally charge 203 men with crimes. 57 were court-martialed, and 23 were convicted.
The worst known atrocity, My Lai, involved a company of 350 men. 26 were charged with crimes. Between 350 and 520 civlians died.
The only reason we know about atrocities committed in Vietnam is because eyewitness servicemen reported it and the military investigated.
Total civilian mortality attributable to American operations in Vietnam is estimated to be about 70,000 people, of which 1500 were attributable to crimes.
Many atrocity stories were told by soldiers who either never even set foot in Vietnam or never saw any combat.
To put these in perspective, North Vietnam killed more civilians in the North alone during the "land reform" massacres of the 50's and 60's than the American military did during the entire war.
Over 50 years for me. I was a survivor. My brother & many brothers in arms are heros. They did not make it home, but they are in my thoughts daily. Thank you for reviewing this film.
I'm sorry about what you had to experience and everyone you lost. Thank you for your service.
@@tonym362 Thank you 4 your service...
Welcome home, brother.
I was so impressed with Charlie Sheens performance. He nails every emotion. Probably his best work
pre coke charlie is the best
Side note: Johnny Depp auditioned for the role. Explains why he has a short cameo.
Yes, Sheen was proud of this role. He shared a connection with his father, Martin Sheen, about the Vietnam War. "Apocalypse Now".
Filmed in the Philippines on Luzon.
Correct. It's the same latitude as Vietnam.
I grew up in the 80s, and a lot of kids had fathers who'd been in Vietnam. One of my friend's dad had been a tunnel rat, because he was short and slim - so much so that when my friend and I were around 14 years old we were almost the same height as his dad. I remember the man as being exceptionally quiet, and he had this half intense, half lost look about him. My friend always said that we needed to be very, very quiet whenever he was around, and we always played outside, never in his house.
About ten years after I graduated high school I ran into some folks who had kept up with my friend and his family. Turned out that my friend's parents got divorced just a few years after we all graduated, and his dad took his own life not long afterwards.
War will always collect its bloody toll, even many long years after it is "over".
That’s awful… 😭
Damn.. that is sad.
I hate that I liked this comment. How sad.
"There is many a boy here to-day who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell." - William Tecumseh Sherman
He also said to a woman writing to him about his campaign “Get you a good husband and mind your own business” 😂
At that time, he was right.
@@petercastaneda5338 it's a timeless statement...
Yup, get a good husband and mind your own business.
Oliver Stone was the officer on the radio in the bunker that got blown up. The purpose of the towels or scarves was two-fold; 1st, to keep insects like the airborne ants that flew from the trees above down onto our necks. 2nd was to control the sweat.
It's pronounced "Will-um" DaFoe. This is probably his most iconic role. SGT Elias was a great character.
IDK why it’s so hard for some to say “Willem”. My father, in spite of loving him and talking about him frequently, just can’t seem to stop himself from saying “William”.
Silly fact, Willem’s legal given name is William 😅
I was 17 when this movie came out. This is the only movie my dad ever took me to see. He was in vietnam and he never talked about it. Maybe this was his way of doing it. This movie will always get me. Thanks for the reaction.
same age
Tom Berringer's performance!!
Sniper is good too
@@John-m2d6y great actor, he was great at playing hardasses
Show me one actor in this movie that didn't act his ass off. But, yeah - Tom, Willem, and Charlie are very prominent here, but I also remembered Whitaker, Depp, and when I first saw "Scrubs" I was yelling int my screen towards Dr Cox "I loved you in Platoon!"
@ I’m sure everyone gave it all they had knowing this was an important subject
@@Lord_Legolas_Greenleaf Substitute too
Saw this in the theater when it first came out. When it was over and a packed house walked out into the lobby where the next group was waiting it was complete silence.
Great reaction Ames like always, Platoon is the landmark definition of a war film. Pulse-pounding sequences stacked on well-performed portrayal of soldiers (Sheen, Berenger & Dafoe) as well as a couple of heart-wrenching scenes that would be somewhat difficult to view. The film is Oliver Stone's most significant to date, especially since it's based off his own personal experience in the Vietnam War.
And some fun facts about this movie a number of actors who eventually became very famous, such as Johnny Depp, but others didn’t have much luck in auditioning. Ben Stiller walked into the audition room, but was turned down by Oliver Stone before he could even talk. The director said Stiller was “too cute” to be in such a gritty movie.
Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe were specifically chosen Whenever being cast in movies, Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe were usually subjected to typecasting - Berenger typically played the good guy, while Dafoe was the villain, But Oliver Stone decided to reverse this and chose Berenger to be the ruthless and harsh Staff Sgt. Bob Barnes, while Dafoe played the caring and heroic Sgt. Elias. The actors were able to showcase their full acting ranges, and both received Oscar nominations for their performances. Keep up the amazing work.
I remember my first introduction to Willem Dafoe as the uber bad guy in the almost forgotten To Live and Die in L.A. It was amazing to see him transform into the good guy in this one.
Movie was pure BS
"War is when the government tells you who the enemy is.. revolution is when you decide that for yourself"- Ben Franklin
@@Tune-O-matic And this is the same guy who wanted the national bird to be a turkey.
@GamerKatz_1971 He must have known an eagle is just a vulture..
I remember seeing this at its release. There were many vets in the theater. I can't tell you how many were brought to tears as well as those that walked out, they were traumatized. This film at that time was like no other war film seen before.
This was "original" Saving private Ryan"
Almost 40 years before I realized "Francis" is also the lead singer of Living Colour
Corey Glover! Great frontman to an underrated band!!!
Haha. Same!
I was today years old when I learned this and I've also seen this movie many times 😅
@@Masterdebater1313 damn right, hell of a voice
"cult of personality"!!
I took courses strictly on the Vietnam War when I was in college, and here’s something for people to keep in mind…
They implemented the draft for this war, but they made a couple of exceptions: if you were in college and if you had a doctor’s note saying you had conditions or injuries. This made it to where it was a war of the poor and middle class. The rich were able to send their kids to college or have a doctor friend makeup a note for exemption.
When these kids got there, their tours were a year at a time. Some did multiple tours. The only way to go home was in a body bag or if you were wounded in combat so many times (I think it was three or if a wound was debilitating).
They spent 24/7 in these excruciating hot jungles with very high humidity and just swarmed by bugs.
They would go into villages that they knew the Vietcong were in and ask where the weapons were hid. The villagers would lie, even though everyone knew the weapons were there. A lot of times they’d have some child come out of nowhere with a rocket launcher and surprise attack them. So they were going absolutely insane. They were stuck in this war completely against their will, couldn’t trust anyone, sleep deprived, exhausted, seeing the complete worst in humanity, and fighting for their lives. They got hooked on hard drugs at night because they knew that the military wouldn’t send them home. A lot of them felt they were sent there as a death sentence, so might as well do drugs.
If they survived and were sent home they were welcomed at the airport with hippies spitting in their faces and calling them “baby killers.” Society was protesting the war, and instead of supporting the troops they were condemning them….
Some fuckin war, right?
@@TheConstructiveCritic888 let’s hope to God nothing like it ever happens again.
I don't quibble with the REASONS for the war-- possible false-flag initiation aside-- it's the fact that
it BECAME a "managed" war-- not enough will to win, and JUST ENOUGH to lose... which suggests to me that WARFARE in the modern world means the WHOLE CONCEPT of war... and SOME wars-- aren't meant to be won, they're meant to be CONTINUOUS. Read Michael Lind's book, "Vietnam: The Necessary War and then get back to me if you if you disagree with his thesis.
You forgot the fact that men whose IQ had previously been too low to serve in the military were drafted and died at 3x the rate of normal soldiers. It's one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard any nation do in a time of war.
So much bullshit.
Like "implementing a draft' when modern conscription was initiated in 1926 and continued unabated through 1973 because there has only been 17 years the US was involved in some conflict or another; only two of which occurred AFTER 1940 (both under Jimmy Carter).
Then there's that myth of gangs of hippies hanging out in airports to harass returning veterans. No documentation of it ever having happened has been found despite concerted efforts to find some. There's only been anecdotal stories which were rare until the Bush era when our government needed to pump up support for Desert Storm and villainize the people protesting the war.
In reality there is AMPLE evidence of guys returning from Vietnam who ended up JOINING and being EMBRACED by the hippies anti-war movement. Ron Kovic, as just one example. A vet who was actually spit on by a pro-war Nixon supporter.
And the notion of a child using a rocket launcher is BEYOND absurd. Carrying a grenade or other small IED, sure.
And let's be COMPLETELY honest. The US were the villains here. We invaded them and, unlike the Japanese in 1941, they never attacked us; they only ever defended themselves FROM us. Even the Gulf of Tonkin event has turned out to be bullshit.
I did notice you never once mentioned the truly brave and heroic people who risked their freedom and comfort to defy their draft notices by going underground or fleeing to Canada. Thanks to President Carter for pardoning all of them in 1977.
On the whole, it kind of feels like you're just paying lip-service to the veterans while using them as human shields to defend the war-machine by regurgitating its easily disproven propaganda intended to glorify war service and denigrate those who oppose war, especially the veterans.
@@TheConstructiveCritic888 don't forget that men who previously couldn't serve in the military due to having too low an IQ were made eligible for the draft in high numbers. They died at 3x the rate of the other soldiers. It's one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard any country do in a time of war.
King getting out and yelling out goodbye always had me smile thay he got out. My favorite character and actor! 😊
Kieth David! Awesome actor!😊
@@GyvonJante Can you believe that I just found out he was in The Thing?? He looks so young and serious in The Thing that I guess it made me perceive him in a very different way (he's usually this very likeable guy that brings joy to a movie) to the point of not recognising him 🤣
He was also Mary's stepfather in "There's Something About Mary."
Military schools use the actions of Lt. Wolfe in this movie as an example of how NOT to act and handle subordinates as an officer.
I served as a fire platoon leader in the Army so I understand a green lieutenant, often little more than a college kid who went through ROTC and an officer basic course, faces challenges as a new platoon leader but the failures depicted in this movie on Wolfe's part are unforgiveable. Fortunately in the real world platoon sergeants are highly experienced professionals who are almost invariably very supportive of new platoon leaders, helping them develop into competent junior officers; not pathological monsters like Barnes.
Cool.
Doesn't really compute with the Fallujah killings of 17 civilian protestors in 2003.
82nd Airborne wasted those people...
@@dritzzdarkwood4727read into these killings. Unfortunatelly it wasnt just a green LT, the problems run deeper. It started from an abrasive battalion commander and trickled down. Like Napoleon said, there arent bad soldiers, only bad commanders.
@@dritzzdarkwood4727 Millions of soldiers doing millions of missions. Are you deficient in math skills? Or just innately deceptive?
The one soldier that you thought was really calm during the firefight was Dale Dye. He spent several tours overseas during the war in the Marine Corps. He's the only actor to appear in all of Olivrt Stone's Vietnam trilogy films: Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven & Earth (1993)..
They ran out of budget for the final fight, and couldn't light the set, so they shot off every flare they had to provide light during the battle, making it look even more chaotic.
Dale Dye has done a lot of military consulting on movies. One thing i wondered if Ames would recognize is that he is the actor who plays Col. Sink - Winters’ commander in Band of Brothers.
he was more than just an actor in the movie, he was the military consultant and even made the cast do a quick bootcamp and made them camp out in the jungle and would throw ambushes at them. Thats why it feels like there is a real camaraderie between the actors. Dye would also do this for the cast of Saving Private Ryan and Band Of Brothers.
@@DirtnapJack this was Dye's second film. His first was Invaders From Mars.
I have read that when Stone saw that 1000 yard stare from Dye he realized that he was having a flashback and kept the camera rolling on him. That Ghosted look was real not put on. He was recalling The Horror as Kurtz might have said.
This movie is part of Oliver Stone's informal trilogy on the Vietnam war, the other two being "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) with Tom Cruise in the lead as real life veteran Ron Kovic - incidentally Tom Cruise's best performance in my opinion - and "Heaven & Earth" (1993) about a young Vietnamese woman trying to survive the war. That one stars Tommy Lee Jones with not just his best scene ever, but one of the greatest and most chilling performances in a scene ever. 😮
TC's 2nd best performance. Personally, I find his performance, especially the death bed "confession" with Jason Robards in Magnolia, as TC's best!
This film will always hold a special place in my heart. My uncle Robert served in the 25th Army Infantry Division, the same unit this film follows. He was killed in action March 10th, 1968 during the height of the Tet Offensive. To think he and Oliver, who also served in the 25th at the same time, may have crossed paths is wild to think about.
Btw, often overlooked in this film as being a bit goofy, but John C McGinley has been a jobbing actor for 35 years and largely overlooked. His role in Scrubs, as Dr Cox his comedic timing is on point, but also there are moments where his talent absolutely shines through during more emotional parts of that role. Very underrated in my humble opinion.
I’ve heard that McGinley has appeared in every film made by Stone. Cool if that’s true. I think he’s very talented, and I appreciate that he’s been “quietly” busy and gainfully employed for decades. Must be doing something right!
This movie came out during my first 6 months in the Army. They made us watch it, scared the heck out of me. I survived 2 combat tours diring my 14 years in the military before I got hurt. A lot of the conflict between soldiers due to stress is real. Still a great movie. ❤
The opening music is Samuel Barber's "Adagio For Strings". It's considered probably the saddest music of the 20th century.
Its inclusion in "Platoon" and "The Mission" really pushed it into the popular conscious to the point where I believe the young people now use it as a meme.
BTW Ames, you really need to react to "The Mission"; it's masterpiece. Some of the best cinemetography of the 80s, compelling script, Roland Joffe directed, Ennio Morricone score, starring De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn...
@@fusiliers It started to be noticed in pop culture with "The Elephant Man", though. I didn't know it was also used in "The Mission"... Are really sure of that?
@@georgezee5173 Good catch! Although I've seen the movie at least a dozen times, it's been a few years since the last viewing. My brain conflated Barber with Morricone's "Ave Maria Guarani".
Beautiful peace, but, way overused in Platoon. Lost it power.
The village massacre is reminiscent of the real massacre of My Lai by US forces in 1968.
Wiki: "At least 347 and up to 504 civilians, almost all women, children, and elderly men, were murdered by U.S. soldiers from C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade and B Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (Americal) Division (organized as part of Task Force Barker). Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, and some soldiers mutilated and raped children as young as 12".
i will explain something about My Lai that is not generally known. There was an CIA op called Phoenix Program that built upon the Safe Hamlet program of the Diem Regime. Villagers were encouraged to identify and inform on VC operatives. CIA officers would coordinate with the ARVN to round up VC in the villages and make them safe. However Phoenix was a failure in that the ARVN was deeply and extensively penetrated by Communist Spies. By the time the ARVN came to grab the VC their spies in the ARVN had already warned the VC and they had escaped. One CIA man in the area of MyLai had this problem and to get around it and clear out the VC from his zone he bypassed the ARVN and enlisted the aid of the Americal Division. He told them that all friendly viets had been evacuated and everyone found there in the village were confirmed viet cong. The Division was sent in to destroy the VC in the area under the influence of a deliberate lie. This led directly to the slaughter.
Kevin Dillon used to play pool in a bar I ran. Super nice dude.
The guys who play the best assholes usually are very nice people in real life.
VICTORY!
How were his calf implants?
He was also good in the remake of "The Blob."
My uncle Andy did two tours of Vietnam so that my dad didn't have to go. Now I exist. RIP Andy.
Sorry if everyone beat me to it somewhere in the comments, but @holddowna have you noticed The Cameos for Dale Dye in this movie, Saving Private Ryan and Band Of Brothers. He worked as lead military advisor on all these projects.
Oliver Stone is a Vietnam veteran.
He was actually in the movie, in the bunker that was suicide bombed.
@@christopher3391that part kind of weirds me out. He was an officer. I suspect that scene was likely a very real fear for him back then. Perhaps even the fate of other officers he knew.
@@ben2741nope. Enlisted.
@@ben2741Oliver Stone was never an officer. He was grunt in the 25th ID and later transferred to the 1st Air Cav in a LRRP unit. I'm not sure of his rank, but I doubt he made it past E5
I think Mr. Stone said in an interview once; that the part where Sheen makes the one legged guy "dance" while firing toward his feet is something Oliver Stone actually did while in Vietnam.
However, It was an older man and he had both legs..
Most reactors miss the shot in "The Naked Gun" in which Frank Drebin and his new love Jane exit a movie theater laughing hysterically, and the camera pans up to show us that they've been watching "Platoon."
This is a rough movie to sit through, but like most movies that show harsh reality, it’s ultimately rewarding. Thanks for being one of the best reactors on RUclips
I worked at a sweatshop job for 17 years that had A HIGH turnover rate. After a while, I adopted a similar feeling about new guys; since they weren't likely to last long, I didn't bother to learn their names until they'd been there at least six months. The newbies were all just, Dude.
Finally people are starting to react to Platoon.
But not a single person to react to Gary Cooper in "Sergeant York" or John Wayne in "The Green Berets"
I reacted the day I saw it at the theater. I never watched it again.
@@kstamp05 except just here.
This is not a first-time watch reaction. She reacts to everything beforehand. She's already seen the movie.
Your reactions to this movie are genuine and I feel what you are feeling. My uncle was a lieutenant and saw heavy action. The only thing that kept him sane was his jeep that he fixed repeatedly and a good wife and farm waiting if he made it back home. There are no good guys in any war. We did a lot of bad things but don't think the enemy was any better. Everyone under my uncle kept at least 1 extra granade handy becaue getting captured by the enemy was simply not an option.
The late great Tony Todd told me he never worked with a filmmaker more passionate than Oliver Stone. He said it’s not a job for him, he really believes in what he’s doing.
You reacted perfectly to it. Good versus evil. The guys in the platoon fought the enemy, the jungle, and each other. In the mid 1970s, my step-father told me about his experirences there in 1967 to 1968. He was there for The Tet Offensive, and had been left behind in the jungle with his best friend and another guy. His best friend didn't live through that day, and the other guy carried him on his back for 3 days to a firebase miles and miles away. Watching Platoon during Christmas of 1986 (opening night was December 19th, 1986) was everything he told me it was and more.
I was 8 years old when he showed me a picture he took of a beautiful Vietnamese girl in a gorgeous long silk dress, laying dead in a rice patty. She was about 20 years old. She had just been killed minutes before he arrived there. The NVA had done it. The reason he took the picture was because it was so surreal. A gunshot right to the middle of the chest. He was right, it was surreal, even for an 8 year old. You didn't even notice the village burning in the background. Flames leaping as high as the tree tops. He told me nothing was alive. The jungle was dead silent. No birds. All you could hear was the flames.
His worst memory of the whole time he was there was when he came back a week later. No sound. No birds. Nothing. Dead silence. As he walked down the path to the village, there she was. She was no longer beautiful. The 100+ F temperatures had robbed her lifeless body of her beautiful looks. It really disturbed him that no one was there to take care of her. He never spoke of these things with anyone that I know of. Just me. It has been 49 years since I saw that picture. It is burned into my memory. I don't have to close my eyes to see it. It's there.
BTW - The guy in the foxhole during the final battle is Corey Glover, the lead singer of "Living Colour". Two years later the band came out with their first album, and it was a great one. Five singles off of a first album is a rare thing. Take a listen .....
ruclips.net/video/7xxgRUyzgs0/видео.htmlsi=X1nsen_3qUWa2vaF
This movie is a bunch of things Oliver Stone experienced during his tour in Vietnam. Charlie Sheen's character is Oliver Stone. He and other crew had flashbacks while making the movie. Oliver Stone had a major flashback during the village scene where he had an emotional breakdown and they had to stop for the day.
The village scene is based on the My Lai Massacre. Oliver Stone wasn't there when that happened.
@bloodymarvelous4790 there were many village massacres throughout Vietnam. There a video where he said he watched fellow soldiers raping women and a couple kids, and he almost killed a dude to get him to stop. He didn't say where it happened just that it happened and then said I don't like to talk about that stuff on camera so they moved on.
Was gonna say there were MANY My Lai’s. Operation Speedy Express - became army policy to declare certain areas as free fire zones and basically anything you shot was fair game including civilians all so that the media could celebrate the “all important” body count of enemy killed.
As brutal as it was the village actually got off rather easy. They were a confirmed VC village, were clearly giving material aide and comfort to enemy forces, had killed an American soldier (ie Manny), resisted lawful search and inspection. The fact that the village had kidnapped and killed an American GI would have been enough to revoke the villages protection under 1954 Geneva Conventions. Not saying it wasn’t brutal, but there were many villages that had suffered waaay worse for less.
Vietnamese civilians were killed by Americans and The V.C. both.
@@bloodymarvelous4790Things like that happened all the time in Vietnam, My Lai wasn’t an isolated incident.
Barnes: "Everybody gotta die sometime Red" .... Hard thing to hear, but he was absolutely correct
"Casualties of War" and "Hamburger Hill" next.
Just remember that Hamburger Hill is a movie that even goes harder than Platoon. It does not shy away from showing you what high velocity rounds do to a human.
Casualties of war an absolute ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ brutal disgusting movie
Coming Home
I think Casualties Of War will give Ames a breakdown: how about Born On The Fourth Of July and Hamburger Hill..?
Hamburger Hill was my dad's favorite of the '80s Vietnam movies. He an infantryman humping an M-60 while serving in Vietnam. Thankful he shared some of his stories with me.
Platoon is the funniest joke in The Naked Gun 🤣
My father was a Choctaw Indian who had never left the reservation until the war. He became an Army Engineer in WW2 and had to bury hundreds of thousands of concentration camp victims with a bulldozer. He came home a violent alcoholic and was till the day he died. My older brother is a decorated Army Veteran and came back from Vietnam so messed up and full of rage that I had to physically prevent him from killing every person with an oriental face that he saw. He now lives in the desert by himself and does nothing but stay high and drunk. I haven't seen him in years What a waste. I got out of the Army in 1972 and joined the peace movement, but it was too late for him. My ex Marine brother in law was my best friend. He did 3 tours in Vietnam (13 months for Marines) and now lives in the woods somewhere in Washington state. They all needed help that they never got. Please help your veterans to get over their trauma. They deserve more for their sacrifices.
Thank you for sharing this story sir.
Damn. That's rough. My Grandfather fought against the Japanese in Papua New Guinea in WWII and had a very similar outcome. l'm an Australian, but l would love to see President Elect Trump to ask actor Gary Sinise who has done amazing work building state of the art homes for severely wounded veterans through the Gary Sinise foundation and also entertaining troops abroad with his band, to oversee a reformation of Veteran Affairs. All veterans should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity when they return from active duty and need physical or mental help.
“War don't ennoble men, it turns 'em into dogs. It poisons the soul.”
― James Jones, The Thin Red Line
What reservation?
Corey Glover the dude that stabbed himself at the end is also the lead singer of the band Living Color. I believe he is Danny Glover's son as well.
Both Apocalypse Now and Platoon are difficult movies to watch. The hardest Vietnam war film to watch is The Killing Fields (1984) Some reaction channels just stop watching because of the brutality and cruelty. If you decide to watch be prepared. It's an unforgettable film and an incredible ending.
The Killing Fields is not set during the Vietnam war, its in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge uprising under Pol Pot!
@@tsrgoinc Thank you. I was about to make the same comment. It's annoying when people make such inaccurate comments without checking historical facts first.
@@cliffwheeler7357 I actually was going to respond but since both of you assumed I'm connecting the Vietnam war with The Killing Fields film. I will point out that The Killing Fields was released DURING the 80s era of Vietnam war movies. Historically separated but connected in the film era. I may have to hand out crayons and blank papers next time. Cheers!
@@yesfed2730reread what you initially posted. You referred to The Killing Fields as a Vietnam War film, which it most certainly wasn’t.
Film was shot in the Philippines
Your mixed emotions here are spot-on, Ames. You absolutely get it as intended.
Thanks for watching 🥹
Yeah it's hard a movie to react to imo she did great tho
hey can you please put gloves on and do a reaction to the movie Austin powers international man of mystery
Tom Berenger worked opposite to Charlie Sheen in the Major League movies and Tom also made the movie The Last Of The Dogmen. You may like that flick.
I like how Platoon's reputation for being such a dark and emotional film made The Naked Gun movie even funnier with the scene that has Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley on their date coming out of the theatre laughing hystercally like they had just watched a comedy but they had watched Platoon like it didn't even phase them!
There are various Vietnam films showing the American war. Platoon was one of those that showed a turning point in the war before things took a real downturn. If you look at the difference between Mel Gibson's we were soldiers, platoon, full metal jacket, And a few others they show the progression or rather digression that the Americans made throughout their war. At first trying to fight a traditional Army V Army War and then slowly adjusting to a war that they knew they couldn't win against a professional and well trained enemy. Their adjustment or lack of it in tactics over the first four years of the war sealed their fate. in contrast looking at two Australian films about the same war a few angry shots and danger close so shows a very different side of the same War. of course that should never have been fought in the first place.
Charlie Sheen & Martin Sheen read letters home aloud in intro's to son's "Platoon" & Dad's "Apocalypse Now" 'Nam War epics as Stone's tribute to Coppola: '78 & '87!
Don’t forget hot shots “I loved you in Wall Street!’ 😉
@watts18269 Yup! Dad on 'Nam fast-attack river boat as in "Apoc' Now" to son on dock as 'Rambo':
"Hot Shots: Part Deux"! 👍😜👍
Born on the 4th of July is a fucking tough ass movie to get through with Tom Cruise in it😢 and what it would be like to be a veteran survivor and coming back home kind of storyline it's an interesting one it's a very underrated Tom Cruise movie back in the day❤
Platoon is a very hard movie to watch because it shows you what the soldiers go through daily and what they go through with each other to combat the choices they make over there❤
I hated this movie too. It portrayed the US military as either a bunch of druggies or booze hounds who were as likely to shoot each other as the enemy. I especially hated the scenes where soldiers were terrorizing innocent villagers including little kids.
All those atrocities were actually perpetrated by US troops... as well as a lot of other war crimes committed by America.
20:33 If you feel that way, then you should watch Casualties of War (1989).
Forrest Whitaker is on screen for like five minutes and is still memorable as Big Earl. No wonder his career took off not long after this film's release.
My favorite scene in Naked Gun is the music video montage where Frank and Jane are walking out of a theater laughing joyfully as the Marquee above reads “Platoon”. When I saw this back in the day, the theatre felt like a funeral procession.
...which reminds me of "Salvador", wow, that's a really powerful film, also by Oliver Stone. maybe his best.
This was the first film of Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy. There's also Born on the 4th of July and Heaven and Earth. All 3 are excellent films even though they pushed all my anxiety buttons. haha
Casualties of War (1989) -- That one is really gonna get ya...
Casualties of War is a tough one too, starring Michael J Fox.
You should watch Casualties of War, with Sean Penn and Michael J Fox. Its a true Vietnam War story. Great movie.
WAR IS A RACKET ~Gen Smedley Butler ~
. . .what a ride . .
Much love to you ♥️🙏✌👍
BTW, I've seen many film reactions from female critics of this and other war films. But very few had realized just how fortunate women are that they have never been subject to military draft during war time. If you were a young woman, your future was never snatched away from you by the government and you were hauled off to a foreign land to fight and die a horrific death, like many men were. I'm old enough to remember my own mother was so sad, watching the busses of all the young draftees driving away to boot camp (I was too young and by the time I was old enough, the war was over).
Oliver Stone has two other Vietnam movies, "Born on the 4th of July" and "Heaven and Earth".
Sgt Barnes, the greatest villain and hero of any film.
Absolutely. He is a man you would be glad was on your side during a fight.
Rhah told Chris, "The Only Thing That Can Kill Barnes Is Barnes." At the end, Chris's face was scarred, like Barnes's. So he had become Barnes, and thus he was able to kill Barnes.
Platoon and The Deer Hunter aren’t easy movies to sit through, but they always stay with you
Deer Hunter is a unique vibe. It’s hard to describe
@ a big epic about four guys
"Which is interesting because his dad did Apocalypse Now..."
If you've seen Rambo 2, you really need to bump Hot Shots: Part Deux up your watchlist.
This is a great movie. But the best Vietnam movie is Hamburger Hill. I definitely recommend doing a reaction to it
This.
One of the if not the best war movie ever made.
My dad’s father who served in the Korea war as a medic told him this movie portrayed how war really was..
Never got to meet him but still respect him just as much 🫡
Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings is used with such amazing effect in this film.
Well now, tropic thunder is now a must.. 😂
I’ve seen it when it came out but now I feel like it would BE even funnier after seeing this
ANOTHER request for Tropic Thunder? I don’t believe you people…
@@alexfilma16 it lightens the mood.. this movie is pretty heavy
@@tstumpf75 Well, that reference went right over your head.
@@alexfilma16 arggghhhhh
Hello Hold Down A, did you recognize former Soldier Dale Dye in this movie? He played Colonel Sink in " The Band of Brothers ". He was in other war films in this era. " Born on the fourth of July " for one.
Think about how hot and sweaty topped off with humidity it was.
As we head into Remembrance day, "They shall not grow old" by Peter Jackson, to me, is a must watch.
Platoon is in a way an antiwar movie. It is about the madness of war and in particular of the vietnam war.. The dialogue at the end of the movie by the charlie sheen character says it all.
Ames needs to learn about My Lai, maybe a documentary for a reaction vid.
The industrial band Ministry used a lot of sound bites from this and Full Metal Jacket.
I really hate to be that guy but it's Will"EM" not William Dafoe
In pronunciation you’d be correct but I’ll be that guy and correct you in that Willem is the Dutch pronunciation of William and he was born William James Dafoe.
Willem is his stage name. His given name is William. Both are fine imo, and the actor doesn't mind either. It's mainly for differentiation like Topher Grace, who's given name is Christopher. And as an aside, Willem is the Dutch spelling for William.
I said the same thing hahaha it's like calling Charlie Sheen Charles Sheen....hah close but so disrespectful to keep calling someone their wrong name when it's not hard. These are very basic names lol
I remember seeing this in the theater with 3 other people. We were supposed to go out afterwards for drinks but all of us were not in the mood after seeing this film.
Okay. Now, to get over your trauma, watch Tropic Thunder. It will help you get over this and make you laugh
41:19 Captain Dale Dye had a genuine reaction in that moment, as he is a Vietnam combat veteran. He was the technical advisor of the film, putting the actors through boot camp weeks before filming began.
Charlie Sheen and Martin Sheen recreated a scene from Apocalypse Now in the parody movie Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993).
Great reaction to a great movie. Yeah some difficult scenes . War is difficult sometimes. I’m a former Marine but this is my favorite war movie. Not a love story for sure. 👏👏 Semper Fi. Happy Veterans Day Vets. 👏🥰
My favorite Vietnam War movie.
Side note: Corey Glover, who plays Francis in this (the guy Chris shares the foxhole with in the last battle) is also the lead singer of Living Color, the band who put out the song Cult of Personality in 1988.
16:32 The Filipino kid who played that actor with one eye and one leg. After they wrapped shooting Charlie Sheen and Kevin Dillon, the guy who killed him in the movie, paid to have his eyes fixed
The company captain with the southern accent is Captain Dale Dye, USMC Ret.
You have seen him before as Colonel Sink in "Band of Brothers, and in "Saving Private Ryan", and "Starship Troopers".
I like this video because she seems to feel exactly what I felt when I saw the village scene the first time.
Platoon is one of the absolute best movies ever made. It's probably my favorite war movie ever. The portrayals of Taylor, Barnes, Ellias, Bunny, Junior, King, and O'Neil were acted out superbly.
One thing you may not be aware of is that Oliver Stone is a Vietnam veteran. The final scene with Dale Dye it's perhaps one of the most moving scenes because of the thousand yard stare. Only a veteran would recognize it, once you have it you never lose it, enough said.
i saw this movie with a pal and his VN Vet father opening night. His father went in upbeat. we left and he wouldn't say anything in the car. he wouldnt talk at home for three days.
my two uncles before passing who were both vietnam vets said that this movie took them back to the year they were in I corp with the marines. both had purple hearts and were lucky to come home.
Translator = Written
Interpreter = Verbal. 😊
My wife works in the courts and goes nuts when she hears these things.
I love your reaction vids btw 👍🏼👍🏼
If you see Tropic Thunder, the scene with William Defoe's fate is parodied there. He got shot 100 times. Guys were wasting bullets at some point.
Great review, and commentary. For my part I was visiting Washington (I am from Ireland) and I went to the war monument, and there was a candle lit commemoration of the soldiers that died in Vietnam. I very innocently and perhaps naively approached a man, he told me was a veteran, I wasked was it bad, and he said yes. In that one word I didnt need to know anymore, the look on his face was of pain.
It hink the word "authentic" is indeed the way to describe this film. Oliver Stone used his own experiences to make this the most realistic depiction of war, probably to this day. Just like from the soldier's perspective, it's less about politics and more about the value of morality and keeping one's humanity. It's harder to watch as I get older but may be a necessary reminder of how bad war really is.
People say this is the most realistic VN movie. It's based on Stones actually experience in the war.
Another good VN movie from this time period with multiple future stars in it is Hamburger Hill. Its part Platoon, part Full Metal Jacket but closer to Platoon.
Fun fact: Keith David grabbed Charlie Sheen and kept him from falling out of a helicopter during the shoot.
I admire your take on this movie and how you explained your experience. Aside from the horrors, Oliver Stone really captured the internal perspective of how soldiers from different parts of the country and all walks of life collide when we’re all stuck together and serving overseas. Love and hate.
This is a truly great film… It conjures a full range of feelings and emotions … I always feel devastated and spent at the end…
When Platoon came out, I saw it in the theater. Every so often a Viet Nam Vet would scream out at the screen. It was said that this movie was so realistic of what it was like in Viet Nam, the only thing missing was the smell.