Movie-A-Day #189: Platoon

[KingLouieLouie]

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I'm shocked that noone has dedicated a "movie-a-day" on personally to me is the best war movie of all-time, so I finally had to put an immediate end to this "madness"....Thanks again to Amazon.com for the following:

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
Platoon put writer-turned-director Oliver Stone on the Hollywood map; it is still his most acclaimed and effective film, probably because it is based on Stone's firsthand experience as an American soldier in Vietnam. Chris (Charlie Sheen) is an infantryman whose loyalty is tested by two superior officers: Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), a former hippie humanist who really cares about his men (this was a few years before he played Jesus in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ), and Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), a moody, macho soldier who may have gone over to the dark side. The personalities of the two sergeants correspond to their combat drugs of choice--pot for Elias and booze for Barnes. Stone has become known for his sledgehammer visual style, but in this film it seems perfectly appropriate. His violent and disorienting images have a terrifying immediacy, a you-are-there quality that gives you a sense of how things may have felt to an infantryman in the jungles of Vietnam. Platoon won Oscars for best picture and director. --Jim Emerson --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.

Personal Note: What else can be said about "Platoon" that already hasn't? I saw it in the theatre when it first came to the "big-screen" (1986), and I was spellbounded.....It certainly piqued my interest about the Vietnam War, and I recall distinctly going to video stores and renting several series of documentaries regarding the war..... Oliver Stone certainly deserved all the accolades from this movie, and Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger were obviously sensational in their roles.....There have been a few war related movies to somewhat rival "Platoon", but personally none to me that can outclass-outmatch it......

 

[maddogkf]

This is one of my favorite movies.

The scene where they are in ambush at night, and the VK sneaks up on them when it's almost too late always sends a chill down my spine.

I thought Sheen, Berenger, & DaFoe all were excellent in this movie.

 

[Shane]

I love that scene too!

One of my favorite war movies ever. I watch it all the time!

 

[Bada0Bing]

I rewatched this for the first time since renting it on vhs in '88 as a kid. Waaay different perspective watching as an adult.


A bit of trivia:
Oliver Stone wrote the first draft of Platoon in 1971, and sent it to Jim Morrison in hopes that he would play the part Charlie Sheen would ultimately play. Morrison had the script on him when he was found dead in Paris. It is unknown whether he would have been cast had he lived. However, Stone eventually made The Doors (1991) based on Morrison's life.