Best Vietnam Film ever?

I immediately thought of the two you mention (Apocalypse now (although that was 70's) and Full Metal Jacket.  I think Full Metal Jacket probably is the winner for me.  Absolutely gripping.  Leaves you with a real bad feeling, which is exactly what it was supposed to do.

oooh, flashback - many years ago wrote a university essay on Vietnam war films, and what they tell you about American history (and even more importantly America's  evolving attitude towards its own history).

One thing I can tell you (with the benefit of having studied the period) is that the John Wayne film The Green Berets - made when America just assumed it would walk the conflict - isn't the most accurate 

Apocalyse Now - Redux is aweome IMO, and oddly enough, Good Morning Vietnam stands up strangely well.

Full Metal Jacket and We Were Soldiers also stand out. 

Clare Newsome:

oooh, flashback - many years ago wrote a university essay on Vietnam war films, and what they tell you about American history (and even more importantly America's  evolving attitude towards its own history).

One thing I can tell you (with the benefit of having studied the period) is that the John Wayne film The Green Berets - made when America just assumed it would walk the conflict - isn't the most accurate 

Apocalyse Now - Redux is aweome IMO, and oddly enough, Good Morning Vietnam stands up strangely well.

Full Metal Jacket and We Were Soldiers also stand out. 

 

 

+1 for Good Morning Vietnam, might be a problem if you can't stand Robin Williams though.

Platoon?

I remember the Deerhunter as a great film but on re-watching, very slow in parts.

Looks like im going to have to watch Apocalypse Now again. Has been possibly 15 years, and Deerhunter thats been ages too. Remember Platoon though. Glad to have picked up on these again as so much CG and IMO poorer scripting than when a film had to have just a great story to succeed. 

Loved the fact that Full Metal Jacket was respectful of the enemies abilities, and having to kill the female sniper- Could you have done it? Genius

What about the Chuck Norris films about rescuing prisoners.

Difficult to answer this as the Vietnamese film industry has been quiet over the last couple of years.

My vote would go to The Scent of the Green Papaya.

American films about the Vietnam war tend to be more about their own guilt than anything else, and I'm not aware of any Vietnamese films depicting the war that are available in English. 

Clare Newsome:

Apocalyse Now - Redux is aweome IMO, and oddly enough, Good Morning Vietnam stands up strangely well.

I got really excited when Redux came out, expecting it to be even better, but I watched it and came away just thinking, I realised why they had removed the extra scenes!  In my opinion, they didnt really add much, and were a bit slow.  But thats just me. 

I think Brian De Palma's Casualties Of War is a fairly disturbing tale from the Vietnam war, well worth a watch.

I don't think I've seen Apocalypse Now Redux, the original cut is a cracking film though.

JamesOK:

Clare Newsome:

Apocalyse Now - Redux is aweome IMO, and oddly enough, Good Morning Vietnam stands up strangely well.

I got really excited when Redux came out, expecting it to be even better, but I watched it and came away just thinking, I realised why they had removed the extra scenes!  In my opinion, they didnt really add much, and were a bit slow.  But thats just me. 

James, it's not just you, original cut still wins it for me also and for many reasons. Platoon is a good runner up.  

Not a big Vietnam film fan, I quite like BAT 21.

Own Apocalypse Now redux, but still haven't got round to watching it.

Full Metal Jacket is excellent, and IMO, the first part when they are in training is one of the greatest 30/40 minutes in cinema history 

Platoon and Good Morning Vietnam are both decent too

What about the killing fields i thought that was a good film 

We Were Soldiers - really gripping film, seldom gets a mention !