WAR AT ITS WORST. MEN AT THEIR BEST.
A year after Platoon (1986) came this Vietnam War movie depicting one of its more senseless battles, the one for Hamburger Hill in 1969, from the perspective of 3rd Battalion troops. The approach is earnest, as several of the people behind the camera had personal experiences from the war, and the cast (largely unknown at the time) is dedicated. This is war at its cruelest and bloodiest, and there’s even some degree of politics in how the soldiers are depicted. Very intense, but directed with a sledgehammer and curiously uninvolving.
1987-U.S. 110 min. Color. Directed by John Irvin. Screenplay: James Carabatsos. Music: Philip Glass. Cast: Anthony Barrile (Vincent “Alphabet” Languili), Michael Boatman (Ray Motown), Don Cheadle (Johnny Washburn), Michael Dolan, Don James, Dylan McDermott… Steven Weber.
