it’s an iconic war and it inspired some
awesome movies you know where we are
when you have any idea welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 Vietnam
War movies for this list we’re looking
at movies with excellent stories acting
and special effects where the primary
action and plotline are built around the
Vietnam War movies that contain only
individual scenes or small references
don’t count number 10 we were soldiers
Eddie’s gentlemen
focusing mainly on the Battle of Ia
Drang this film has Mel Gibson in the
midst of carnage as Lieutenant Colonel
Hal Moore he leads a battalion of
soldiers into the fray and pledges to
bring every one of them back alive or
dead when we go into battle I will be
the first to set foot on the field
and I’ll be the last to step off Colonel
Moore is a real person a soldier who’d
never seen a war film get it right and
the movie is based upon his memoirs it’s
a true tale of heroic men and a tragic
war told with human characters and
realistic battle sequences ember nine
casualties of war songs getting laid and
words a fair man you know a portrayal of
the incident on Hill 192 this movie
tackles the war from an alternative
perspective the casualty of the title
largely refers to a young Vietnamese
woman tran t1
kidnapped by an American Patrol she’s
kept as a sex slave raped and beaten
Michael J Fox as private Erickson is our
hero working to expose the soldiers and
their crime but this movie still leaves
a bad taste luring the lines between the
good guys and the bad and highlighting
the dehumanizing effects war can have
what do we do inside you can custom rate
OBC suspect is that what you’re talking
about
number 8 rescue Don come on where are
you
as fighter pilot dieter Dengler is shot
down and captured by opposition forces
the end seems near before this movie has
even begun when he finds himself in a
torture camp we’re left wondering
whether he might have been better off
dying in the crash but dengler is tough
and proud
so do the dead he won’t condemn the US
he won’t give up his life and his daring
escape attempt is thrilling to watch but
instead of turning rescue Don into an
action adventure director Verna Herzog
focuses on fear and the least glamorous
aspects of war
number seven hamburger hill assault
after assault firefight after firefight
this movie does not let up using largely
unknown actors hamburger hill charts the
efforts of a mismatched battalion as
they go against North Vietnamese forces
over Hill 937 also known as hamburger
hill a group of archetypal characters
the majority don’t make it and for those
who do their lives are changed forever
written by a real-life Vietnam vet
hamburger hill was but one area in one
region of the war but this film makes
clear the widespread tragedy number six
born on the 4th of July
our dads got to go to ww2 this is our
chance to do something to be part of
history guys consider the second part of
Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War trilogy this
is an adaptation of Ron Kovic memoirs of
the same name Tom Cruise plays the
Vietnam veteran who goes from an
idealistic youngster to soldier and
ultimately is critically wounded in
support of his country but the film’s
message really begins when he returns
home anti-war protests American flag
burnings and family feud’s leave a
paralyzed Cruz to wonder what the point
of his injury really was the film asks
questions and demands a response number
5 good morning Vietnam behind every good
army is a good radio broadcaster at
least that’s the case here really Robin
Williams steps into the studio and plays
cheeky unabashedly chirpy wartime DJ
Adrian Cronauer and this is a tale not
of the war but of cronauer’s maturation
into a more well-rounded human than the
man who first stepped off the plane
unbelievable five months in Saigon best
friend turns out to be a VC Williams
edgy humor and honest opinions earn him
airplay on the frontline and an Academy
Award nomination this movie doesn’t make
light of Nam but it does show Saigon has
a smile than a strong cup of cappuccino
or espresso enema number four the deer
hunter upon release it was controversial
but over time it’s become a classic
Robert De Niro plays Staff Sergeant Mike
Bronski and he and two friends leave
America for the battlefields of Vietnam
as they’re captured and separated
Russian roulette becomes a way of life
don’t do it they’re gonna throw you in a
pit throw you in the pit you’re gonna
die the game which involves gambling
with human life is big business a
metaphor for the war and Mike and his
pals become main players
huh in this film that covers many themes
and questions the stakes have rarely
been higher and neither has the tension
baby come down number three
platoon the first of his a fir mentioned
trilogy platoon is one of Vietnam
veteran Oliver Stone’s most notable
movies a brutal analysis of the battle
itself and of the effects it can have on
good people it’s a film that is
sometimes hard to watch and that doesn’t
glorify battle the platoon of the title
is put through hell and they emerge out
of it as different men some have lost
limbs some have lost minds first time is
definitely turned for you moon but it’s
the personal tension between these troop
members that truly makes for heart in
mouth cinema
number two Full Metal Jacket our
runner-up and a roller coaster watch
this Stanley Kubrick movie has two
distinct sections training for Nam and
fighting in Nam but in between
it shows the psychological torture
inflicted on those willing to Don the
uniform
I am gunnery sergeant Hartman your
senior drill instructor from now on you
will speak only when spoken to and the
first and last words out of here filthy
sewers will be served
hey you maggots understand that sergeant
Hartman steals the show until the
infamous latrine scene what is your
major malfunction numbnuts didn’t mommy
and daddy show you enough attention and
private Joker’s journey to the
thousand-yard stare is as devastatingly
accurate as a Vietnam flick is ever
likely to get those live rounds seven
six two millimeter
full-metal-jacket a movie that has you
reminding yourself that this war did
actually happen Full Metal Jacket is
full-on but fantastic before we unveil
our top pick here are a few honorable
mentions hi welcome to the bridal suite
of the Hanoi Hilton how come you’re so
relaxed ma’am maybe you don’t get this
but when you die that’s it all right
it’s over and the story blackness yeah
they stick you in a box cover you up
with dirt don’t even let you out of it
for weekends
funny thing fella takes one of these
into battle and by the grace of God he
comes out one piece number one
Apocalypse Now
in the morning Francis Ford Coppola
Joseph Conrad adaptation is a ruthless
journey into the center of Vietnam and
the soul of man himself every man has
got a breaking point you and I have Paul
Kurtz has reached his very obviously he
has gone insane with an all to
appropriate shift in setting heart of
darkness is taken from 1880s Africa and
transplanted into 1960s Nam they had
only two ways home death victory some
things haven’t changed
Marlon Brando’s villains still answers
to the name Kurtz and some things are
different Conrad didn’t feature playboy
girls but the overriding message is
clear in this painstaking recreation of
Vietnam human beings can turn very very
bad and war is more devastating than you
can imagine
do you agree with our list which Vietnam
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