Oliver had been trying to do Platoon, or a version of Platoon for about 10 years, and couldn't get anybody to back him. The time wasn't right, sociologically, in the United States. Oliver never compromised, going through that long process of getting somebody to back him to make this film. He knew the reality of combat in Vietnam, so he was unwilling to compromise on anything. He absolutely wanted it to be the closest, emotional look at what men went through in Vietnam, in infantry companies, that he could possibly do. He never compromised that.

Link: Dale Dye Talks Platoon

The Blu Ray edition of Platoon is in my queue, so expect a review soon!  I dunno if I'll wind up buying this one, if it's a good enough improvement I just might.

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Platoon (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) List Price: $29.99 Sale Price: $7.74 You save: $22.25 (74%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Description

Winner* of 4 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, and based on the first-hand experience of Oscar®-winning director Oliver Stone, Platoon is powerful, intense and starkly brutal. "Harrowingly realistic and completely convincing" (Leonard Maltin), it is "a dark, unforgettable memorial" (The Washington Post) to every soldier whose innocence was lost in the war-torn jungles of Vietnam. Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is a young, naive American who, upon his arrival in Vietnam, quickly discovers that he must do battle not only with the Viet Cong, but also with the gnawing fear, physical exhaustion and intense anger growing within him. While his two commanding officers (Oscar®-nominated Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe) draw a fine line between the war they wage against the enemy and the one they fight with each other, the conflict, chaos and hatred permeate Taylor, suffocating his realities and numbing his feelings to man's highest value life.

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

DVD Information

Binding: Blu-ray
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Brand:
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Original Release Date:
Actors:

• Charlie Sheen
• Tom Berenger
• Willem Dafoe
• Keith David
• Forest Whitaker

Reviews

Related posts:

1. Dale Dye Speaks
2. Platoon (1986)

He admires the famed Omaha Beach opening -- "Probably the most
realistic battle sequence ever filmed," he said -- but described the
rest of "Saving Private Ryan" as "ghastly."

As a historical document, no, its not a true account of what happened, neither do I think it tries to be.  Not even close.  As a movie, though, with a pretty harsh message for those who understand it, I think its pretty damn good.

"It's sort of a 'Dirty Dozen' cliche of the worst form," he said.

He has expanded on the criticism in a lecture. "Spielberg's basic story line had great potential. It shows the tension between patriotic and therefore collective loyalty, and the struggle of the individual for survival: those mutually contradictory pressures, which in many ways lie at the heart of war," Beevor observed in the talk.

Although I think the comparison to "The Dirty Dozen" is completely unfair, the rest are good points....  "DD" was a great film, but for totally different reasons than "Ryan."  Apples and oranges.

So what does Beevor prefer in the way of a Hollywood treatment of D-Day? Another project Spielberg had a hand in, "Band of Brothers."

"On the whole I think [it] was pretty close to the truth," Beevor said of the 2001 HBO miniseries, which Spielberg and Tom Hanks executive produced. He called it "incomparably more realistic" than "Saving Private Ryan."

I'd also suggest that given a) There was a true-to-life body of work to pull upon (Ambrose's book) and b) There was 10+ hours of screen time to work with, vs. 3-ish for "Private Ryan"...  yeah,  you're going to get a better picture of what it was like.  You've got room to develop the characters, to follow through with more stories (nay the entire story), and actually get the facts right.  Personally I put the two on about equal footing, two sides of the same coin as it were.

I'd also venture to say that Mr. Beevor might've missed the point of "Ryan" entirely.  "Earn this," Captain Miller said.  There's your point, for all of us.  Metaphor can be a beautiful thing.

And the best war movie? Beevor looks away from Hollywood for his answer: 1965's "The 317th Platoon," a French film set during that country's war in Indochina.

I will have to turn up a copy of "The 317th Platoon" somewhere and give it a go.  Can't say its crossed my radar.  Going off that one line alone, it could prove an interesting viewpoint of a war just ended for the French, and just beginning for the US....

Link: D-Day historian: 'Ryan' not best war film - CNN.com

Related posts:

1. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
2. “Saving Private Ryan” Voted Best War Film
3. Private SNAFU – Booby Traps (1944)

So what's your answer?  Here's a few of theirs....

STEVE BILLINGSLEY, Fairborn: “It would be ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Glory,’ the Civil War movie.”

ALAKYA MATHANKERI, Kettering: “’Pearl Harbor.’ It just hit home because of the stuff we saw when we were in Hawaii. It was emotional, because the events took place in the States.”

LYNN SCHUTTE, Miamisburg: “’Patton.’ For the story line, and because George C. Scott was a great actor. It showed the life of a general and his shortcomings, as well as his attributes.”

Link: What is the best film ever made about the U.S. military? | Chatterbox

Related posts:

1. Ken Watanabe Directs Film about the 442nd?
2. Military Intelligence and You (2007)
3. Controversy over Rommel’s Film Portrayal
4. Penn to Star in Stone’s Next Vietnam Film?