Platoon 1986
Won four Oscars including Best Picture; Oliver Stone spent a decade getting it made and called it a catharsis.
The Big Picture · Discussion
1. Give ’Em Hell | Do We Get to Win This Time?
August 8, 2023/ 40 min/ Brian Raftery
Episode 1 of Brian Raftery's Vietnam-on-film series: how Hollywood spent a decade dodging the war, from the WWII pictures that romanticized combat to John Wayne's Green Berets and the documentaries no studio would touch.
16 films across 4 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Platoon breaks the sealThe 1987 Oscars and the wave that followed
Hollywood's early Vietnam flopsBefore The Green Berets, nobody could sell the war
A Yank in Vietnam 1964
Marshall Thompson traveled to Saigon to direct and star, and was grazed by gunfire on set. The film is now completely lost.
The Ugly American 1963
Marlon Brando in a thriller set in a fictitious Southeast Asian stand-in for Vietnam, much of it shot in Thailand.
Operation CIA 1965
Burt Reynolds as an undercover agent in Saigon; barely a Vietnam movie, at one point he fights a boa constrictor.
The Quiet American 1958
Mankiewicz's adaptation of the Graham Greene novel; the role Kieu Chinh couldn't take went to an Italian actor.
John Wayne makes The Green BeretsFor years, the only studio movie about Vietnam
The Green Berets 1968
Wayne produced, starred in, and co-directed it, securing tanks, planes and troops from the Pentagon in exchange for script approval. Critics savaged it and Wayne himself later called it propaganda, but it was one of the biggest hits of 1968.
The documentaries that fought backAnti-war films no distributor wanted
In the Year of the Pig 1969
Emil de Antonio's doc drew bomb threats and had 'traitors' painted across a screen; an Oscar nomination still couldn't get it a wide release.
Winter Soldier 1972
Vets testifying to atrocities over a weekend in Detroit, with a brief cameo from a young John Kerry. Played Cannes; no U.S. distributor picked it up.
A Face of War 1968
The Anderson Platoon 1967
Won the Academy Award for documentary.
Hearts and Minds 1974
Peter Davis's million-dollar doc; Columbia got cold feet and Warner released it. Its 1975 Best Documentary win set off producer Bert Schneider's on-air message from the Viet Cong and Bob Hope's furious rebuttal.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Hollywood's WWII movies CasablancaThe Great EscapeThe Dirty DozenThe Bridge on the River KwaiInvisible AgentThe Longest Day
Late-'60s escapism The Odd CoupleFunny GirlThe Love Bug
In passing All About EveThe Philadelphia StoryHellcats of the NavyThis Is the ArmyEasy RiderThe Last Picture ShowRosemary's BabyPlanet of the Apes
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
Books The Sympathizer
Podcasts 22 GoalsJust Like UsGene and Roger
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