queso1 said:

---

Presley OBannons Sword said:

---

JABQ04 said:

---

I used to only enjoy the 1st part of FMJ, but now I enjoy the 2nd half. I don't know if the boot camp portion is over played, over stereotyped, or what but the Vietnam part is really well done.

---

It's also not even close to what Marine boot camp is actually like.

Plus the second half has Animal Mother.

---

Some would say the first half did too.

---

lol. I googled this because I wasn't sure what you were talking about. and guess where that google search led me....? right back to texags.

I remember The Boys inCompany C
Probably a quick run to beat Appcolype now to market . I remember it being better than it probably was

Presley OBannons Sword said:

---

Be advised, we got zips in the wire down here.

---

This one is pretty much guaranteed to get uttered when my golf buddies and I get stuck behind a group of slow-playing asians (which is redundant).

According to my dad who was in boot camp around in 65, the boot camp part of FMJ is about as close as you can get with still having an R rating. Corporal punishment was very much alive and well in boot camp and in the fmf.

Anyone remember Tour of Duty?

Yes, I watched Tour of Duty probably every week.

I guess in the 80's and early 90's we were hitting different 20 year milestones on big Vietnam events, which would explain the proliferation of vietnam themed movies and TV shows. In retrospect, I was exposed to a whole lot of fiction and history related to Vietnam in elementary and middle school years. China Beach might have given me my one of my first TV lady crushes.

Vietnam war was just a little before my time but having just gotten back from Vietnam for work and touring the Mekong Delta and Cu Chi tunnels while I was there, I feel for our guys who had to serve over there. What a hellhole of a place to fight a war against a cruel insurgent force.

(Re)Watched Good Morning Vietnam on the flight back home and appreciated that film even more.

Stive said:

---

Same for me on Adagio with Strings. Tracks of my Tears is also completely slotted for me.

---

Agreed. The soundtrack is amazing and I can never disassociate Adagio with Strings from Platoon. The most haunting score to a movie in my lifetime. IMO of course.

Ag 11 said:

---

Anyone remember Tour of Duty?

---

Yes. I had to beg my dad to let me stay up to watch it on school nights. Great show, at least to me as tween/teen.

redag06 said:

---

According to my dad who was in boot camp around in 65, the boot camp part of FMJ is about as close as you can get with still having an R rating. Corporal punishment was very much alive and well in boot camp and in the fmf.

---

Real Marine boot camp is about a hundred times more intense than FMJ.

But I'll grant you that in 65 it was a more "hands on" approach

Ag 11 said:

---

Anyone remember Tour of Duty?

---

Going with the Adagio for Strings nostalgia I would add I can't hear Painted Black without think of Tour of Duty. I also spent a lot of time with two uncles that never talked openly about their time in nam. However, they really liked watching these movies and would mention things whether they be inaccurate depictions or spot on moments in a movie. I absolutely remember Hamburger Hill being the clear favorite and them both not really liking Oliver Stone at all. I always loved FMJ ( my most quoted movie with my friends ) especially the second half . The final interior monologue by Charlie Sheen in platoon is such a great ending with the Adagio playing it's just such a great scene .

Siege at Firebase Gloria is pretty good

Can't believe I saw somebody else cite the movie Uncommon Valor.

I bet I've seen that movie six hundred times. It was my old man's favorite movie.

"Most human problems can be solved by an appropriate charge of high explosives."

"Man, I'm so far beyond that **** now. I get energy from the air. I talk to polar bears. I converse with paramecium. Man, I **** nuclear waste."

Why aren't there more movies about Vietnam? There are so many amazing stories throughout the conflict. The entire situation had so many layers to it that I find it one of the most interesting historical events.

I think some factors influencing why we haven't seen more Vietnam films is that it is still is an open wound on the hearts of many Americans. Making it a delicate topic to tackle. Also, it's not like WWII, in that, there is a clear and decisive victor over a super established villain.

Regardless, I'm hoping that someday we get the Saving Private Ryan epic covering the Vietnam War.

MJ20/20 said:

---

Why aren't there more movies about Vietnam? There are so many amazing stories throughout the conflict. The entire situation had so many layers to it that I find it one of the most interesting historical events.

I think some factors influencing why we haven't seen more Vietnam films is that it is still is an open wound on the hearts of many Americans. Making it a delicate topic to tackle. Also, it's not like WWII, in that, there is a clear and decisive victor over a super established villain.

Regardless, I'm hoping that someday we get the Saving Private Ryan epic covering the Vietnam War.

---

But what epic event from the Vietnam War would they make a movie about? There weren't that many epic events, from a Hollywood perspective.

A movie about Dien Bien Phu could be pretty epic though.

I think there are many stories buried in the burden of the conflict that have never been told. Like the seige at Khe San / Khe San ghost patrol, Dai Do, Dak To, Pleiku, Tet. The 5th Special Forces Group had 16 Medal of Honor recipients in Vietnam, there's got to be something to work with there. I'd like to see a movie that honors and celebrates the efforts of our men, in their achievements, rather than dwell on the politics of whether or not we should have been there in the first place. That may be expecting a lot out of Hollywood though.

The film doesn't hold up well over time, either.

The Ken Burns series on Vietnam is riveting. Heartbreaking.

A Band of Brothers type series about a platoon during their time in Vietnam could be doable. So many primary accounts and so much was filmed by news crews, military cameramen, and even Soldiers own personal cameras. I think Vietnam was covered better by written accounts than WWII, and with so many veterans still surviving lots of good source material.

Dien Bien Phu would make an excellent movie. "Hell in a very small place" by Bernard B Fall is a great book about it if you haven't read it.

It's surprising we don't have near as many movies about Vietnam as WWII. It can only be due to the public's opinion about the war right?

Schall 02 said:

---

The Ken Burns series on Vietnam is riveting. Heartbreaking.

---

So heartbreaking. His series on the Civil War was epic... that war felt like something our nation had to go through to survive. The series on the Vietnam war was heartbreaking because it was not something we had to go through.