Platoon (Exclusive Series) (Tubi/Amazon Prime)

Initial release date: December 19, 1986

Studio: Orion Pictures

Tagline: The first casualty of war is innocence.

Plot: Chris Taylor leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Once he’s on the ground in the middle of battle, his idealism fades. Infighting in his unit between Staff Sergeant Barnes, who believes nearby villagers are harboring Viet Cong soldiers, and Sgt. Elias, who has a more sympathetic view of the locals, ends up pitting the soldiers against each other as well as against the enemy.

Cast

Keith David (21 Bridges) - King

Forest Whitaker (Respect) - Big Harold

Francesco Quinn (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) - Rhah

Kevin Dillon (Buddy Games) - Bunny

John C. McGinley (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) - Sgt O’Neill

Reggie Johnson - Junior

Mark Moses (Bombshell) - Lt. Wolfe

Corey Glover - Francis

Johnny Depp (City of Lies) - Lerner

Chris Pederson - Crawford

Bob Orwig (JFK) - Gardner

Tom Berenger - Sgt. Barnes

Willem Dafoe (The French Dispatch) - Sgt. Elias

Charlie Sheen - Chris

Writer/director: Oliver Stone (Snowden; Savages; Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps)

Rated R (2 hours)

Oliver Stone’s 1986 film ‘Platoon’ is, without a doubt, one of the most emotionally charged Vietnam films ever released. There are several moments that are extremely powerful and hard to watch at times.

The performances from all of the actors are really incredible and memorable. Some of the Vietnam sequences can also be very hard to watch and shows some of the raw side of the Vietnam War. Some of the musical score that was used for the film also helped with the powerful moments of the film.

There are also quite a few moments scattered throughout the film, especially the ending, that are both tense and, at times, frightening. Just seeing Charlie Sheen’s character (a fresh faced soldier) break down at the end is also very powerful). One of the things that are hard to watch is showing how some of the soldiers there have changed between when they first arrived in Vietnam to how they are towards the end of their time there.

‘Platoon’ is available on both Amazon Prime and the Tubi app for free. Also available to rent through YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV and Vudu.

Here are quite a few interesting tidbits about ‘Platoon’:

• According to Oliver Stone, he intentionally cast Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe against type (Berenger, who plays the ruthless, sadistic Barnes, was mostly famous at that point for playing good guys, while Dafoe, who had primarily played villains up until then, played the heroic, compassionate Elias). The casting worked, and both received Oscar nominations for their work.

• In many US military leadership classes, the character of Lt. Wolfe is used as an example of how not to behave as a junior officer.

• Before shooting commenced, all of the actors has to undergo an intensive two week basic training in the Philippines under the supervision of military adviser Dale Dye. Stone’s intention wasn’t to have the men bond and act as one unit, but to deprive them of sleep, and make them utterly exhausted, so that they would be burnt out, and therefore in character.

• Stone wrote the first draft of ‘Platoon’ in 1971, and sent it to Jim Morrison in hopes that he would play the part Sheen would ultimately play. Morrison had the script on him when he was found dead in Paris.

• With this movie, Stone became the first Vietnam vet to direct a motion picture about the Vietnam War.

• The movie poster depicting Elias with his hands in the air is a recreation of a 1968 photograph by Art Greenspan. This photo was recognized as the 13th greatest military photograph in a Sept. 2020 issue of the Army/Navy/AF Time.

• The final battle in the movie was a recreation of an actual event that was witnessed by technical adviser Dale Dye, who was a combat correspondent with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines.

• Vietnam banned the film because of its depiction of the Vietnamese. Malaysia banned it for excessive profanity and violence.

• First part of Oliver Stone’s “Vietnam Trilogy.” The other two are ‘Heaven & Earth’ (1993’ and ‘Born on the Fourth of July’ (1989). Many of the ‘Platoon’ actors have bit parts in ‘Born.’

• Was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2019.

• In 2007, the AFI ranked this as the 86th Greatest Movie of All Time.

• After his tour of duty in the Vietnam War ended in 1968, Stone wrote a screenplay called ‘Break,’ a semi-autobiographical account detailing his experiences with his parents and his time in the war. Although ‘Break’ was never produced, he later used it as the basis of this film.

• In its 7th weekend of release, the film expanded from 214 theaters to 590 and became No. 1 at the US box office with a gross of $8,352,394. It remained No. 1 for four weekends. In its 9th weekend, it grossed $12.9 million from 1,194 theaters over the four day President’s Day weekend being the first film to gross more than $10 million in a weekend in February and setting a new record for the studio Orion Pictures.

https://youtu.be/hGsyEkfjhQk