Vietnam War Movies, best to worst
-must have a significant focus on the Vietnam War.
-Just having a character who's a Vietnam vet/gets sent to 'Nam, doesn't count.
-Having a significant amount of the film (10min+) set in the war automatically qualifies the movie.
-Veterans returning to Vietnam, post-war, to settle some business from the war (eg retrieving a P.O.W, etc) qualifies, too.
[Had to make up these criteria, coz there really aren't that many half-decent Vietnam movies; A handful of absolute CLASSICS... And then the rest are 90% either (1) great movies, only tangentially/briefly about Vietnam (The Deer Hunter,Bullet in the Head, Forrest Gump, Dead Presidents) (2) Largely set in Vietnam, but kinda trash (Uncommon Valor, MIA, Rambo, etc]
-Just having a character who's a Vietnam vet/gets sent to 'Nam, doesn't count.
-Having a significant amount of the film (10min+) set in the war automatically qualifies the movie.
-Veterans returning to Vietnam, post-war, to settle some business from the war (eg retrieving a P.O.W, etc) qualifies, too.
[Had to make up these criteria, coz there really aren't that many half-decent Vietnam movies; A handful of absolute CLASSICS... And then the rest are 90% either (1) great movies, only tangentially/briefly about Vietnam (The Deer Hunter,Bullet in the Head, Forrest Gump, Dead Presidents) (2) Largely set in Vietnam, but kinda trash (Uncommon Valor, MIA, Rambo, etc]
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- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.
- DirectorPeter DavisStarsTin ChanChau DiemNgo Dinh DiemA startling and courageous landmark documentary that unflinchingly confronted the United States' involvement in Vietnam at the height of the controversy that surrounded it.
- DirectorEmile de AntonioStarsHarry S. AshmoreDaniel BerriganJoseph ButtingerA documentary chronicling the background to, and history of, the Vietnam War.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMatthew ModineR. Lee ErmeyVincent D'OnofrioA pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsCharlie SheenTom BerengerWillem DafoeChris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRobert McNamaraJohn F. KennedyFidel CastroThe story of America as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense under President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsChristian BaleSteve ZahnJeremy DaviesA U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsDenzel WashingtonRussell CroweChiwetel EjioforAn outcast New York City cop is charged with bringing down Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, whose real life inspired this partly biographical film.
- DirectorTom JeffreyStarsGraham KennedyJohn HargreavesJohn JarrattIn between drinking cans of Fosters beer, Australian soldiers tread on a few landmines, and generally experience the war in Vietnam.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsTom CruiseBryan LarkinRaymond J. BarryThe biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsMichael J. FoxSean PennDon HarveyDuring the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
- DirectorJohn IrvinStarsAnthony BarrileMichael BoatmanDon CheadleA very realistic interpretation of one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsTom HanksRobin WrightGary SiniseThe history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
- DirectorRoger SpottiswoodeStarsMel GibsonRobert Downey Jr.Nancy TravisA young pilot finds himself recruited unwittingly into a covert and corrupt CIA airlift operation in Laos during the Vietnam conflict.
- DirectorFax BahrGeorge HickenlooperEleanor CoppolaStarsDennis HopperMartin SheenMarlon BrandoDocumentary that chronicles how Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) was plagued by extraordinary script, shooting, budget, and casting problems--nearly destroying the life and career of the celebrated director.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiJacky CheungWaise LeeWhen three close friends escape from Hong Kong to war-time Saigon to start a criminal's life, they all go through a harrowing experience which totally shatters their lives and their friendship forever.
- DirectorAdrian LyneStarsTim RobbinsElizabeth PeñaDanny AielloMourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
- DirectorBen StillerStarsBen StillerJack BlackRobert Downey Jr.Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsRobin WilliamsForest WhitakerTom T. TranIn 1965, an unorthodox and irreverent DJ named Adrian Cronauer begins to shake up things when he is assigned to the U.S. Armed Services radio station in Vietnam.
- DirectorRandall WallaceStarsMel GibsonMadeleine StoweGreg KinnearThe story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War, and the soldiers on both sides that fought it, while their wives wait nervously and anxiously at home for the good news or the bad news.
- DirectorAlbert HughesAllen HughesStarsLarenz TateKeith DavidChris TuckerA Vietnam vet adjusts to life after the war while trying to support his family, but the chance of a better life may involve crime and bloodshed.
- DirectorSidney J. FurieStarsStan ShawAndrew StevensJames CanningIn 1967, five young men undergo boot camp training before being shipped out to Vietnam. Once they get there, the experience proves worse than they could have imagined.
- DirectorPeter MarkleStarsGene HackmanDanny GloverJerry ReedDuring the Vietnam War, Colonel Hambleton's aircraft is shot down over enemy territory and a frantic rescue operation ensues.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsColin FarrellMatthew DavisClifton Collins Jr.A group of recruits go through Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana's infamous Tigerland, last stop before Vietnam for tens of thousands of young men in 1971.
- DirectorMichael CiminoStarsRobert De NiroChristopher WalkenJohn CazaleAn in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.