Paranoid but Great

Rating: Null/10 (4 June 1999)

Oliver Stone let his paranoia run rancid in "JFK". Here, he kept it well camouflaged in the subtext. Without it, there would have been no picture.
This movie set the modern standard for cinematic portrayal of war.
After it was released there were dozens of Nam-flick knock-offs and T.V. shows in the late '80s, which goes to show the big need for a catharsis from the '60s generation about VietNam, especially for those who actually went there.
After 10-odd years in which Stone's paranoia has become a Hollywood cliche, plus a new generation that yawns at "Platoon"'s level of violence, it still holds up as a simple coming of age story, horrifically told.