platoon

Rating: 9/10 (21 October 2007)

A young US Army soldier, Private Chris Taylor, arrives in South Vietnam with several other replacements and is assigned to the 25th Infantry Division. As the new men step off the plane upon arrival in Vietnam,they see the seasoned veterans who have just finished their tours of duty , taunting the new guys as they board a transport plane home. Along with fellow soldier Private Gardner, Taylor joins an experienced rifle platoon that has suffered in recent combat operations. His enthusiasm quickly evaporates as he goes on endless patrols and, as a new guy, is assigned to dig foxholes and perform other arduous tasks.
On his first night ambush patrol, his unit is set upon by a squad of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops who walk into the squad's ambush position. The soldier meant to be on guard duty has fallen asleep. Private Gardner dies after being shot while standing up in a firefight and Tex has his leg blown off from a grenade thrown by Sgt. Red O'Neil. Private Taylor is grazed in the neck.
As Chris recovers from his wounda rite of passage that grants him greater social contact with his platoon mateshe reveals that he dropped out of college to volunteer for service in Vietnam (Stone himself had dropped out of Yale twice). He states that he felt college was leading him nowhere and that it was unfair that lower-class youths had to carry the burden of the fighting in Vietnam, while rich kids could avoid the draft. His new friends among the more experienced troops introduce him to the "Underworld," a bunker converted into a pseudo-nightclub, where they smoke marijuana and opium, drink beer, and dance with each other to soul music.
After returning to field duty, Chris sees more combat and, during another patrol, a bunker complex is discovered. (In real life, the 25th Division encountered tunnel complexes at Cu Chi much like the ones in the film. During the examination of a campfire left by the enemy, two soldiers, Sanderson and Sal, are mortally wounded by a booby trap. After leaving the bunker complex area, the soldiers come across another member of their unit, Manny, who has been snatched from his guard duty, tied to a post, and mutilated.