Perhaps the Most Important Film of the 1980s, One of American Cinema's Finest

Rating: 10/10 (8 March 2007)

I remember when this movie released nationally when I was only a kid. I'm only in my 30s and was still a toddler when the evacuation of Saigon commenced, however I have been touched by the Vietnam Conflict in many areas of my personal life. Having viewed this feature over and again, it wasn't until I watched Charles Keyselyak's documentary on the making of this film when I realized and remembered the full scope of this magnificent piece of American cinema (one of the view to win best feature as well as best director). As one user on this board illuminated, Platoon, "was also a success at the box office grossing $250,000,000 world wide, making it the third highest grossing film of 1986." One of those three films was the jingoistic piece of fluff "Top Gun"; a film so anathema in tone to Platoon and iconic of the Reagan-Era. It was a privilege to view this film as a 12 year old boy and I went on to study History at the graduate level, this film contributing greatly to my ambition to understand how these moments, brutal periods in history transpire. My first employer had been shot up on an armored personnel carrier on the Cambodian border, my best friend's father had served in a tank company and was very troubled emotionally and the man who helped my family adopt my younger sister from South Korea lost both legs to an anti- personnel mine. I'll never forget seeing, at the time, adult men leaving one of the theaters in my home town weeping. I didn't understand what was going on at the time, but this is one of the most poignant memories I carry of this film and its impact. Sadly, Stone says in the documentary on the film that he hopes younger generations will be smarter, "when some politician tries to sell them a used war like this one". As of 2007, being in Iraq, it seems America has not learned the lessons, the sharp, divisive, horrific lessons of Vietnam enlighten the country and her government.