Overrated

Rating: 5/10 (10 March 2002)

I bought this movie on DVD because it's a classic and because the DVD has closed captions, whereas the videotape in my local rental store lacks captions.
I watched the movie in March 2002 for the first time ever and was disappointed.
It's full of contradictions and improbabilities, and the director doesn't seem to care if the viewer can follow the story or not.
For example, the information on the back of the DVD case and in the special features write-up indicates that the events of the film take place over a 20-year period. Yet it obviously begins in 1968 and ends in 1973. Secondly, if Nick goes AWOL in 1969 to play Russian roulette for money, it is highly improbable (maybe impossible) for him to still be alive in 1973 when Mike returns to find him. Regarding Mike's return: How is it that the Army lets a mere sergeant return to Saigon to run a freelance rescue mission for a soldier who has been AWOL for four years?
Lastly, director Michael Cimino makes it impossible to follow the story without guessing at several points, particularly when our heroes are in Vietnam. It's left unclear as to how Mike winds up the sole survivor of his unit, and it strains credibility that he should wind up a prisoner AFTER being rescued by Nick and some other soldiers aboard two or three Hueys.

I can go on... Why didn't the helicopter return for Mike and Steve after they fell into the river? Isn't it convenient that Mike carries Steve out of the river and two minutes later finds a South Vietnamese jeep to lay him down on?
I suspect this movie benefited from the widespread notion among Hollywood types that it was an "important film" about the affect the Vietnam war had on people. And so everyone overlooked the flaws. I doubt if it would win any awards if it were released today instead of in 1978.