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Rating: 10/10 (24 May 2002)

I grew up in the 1960s in the Fort Benning area where this movie was actually filmed. As a former Army Brat and as a career Army officer, I must salute the director for the attention to detail in bringing Hal Moore's story to the silver screen.
The uniforms of that era were exact ... right down to specific items of the soldier's uniforms such as camouflage covers and canvas field gear which are now obsolete and getting harder to find.
It was like home movies for me to see a film featuring base houses in a section known as "Colonel's Row" where I once knew people that actually lived there; in addition to other scenery from my childhhood in Georgia. Many of my childhood friends had Dads assigned to the 11th Air Assault which was renamed the 7th Cavalry.
The one event that actually occurred and was omitted from the movie was the massive fly-over that took place prior to that unit's departure. Many of the men assigned to that unit lived in houses just outside of Ft Benning. One afternoon prior to their departure, there was a massive fly-over where the skys over those suburban neighborhoods were black with army helicopters from Ft Benning. For some of those soldiers it would be the last time that they would see their own homes from an aerial perspective.
The emotion shown of having the news of a soldier's death being delivered to his widow by a taxi driver was deeply realistic. My own father had been killed in Viet Nam in 1964, one year prior to Hal Moore and his outfit being sent forward. I remember when a cab driver pulled into our driveway with a telegram and my mother going ballistic! She called the base, asked to speak to the 2-star general and totally chewed him out for being so cold hearted.

Overall I think this was an excellent movie. It not only focused upon the battle, but also had a focus upon the military families that too often has been overlooked by Hollywood.