The balance of the supporting cast is uniformly remarkable. Stone's driving directorial force extracts career performances from almost everyone in the film. Robert Richardson creates a striking palette for Stone as Director of Photography. His lighting techniques border on the astonishing and he achieves these remarkable visual results with less than a full deck of equipment. Stone and Richardson are a great team and it appears that Richardson can do anything Stone asks of him and more.
Platoon is a grand achievement on all fronts of the filmmaking process.
The special edition laser disc presentation of Platoon does full justice to the remarkable movie. The package has been created in the form of a canvas bound scrap book, embossed with the image of a set of silver dog tags. The expensively bound book contains numerous photographs and the shooting script. The paper is of the highest quality. Laminated to the back inside book is a typical gatefold laser jacket that houses the two discs.