We Were Soldiers

Plot synopsis:
A French Army unit is on patrol in pre-Vietnam IndoChina in July 1954 during the First Indochina War. The captain of the patrol curses the land when they see nothing. Then, the unit is suddenly ambushed by hundreds of Vietminh soldiers who kill the officers and, although the unit kills many Vietminh, it is eventually overrun. One Vietminh officer, Nguyen Huu An (Duong Don), hypothesizing that if they take no prisoners the French will eventually stop sending troops, orders the execution of all surviving French soldiers.Eleven years later, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore (Mel Gibson), a dedicated U.S. soldier, is deeply committed to training his troops, who are preparing to be sent to Vietnam. The night before their departure, the unit's officers hold a party to celebrate. Moore learns from a superior officer that his unit will be known as the 1st Battalion / 7th cavalry regiment. He is disquieted because the 7th Cavalry regiment was the unit commanded by General George Custer in the 19th Century when he and his men were slaughtered at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Moore is also dismayed because President Lyndon B. Johnson has decreed that the war would be fought "on the cheap," without declaring it a national emergency. As a result, Moore believes he will be deprived of his oldest, best-trained soldiers (a formal declaration of war would have meant mobilization and extension of the terms of enlistment for volunteer soldiers) - about 25% of his battalion - just prior to shipping out for Vietnam. Before leaving for Vietnam, Moore delivers a touching speech to his unit:"Look around you, in the 7th Cavalry,we got a Captain from the Ukraine, another from Puerto Rico, we got Japanese, Chinese, Blacks, Hispanics, Cherokee Indian, Jews and Gentiles, all American. Now here in the States some men in this unit may experience discrimination because of race or creed, but for you and me now, all that is gone. We're moving into the valley of the shadow of death, where you will watch the back of the man next to you, as he will watch yours, and you won't care what color he is or by what name he calls God. Let us understand the situation we're goin' into battle against a tough and determined enemy. I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive, but this I swear: When we go into battle, I will be the first one to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead, or alive, we all come home together. So help me God."After arriving in Vietnam in November 1965, he learns that an American base has been attacked, and is ordered to take his 395 men after the enemy and eliminate them, despite the fact that intelligence has no idea of the number of enemy troops. He leads a newly created air cavalry unit into the Ia Drang Valley against over 4,000 well equipped enemy soldiers.An emotional toll is taken back home, where Moore's wife Julie (Madeleine Stowe) and another soldier's wife take over the job of delivering telegrams that inform families (mainly wives like themselves) living at Fort Benning, Georgia, the unit's base of operation, of soldiers' deaths.After landing in the "Valley of Death", the soldiers capture a Vietnamese lookout who informs them that the location they were sent to is actually the headquarters of an entire North Vietnamese division. Another American squad is isolated at some distance from the battalion's main position, after 2nd Lt. Henry Herrick (Marc Blucas) saw a scout, and rashly ran after him, ordering his reluctant soldiers to follow. The scout leads them into an ambush, resulting in the majority of the platoon members' deaths, including Herrick's. Sgt. Savage (Ryan Hurst) assumes command of the squad, and by calling in artillery and using the cover of darkness, holds off the North Vietnamese from their position. The story switches between the Vietnamese and American points of view several times. Despite being trapped near the landing zone, and desperately outnumbered, the main force manages to hold off the enemy North Vietnamese with artillery, close air support, and even calling a last resort 'Broken Arrow' airstrike at their most desperate point, killing some of their own soldiers but eliminating most of the Vietnamese offensive force.The American troopers regroup, secure the area and charge up the mountain where the Vietnamese division headquarters is located. The Vietnamese have set up heavy gun emplacements near the hidden entrance of the underground headquarters spoken of by the scout. Hal and his men charge right at them, into a seemingly impending massacre, but before the Vietnamese can fire, Major Bruce "Snakeshit" Crandall (Greg Kinnear) flies in with his helicopter and kills the Vietnamese guards with his side mounted machine guns. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese commander is alerted that the Americans have broken through the lines, and the headquarters has no troops between them and the Americans. He orders the headquarters evacuated. The stranded platoon led by Savage are rescued. Moore, having completed his objective, returns to the L.Z. to be picked up, and, after all of his men, dead or alive, are removed from the battlefield, steps on to a helicopter and flies out of the valley. Strong visual emphasis is placed on Moore's being the last American to set foot off the field of battle. At the end of the movie it is revealed that Hal Moore returned home safely after 235 more days of fighting.

Tags: violence, historical, realism

Review:
It grabs you and it grabs you hard, and I can easily say that it is one of the finest war movies I have ever seen, far superior to the likes of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, which seems quite tame in comparison.Perhaps the single most impressive thing about the film is that it never casts its characters in a heroic light; they are simply soldiers who have been sent to do a job, and they do it knowing the risks, and they do it well in spite of the odds.
The supporting female cast, seen early in the film and in shorter scenes showing the home front as the battle rages, is also particularly fine, with Julie Moore able to convey in glance what most actresses could not communicate in five pages of dialogue.
I was privileged to see a preview of Mel Gibson's new film "We Were Soldiers" based upon the book written by his real life character, Lt. Col.
For the movie is truly about the leadership that Col. Moore brought to his men of the 1st of the 7th, and his determination that they would not suffer the fate of the French in Viet Nam, nor his own unit's most infamous battle, that of Custer's Stand at Little Big Horn.It was his determination and commitment that his men be as highly trained, as strongly molded as a unit, and most importantly as well lead as possible that stands out.
Then I realized that in late 1965 it was all so new and no one knew that this war was going to grow and consume so many young American lives over the next nine years.The two most significant scenes in the movie for me were firstly, the scene when the course of the battle teeters on the brink of either disaster or success and the most important communication that Col. Moore's superiors have to convey is that General Westmoreland would like for him to leave the battlefield and fly to Saigon so the general can have a briefing.
Having experienced what it is like to be over-run by the NVA during the third week of my first VN tour I can tell you that this movie does an excellent job of showing the excitement, tension, exhaustion, chaos, and courage of an extended battle.
Writer/Director Randall Wallace (who wrote "Braveheart", "Pearl Harbor" and the screenplay for this film), takes the understanding of war to the next level, by offering more than one perspective to the events.
Hal Moore.Based on real events, this film shows war as being horrendous and heartless to both sides.
Barry Pepper also turns in a fine performance as Joe Galloway, the photo journalist who hops on a helicopter to take pictures in the center of the battle and finds himself with a rifle in his hands fighting for his life.This is among the best war films in recent memory and probably the best film on the Vietnam War film since `Full Metal Jacket'.
They said this is thefirst movie about Vietnam that portrayed our soldiers as good men similar in age, with the same hopes and fears, and not a bunch of drug addicted babykillers.
Well so many great things have been said about the movie, and I can't think of anything negative to mention so I can't relate to those who did (if you have seen the movie, you'll know that most of the negative reviews here are bullsh*t).Anyway, I want to point out the scene where Mel was leaving his home.
I look so much like the REAL THING!Definitely now on top of my list of war movies.And I have seen A LOT..
The score of the film is often overlooked but in this case it provides plenty of emotion especially as the 7th Regiment assembles for the trip to South Vietnam beneath the radio towers late at night.Of a forgotten battle with unknown heroes for both forces this is a great war movie that should be a lesson for future productions..
Depicted here is the first major battle involving American troops in the Vietnam War. The fact that this battle takes place in what is known as the Valley of Death tells you all you need to know about what awaits the men who head into combat.The central figure in the movie is Lt. Col Hal Moore, played by Mel Gibson.
But the key figure throughout is undeniably Moore and Gibson's strong, confident portrayal is a key to the movie's success.While important in establishing the key characters and the emotional ties that bind them to each other and those whom they are leaving behind, the opening scenes back home have a feeling of just biding time about them.
The focus is on the valor and heroism of the American soldiers but unlike so many war films which present a nameless, faceless enemy we also get to see things from the Vietnamese perspective.
We see the toll on both sides, not just for the soldiers but perhaps most poignantly in scenes inter-cut from home where soldiers' wives wait to learn the fates of the men they love.We Were Soldiers is a brutally honest, unflinching look at the hell that is war.
It also tells the story from the wife of the col., who receives the telegrams of the dead soldiers.There are moments of action which are needed in a war movie.
Over the years, the movie going public has been subjected to film after film after film about the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, most of them are largely philosophical and don't paint the American soldier in a very positive light.
Thus, we get subjected to films like Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and Casualties of War. Although those film makers are certainly free to show us these interpretations of Vietnam, it gets old seeing our military trashed and our brave soldiers painted as drugged up sadists who were fighting for an immoral cause.From the beginning, you could tell We Were Soldiers is something different.
From the trailers, this looked like just another war movie starring Mel Gibson.
While Braveheart and the Patriot focus on one soldier and his life (along with several battle scenes), We Were Soldiers focuses on the lives of many soldiers, their families, even one of the Viet Cong soldiers, as their lives are affected in a deadly battle.This film takes place in the Vietnam War, the only war we ever officially lost.
Many of us that served in Viet Nam appreciate a movie like this.It shows how the enemy, too, bravely fought, and what war can do to both sides, especially the families.
Then throws in, "Ignore those pagans praying to a different God." Much later in the film, long enough for us to have forgotten Gibson's racist plea, the commander of the North Vietnamese army is also seen praying -- presumably to the same God. And one of the NV soldiers is humanized to the extent of keeping on his person a diary written to his wife.
This is the first Vietnam movie that showed what went on at home while our men were at war..
If you watch WE WERE SOLDIERS you can`t help but be reminded of these two films .First of all what`s with that Scottish lament that`s played three times in the movie , four if you count the end credits ?
Gibson plays Hal Moore as a cross between William Wallace and John Wayne and I was expecting him to say something like " They`ll never take our freedom - The hell they will " and it`s impossible not to notice other similarities with THE GREEN BERETS like the subplot of a journalist picking up a gun and turning into a warrior and Moore telling the journalist about guilt in a scene almost identical to the one seen in the Wayne movieWhen not reminding the audience of other movies WWS also fails to stand on its own legs , it`s based on real events in 1965 but seems to lack an integrity needed to do the story justice , it never feels like 1965 and lacks a sense of time and place probably because it was filmed in America not Asia .
Soldiers in this film are depicted as duty and honor bound people trying to do a job, follow through with a commitment, and to keep themselves and each other alive.The film tells the story of the first major offensive of what would later become known as the Viet Nam war.
Mel Gibson did not portray a "John Wayne" "Green Beret" if you want to watch a laughable war movie.
I hope no one takes this comment offensively because I am not criticizing religion or patriotism but some of the narrow minded people who are so into both and discount everyone else.If you want a real depiction of the Vietnam war watch Platoon, Born On the Fourth of July, Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter or The Killing Fields.
If you want a good Vietnam war movie for the hard trials of American men in a battle, you go see Hamburger Hill.
Another thing that Wallace pretends to do is show both sides of the war by cutting in a couple scenes of the Vietnamese and showing that one of their killed soldiers has a girlfriend!
They stayed with original uniforms for that era, and showed the pride the members of the Armed forces possessed at that time.I feel the script was well written, the actors did a more than superb job, and the special effects were excellent.This is a very hard-hitting movie, which will bring back a lot of memories for many Veterans, good and bad.It should be required viewing in every American High School, to show what the last generation of true heroes were like, how they hurt, cried, yet got the job done under extreme conditions.
Other supporting characters include Greg Kinnear as a smart and efficient pilot with a knickname which would be censored here, Chris Klein who is always with a clean shave and little if no dirt during the battle scenes and honestly looks too womanly to be in such a army, and Barry Pepper as a war journalist dropped during the battle and witnesses first hand the horror that ensues.There are too many cliches to be considered totally realistic and in the early scenes, while interesting and even amusing, make Gibson seem a little softer than he should appear.
The true story of Ia Drang is more harrowing than even this movie managed to depict, and those watching this and belittling it, and the actions of a few hundred men in fighting a battle few people knew or cared about until recently is the proof that America's Innocence died in 1965.Personal thoughts on the Viet Nam war notwithstanding, this IS the era that America turned from care-free and innocent to cynical and selfish.
The days surrounding these events and the subsequent distress-call of "Broken Arrow" brought home to the America and the world just how real the conflict was and how savage savage it would become.Having said all that, I was actually prepared to hate this movie just on account of who was in it and how much I disliked their more recent disastrous forays into the big-screen.Looking at the cast list, I was half-expecting this to be another garbage, high-budget movie whose cast was only there for their box-office appeal (Titanic, Braveheart, Signs, Vanilla Sky, etc.) and this was one of the reasons I resisted watching it.I was impressed with the choices for the main players - Sam Elliot as a tough old Sergeant-Major was quite a treat, and Mel Gibson has always been better in action-flicks.
Upon watching the film and seeing the single reference to a Vietnamese soldier writing to his wife, it looks as though this angle was added more as an afterthought when someone decided that they couldn't see the screen for all the Stars and Stripes that were in the way.Ironically enough, the most interesting character of the movie was not a soldier at all, but a photographer played by Barry Pepper.
Maybe the fine film Saving Private Ryan was further back in the American consciousness to make it more 'popular' but this should have been a more 'successful' movie.At least with the D-Day landings one could understand the reason for the fight - what on earth were these soldiers being flown in here for?
A graphically realistic series of battle scenes that maybe we have all become hardened to on screen nowadays and, lets face it, unless one has actually been there it is never going to be recreated just how it was but this was pretty close I am sure.Congratulations to those involved with the film, what a waste of life it was and a good portrayal of the senselessness, the horrors and the people left at home..
It mixes the intese action scenes with the back home emotion of lost loved ones, in such away that it leaves you breathless.Were Were Soldiers shows us the first battle in the Vietnam War, before the country boycotted it, before we knew we couldn't possibly win the war, back to when our professional soldiers went into the with hope and honor.
With support from war movie vet Sam Elliot, they put on two of the best performances in this film.
Chris Klein, Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper, Madeline Stowe, and Keri Russell rounded out a great cast that were all affected by the first major skirmish of the Vietnam War. What made this movie especially good and at some points hard to watch was the method of chosen storytelling.
The movie took you to all kinds of perspectives, the Vietnamese, the war at home, and off course the front from the American soldiers.
This very good Vietnam war movie about the first major conflict between North Vietnamese and U.S. troops is old fashioned in some ways and modern in some ways.
Greg Kinnear flying in to the save the day isn't good enough.Ultimately, We Were Soldiers is a weak war movie.
What was Randall Wallace thinking when he made this movie, I'd really like to ask him that.There have been quite a few films about the Vietnam war and it's consequences not only for the US government but for every single soldier who was involved in that conflict over the years.
There he is, Mel Gibson, standing tall, ignoring bullets whizzing by, nonchalantly knocking off enemy soldiers as if they were mere nuisances.And there's even a ridiculous deus ex machina moment in this film that is laughable.The women in this movie are mere decorations and even in those scenes, you can predict what's going to happen.
When Lt Col Hal Moore is drafted back in to lead a new platoon of men he didn't know that he would lead them into the first major battle of the Americans' entry into the Vietnam war.
Hal Moore rarely left his post, but I guess Mel Gibson doesn't really give a damn, he just wants to act all dramatic.There were some good things about this movie, while once again not keeping in the line with the book, the stories involving the army wives were somewhat intriguing, but since the fates of their husbands were for the large part completely "fictional" affairs, they fell flat for me.
My suggestion is, if you want to get inside the head of a soldier, a commander, and a worried spouse at home during Vietnam, read the book "We Were Soldiers Once and Young", if you don't want that, and you just want to see Mel Gibson in another mindless action movie, see this film..
For the first time I saw in a war film, the story focuses not only on the battlefield, but also on the men's families and wives, as they face fear of the knock on the door from a cabbie, telling them that their husband died in combat.
Like Saving Private Ryan, and Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers left me with an awe and respect for all those men and women who have fought and died to give us all the freedoms we enjoy.I think what has always bothered me, is how I heard these Vietnam vets were treated that returned home.
There are two very good speeches in the film: No one gets left behind, and second, Using Helicopters in War. Moore's leadership in battle is also captivating as he exhorts his men to keep their composure under fire in numerous scenes.
Mel Gibson does an awesome job portraying Lt. Colonel Hal Moore, the man who led some 450 men into one of the most brutal battles of the Vietnam War. Many people called We Were Soldiers "just some other war movie".
When will they come to their senses and acknowledge his acting skills?This is the most accurate film of modern warfare since 'Saving Private Ryan', and is the DEFINITIVE Vietnam war movie..
We Were Soldiers, in 2002, was the most powerful war movie audiences had seen since Saving Private Ryan was released four years previously.
This movie like Platoon did showed the atrocities of the Vietnam War and showed them well.This film is about the 7th Calvary stuck in "the Death Valley" with thousands of North Vietnamese soldiers surrounding them and their struggle to get out of harm's way.The acting is what blew me away about the film.
The Plot and theme of this film are both about War; however, the plot is about the survival of a combat unit in one of the first battles in the conflict of Vietnam.
This is not a film for the faint heart, but for anyone who's brave enough for a Real movie of the Viet-Nam War.
One of the best Vietnam War movies ever!.
Lt.Col. Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) commands a battalion sent into the jungles of Vietnam in the first major battle of the Vietnam War. Before departing for Vietnam, he delivers a promise to his soldiers and thief families that " I will leave no man behind...