He called this movie, as well as Platoon "pathetic". He said that the movie that most accurately depicts his experience in Vietnam is We Were Soldiers. I haven't seen this movie as of yet, but I wanna know what you guys think about this.
-Carter Thomas Krebs, From WIsconsin
I served as a squad leader in a rifle company in Viet Nam '69–'70. I found this movie an unrealistic, silly, foolish, absurd, misbegotten fantasy. I gave it the lowest possible rating only because that was the lowest possible rating. I would like to have rated it much lower. I have not seen "Platoon" nor "We Were Soldiers" As a rule I don't care for war movies, however, I liked "Paths of Glory", "The Sergeant", "The Bofors Gun", "The Hill", and "El Alamein" (Italian).
sharePaths of Glory was dope
-Carter Thomas Krebs, From WIsconsin
Tonygumbrell -- As an infantry fire team leader in Vietnam from '69 to '70, I agree with your entire reply. And don't bother with Platoon - it's the worst Vietnam movie ever made.
shareCould you explain why you feel that way some more. I don't really know too much about the war and am interested to here why you feel that way.
shareIf you want realism go watch a documentary or better yet go back to war. This movie doesn't deserve the lowest rating simply because it's a brilliant piece of art.
*beep* war.
actually, as a retired soldier, Deer hunter didn't really explore what the actual war was like for the soldier. It mostly focused on a single exceptional event. Full metal Jacket DID have SOME realistic aspects (the basic training was spot on). The nitty gritty of actual war wasn't covered. Platoon was hollywood tripe, We were soldiers was over glorified and unrealistic. The most accurate was Hyena Road.
I think you might have missed the point about Deer Hunter. It never had the ambition to be considered a war movie. War just so happens to be in it. It never aspired to depict the Vietnam war accurately either. The film is about how a traumatic yet very intimate situation (the war/POW camp) affects the personalities of three very connected individuals and how this event disconnects them, changes them and indirectly changes the minds of the people around them. So, the Vietnam war is merely a plot device in what I would call a psychological drama and not war movie.
share[deleted]
I like this film but find it badly in need of editing. But you're right - too many people think it's a Nam war movie and judge it on that basis.
It's a film about the effects of war on a small community in general, and a bunch of friends in particular. The Vietnam war is, in this film, just "war" element needed to explore that effect. It's not the main point.
'Then' and 'than' are different words - stop confusing them.
A-MEN!!
so silly are some to think that any filmmaker espouses to document accurate portrayals of war......
You are a moron and missed the point. I mean, how can you be that stupid?
sharehardly any veteran likes to see a anti-war movie about soldiers being broken by the war nor would any veteran do a better movie as every single individual experiences the same experience differently.
The Deer Hunter is a masterpiece, no doubt about that!
"Some people are immune to good advice."
-Saul Goodman
You are correct Sir.
100% Comic Book Purist, and Bloody Proud of it !
It all depends on who you talk to and what their personal experiences were. I work with a lot of young men and women who are very professional, personable, with great temperaments, and have served sometimes multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and if you even say the words "American Sniper" to them, they immediately change the subject. They don't want to see it, they don't want to hear about it, and they sure as hell don't want to talk about it. The Deer Hunter was one of the first films to even look at the Vietnam War in not only a negative way, but at all for that matter. Obviously they were in uncharted territory and were never going to get everything right or be agreeable to everyone who served in Vietnam. There is no evidence of Russian roulette ever being used and that's enough right there to turn a serviceman who was a POW off the movie. What I think it does well, is take a snapshot of 3 everyday blue-collar guys from a very small, heavily ethnic town and tells their story, the towns story. It also, in my opinion does try very hard to portray that no one comes out of the same situation, the same person. Three guys went and all three were dramatically different from who they were before the war and very different from each other after the war. I've met men who were in Vietnam but speak very little of it even if you ask questions. I also have a friend who's father suffered from horrible flashbacks and PTSD and had to be hospitalized. Part of his therapy and what kept him going was to do speaking engagements. He came to our school and very candidly spoke about his experiences in Vietnam and his experiences once he came home. Again, a movie is just a movie and is going to be viewed differently by anyone who was actually a part of the particular war being represented.
shareI agree.
This was the most gut-wrenching war movie I have ever seen and I can't even listen to the theme music without feeling that sadness again. I just assumed it was a pretty good account of what went on, although I knew there were parts that were just for the dramatic value. I loved it as well as the performances of the actors, but was not aware that Vietnam vets felt that way about it.
I know it's true that most Vets who saw action don't like to talk about it and I guess that's the best way they can deal with the memories. My heart goes out to them all.
I don't know about Vietnam but my dad fought in WWII in the North African campaign and never really talked about it.
The one thing he really came out with was his hatred of flies - as he described it everything was covered in them. He never hated Germans. those he fought against, but just flies.
War is strange but often both sides suffer more from their environment which they share rather than each other.
Did he elaborate on what was wrong with them? Did he gave examples of how they were an unrealistic portrayal? Specifics would be nice. Thanks
shareI'm not a vet but I would find it hard to believe this film's portrayal of the war was anywhere close to the typical experience of one of our vets.
A lot of war films have little to do with the war and are used more as a vehicle for some other story.
Hollywood is an unlikely place to find the truth about just about any subject.
est, that is pure gold! that last sentence needs to be etched onto the forehead of every human being that watches movies
shareI'm Russian myself and my grandfather was serving in the WW2. He was just 16 years old when he went to war. He never talks about it and always avoids any questions. He wont even go to a museum that has tanks or anything to do with weapons.There were people who went to war and talk about it and are proud that they killed 2 enemy soldiers. There are people who go to war and never had to shoot a gun and dont want to talk about it ever again. Personal experiences cant not fully be explored in a movie that is a creation of fiction.
What this movie does best is shows us the life of "before, during and after". We see what goes through the minds of people. How are they coping with loss, how are they coping with no loss.
I watched Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Saving Private Ryan, Jarhead. Most movies show us the war part (American Sniper did a little bit of both). This movie showed us the life part that is being abrupted by the war and the aftermath. We were part of them and that's the reason for the first hour of the movie.
Thats the character's story. Its not about the right/wrong depiction.
Good post. My father served in WW2 as well, was in France (Battle of the Bulge). War affects everyone differently. He rarely spoke about it to us, but he and my cousin, who served in Viet Nam, used to talk about their experiences only to each other.
He had no love for movies about war (he passed away in 1981), saying most of them glorified it. I would have liked to see his take on Saving Private Ryan.
War affects not only the soldiers who served, but their entire universe.
And I agree, this is a character's story.
Life can be arbitrary and comes without a warranty.
listen, on the internet, you have 99% percent liars, the other 1% is dead. And it isn't just the internet, they are in the worlds bar rooms also.
very few humans who even served in SE asia ever saw combat, let alone became POWs.
don't believe any of them, they are full of bull butter. the rifle co wannabe doesn't know jack, one way or the other.
is this movie accurate ? how the hell would any of you know. I don't. But I do know that 99% of you are completely ignorant, but most probably, lying sacks of *beep*
and if any human has a problem with this post, just come down to Fort Bliss, come into the bowling alley bar and ask, you WILL find me.
While the internet is most certainly a two-bladed sword, but as a combat veteran, I take exception your percentages and general rage, which paint you as a pathetic, bitter old jerk, or a young smart-ass looking for a rise. Either way, why not change whatever it is in your life that sucks so bad.
Next time I take a trip to Texas, I may take you up on your offer (maybe I can help you feel better, or send you to the ER - it would be totally up to you).
Screenwriter William Goldman (BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID) in his memoir Adventures in the Screen Trade explains why he thinks The Deer Hunter is a "comic book movie" and he makes a good case. As he concludes his argument in the book, "So I say in spite of its skill and the seriousness of its subject matter, we have here a well-disguised comic-book movie. Nothing shook my world."
The story—and roulette—was originally set in Las Vegas, after all, before being rewritten.
Very little in the movie about US operations in Vietnam
More about being captured, escape, and the aftermath
You don't have to stand tall, but you do have to stand up!