Summary

• War movies like Platoon praised for realism by Vietnam War veterans like Oliver Stone who used personal experiences for inspiration.
• Films like We Were Soldiers commended by real soldiers for accurate portrayal based on true events in the Vietnam War.
• Hamburger Hill highly praised for realistic depiction of brutal Battle of Hamburger Hill with accuracy in showing Viet Cong tactics.

The Vietnam War has been depicted in movies since as far as the beginning of the conflict and, while certain movies have played with the truth in its representation, others have been praised by experts for their accuracy and realism. A particularly brutal conflict, the Vietnam War saw casualties on both sides, and the horrors of its battles, operations, and aftermath, have remained a popular topic for filmmakers exploring the topic of warfare. While ensuring accuracy when it came to timelines, soldiers, and weaponry was no easy task, some movies managed to hit all the right notes.

There were war movies praised for their accuracy and realism that were created by actual Vietnam War veterans, such as Oliver Stone, who used his own experiences in the conflict as the basis for his acclaimed war movie Platoon. Other Vietnam War films told the true stories of real soldiers, like We Were Soldiers, and were praised for their realism by the men whose lives they were based on. While other Vietnam War movies have been criticized for their accuracy, these were the ones that experts ensured to praise and highlight as examples of Vietnam war movies done right.

8 Platoon (1986)

Directed by Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone’s depiction of the Vietnam conflict had an extra layer of realism due to Stone’s experiences serving in the war during the late 1960s which served as the inspiration for his script. Widely praised as one of the best war movies ever made, Platoon was partly written in response to the John Wayne movie The Green Berets, which was viewed as pro-American propaganda promoting U.S. involvement in the war. As the first Hollywood movie to be written and directed by a Vietnam veteran, military advisor Dale Dye outlined in Variety that believability was important in Platoon.

7 Forrest Gump (1994)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Forrest Gump may have been a fictional character but the historical situations he found himself in were real, and this remained the case for Forrest’s stint in the Vietnam War. In a video for Insider, Vietnam War expert Bill Allison explained how the ambush scene where Forrest saved Bubba was very accurate and that ambushes were very common during the conflict. Allison outlined how Forrest’s choice to go back and save his friend was based on a real Medal of Honor citation where “Sam Davis received the Medal of Honor for going back to retrieve actually three wounded comrades.”

6 We Were Soldiers (2002)

Directed by Randall Wallace

Mel Gibson starred as Moore in a story that highlighted the humanity of those on both sides of the conflict.

We Were Soldiers was a war movie praised by experts for its realism by the actual men who inspired its story (via US News.) Based on the non-fiction book We Were Soldiers Once… by war journalist Joseph Galloway and Lieutenant General Hal Moore, the men stated the movie was about 60% to 80% accurate. As a dramatization of the Battle of Ia Drang on November 14, 1965, Mel Gibson starred as Moore in a story that highlighted the humanity of those on both sides of the conflict and powerfully captured the first large-scale air assault in the Vietnam War.

5 Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

While its filming location along the River Thames was far from accurate, Full Metal Jacket has been praised by experts for how it depicted soldiers before arriving at the battlefield. As a film separated into two distinct sections, the first half of Full Metal Jacket showcased soldiers in training for the Vietnam War and has been praised by veterans as an accurate depiction of boot camp. On the Beers and Breakdowns reaction channel, Green Beret Sean Buck Rogers explained that while today drill sergeants cannot be as cruel as they were in Full Metal Jacket, in the past this was acceptable.

4 84C MoPic (1989)

Directed by Patrick Sheane Duncan

As a lesser-known but incredibly powerful Vietnam War movie 84C MoPic succeeded in capturing a first-person perspective of the conflict through its early use of the found footage format. While this style of low-budget filmmaking later became associated with horror movies like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, in 84C MoPic it was used to capture the daily experience of a unit on patrol in a compelling mockumentary style. Film critic Roger Ebert praised the film for realism stating he never saw a combat movie that “seemed so close to actual experience.”

84C MoPic was released as Platoon 2 in the Philippines despite having no connection to the original Oliver Stone movie except for the fact they both dealt with the Vietnam War (via Manila Standard.)

3 Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Directed by Oliver Stone

As the second of three Oliver Stone movies that explored the Vietnam War, Born on the Fourth of July was a powerful depiction of a soldier’s disillusionment with the purpose of conflict. Military expert Bill Allison praised Born on the Fourth of July in a video for Insider where he was particularly impressed with the accuracy of the disastrous “sweep and clear” mission seen. Allison stated that the scene was a good representation of how things go wrong through bad leadership, lack of discipline over troops, and the way that “things can go wrong” where “civilians get hurt and killed.”

Oliver Stone directed a trilogy of films about the Vietnam War including Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and Heaven & Earth (1993.)

2 The Scent of Burning Grass (2012)

Directed by Nguyen Huu Muoi

The Scent of Burning Grass focused on a specific moment in the war and was praised by military expert Bill Allison.

The most famous depiction of the Vietnam War tended to focus on the United States perspective, which was why the Vietnamese film The Scent of Burning Grass, originally titled Mùi cỏ cháy, was such an interesting film. As a depiction of the Second Battle of Quang Tri in 1972, The Scent of Burning Grass focused on a specific moment in the war and was praised by military expert Bill Allison in his Inside video. Allison praised the accuracy of the equipment and weaponry, the makeup of the infantry unit, and the battle scenes.

1 Hamburger Hill (1987)

Directed by John Irvin

Hamburger Hill explored the 1969 Battle of Hamburger Hill, a brutal infantry engagement in the Vietnam War that saw hundreds of casualties with loses on both sides of the conflict. A highly realistic depiction of war, Hamburger Hill has been praised for its accuracy by experts as its writer, James Carabatsos, was a veteran who spent five years interviewing soldiers involved in the battle (via Washington Post.) Vietnam War historian Bill Allison said in a video with Insider that Hamburger Hill accuracy depicted the Viet Cong’s use of booby traps and the “gruesome” explosives that were used on the battlefield.

Sources: Variety, Insider, US News, Beers and Breakdowns, Roger Ebert, Manila Standard, Insider, Washington Post