Hamburger Hill: Anthony Barrile, Michael Boatman, Don Cheadle, Michael Dolan, Don James, Dylan McDermott, Michael A. Nickles, Harry O'Reilly, Daniel O'Shea, Tim Quill, Tommy Swerdlow, Courtney B. Vance, Peter MacDonald, John Irvin, Peter Tanner, James Carabatsos, Jerry Offsay, Marcia Nasatir: Amazon.ca: Video

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Because it was released less than a year after Oliver Stone's Platoon and within months of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, this exceptionally well-made film about one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War was largely overshadowed and overlooked. It's a pity, because in some respects this is the best of the Vietnam films of the late 1980s, at least in terms of the everyday authenticity it depicts. Stripped clean of dramatically extraneous narrative, the movie opts instead for a straightforward approach to its day-by-day account of one of the war's costliest victories--a deadly siege on Hill 937 in the Ashau Valley, where soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division engaged the enemy over the course of eleven brutal assaults between May 10th and 20th, 1969. The film specifically follows the 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, a mixture of "new guys" and battle-weary "short-timers" who fought against terrifying odds and suffered a 70% casualty rate. From first scene to last, Hamburger Hill traces the rise and fall of their battle experience, from the horror of firefights to the camaraderie of men who've faced death and survived. Racial tensions flare and subside, trusts are established, and courage emerges from unexpected places. Through it all, writer Jim Carabatsos and director John Irvin maintain a purity of focus that pays tribute to the soldier's life without promoting false patriotism or gung-ho theatrics. In addition, the film features a cast full of talented and well-known actors in the early stages of their careers, including Dylan McDermott (from the TV series "The Practice") and Don Cheadle, before gaining fame in Devil in a Blue Dress and Boogie Nights. Color accuracy, image clarity, and the explosive soundtrack have been remarkably preserved in a flawless DVD transfer, lending even greater immediacy to this underrated film. --Jeff Shannon

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Customer Reviews

41 Reviews

5 star:		(20)
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3 star:		(3)
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Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (41 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, Dec 22 2003

By

Dhaval Vyas (Dallastown, PA U.S.A) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hamburger Hill (Widescreen) (DVD)

Not as flashy or over-the-top as some other war films, 'Hamburger Hill' is still a solid and worth the watch. What keeps the movie together is the character study and racial tension between the American soldiers. The plot is very thin, but the movie is done well.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of a short list, Nov 28 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Hamburger Hill (Widescreen) (DVD)

As a Marine combat veteran with almost three years in Viet Nam, I know this was the best movie made about the war of the top three movies made in the 80s about Viet Nam (four if you count Apocalypse Now Redux - more of a psychedelic view of the war rather than reality). Hamburger Hill shows Grunts at the various stages of their tour in country, the individuals and their wants and desires, and how they died.

By comparison, Platoon was good, but with a typical Stone political bent and philosoiphical ending. Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket was just plain poor, with a typical left-wing view about something Kubrick obviously knew very little. The best part of that movie was the boot camp section and only then because the DI, Lee Ermey, had been a real Marine DI.

Hamburger Hill was factual and the various actors played their parts with the guts and truism that many in Hollywood fail to produce (ala Sheen in Platoon).

Hamburger Hill is a solid war movie in general, a solid Viet Nam movie in particular and one that deserved much more credit than it received. Two thumbs up...

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Realism - but not truth, July 17 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Hamburger Hill (Widescreen) (DVD)

This is a very realistic movie about the combat experience at Hamburger Hill. It will probably become to Vietnam what "Battleground" has become to the Battle of the Bulge -- a classic, a very realistic portrayal of the experience, conveyed via fictitious characters.

But the biggest difference in the selling of "Hamburger Hill" from "Battleground" is that the promotional text for "Hamburger Hill" tells us "The most realistic portrayal of the Vietnam War ever filmed. Because it is the only one that's true." And yet when the small print rolls at the end of the movie, we see that these characters in the squad are entirely fictitious and not to be confused with anyone who actually ever lived -- and died.

This is not a minor point. We need to know what is fact and what is fiction. If we allow Hollywood "truth" to inform our decisions at the expense of real truth, then real truth is going to grab us by our tender parts someday, and we are going to be shocked to realize that we were off in some in-our-head fantasy that kept us from knowing the truth.

There were real men, with real names and probably not so Hollywood-viable lives in that squad. Perhaps someone someday will tell us their real story.

So, I do recommend this movie -- highly so. What is told here needs telling -- and thinking about. But please do not tell us it is the truth: keep the line between fact and fiction clear, or we will all suffer for it eventually.

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Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars "The battle of every war cliche in existence"
This is a sucker's movie. We're supposed to retire our minds and emotionally offer our feelings and hearts on a platter to whatever happens on the screen.

Goodness! Read more

Published on Dec 31 2003 by Paul Maltemps

2.0 out of 5 stars Despite all that
Coming out at nearly the same time as 'Platoon' and 'Full Metal Jacket', Hamburger Hill did not win an Academy Award and was not directed by Stanley Kubrick. Read more