Platoon (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Platoon | |
|---|---|
 The original film poster |
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| Directed by | Oliver Stone |
| Produced by | Arnold Kopelson |
| Written by | Oliver Stone |
| Starring | Charlie Sheen Tom Berenger Willem Dafoe Keith David Forest Whitaker Francesco Quinn John C. McGinley Kevin Dillon Reggie Johnson Mark Moses Corey Glover Johnny Depp Tony Todd Bob Orwig |
| Music by | Georges Delerue |
| Cinematography | Robert Richardson |
| Editing by | Claire Simpson |
| Distributed by | Orion Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 19, 1986 (USA) |
| Running time | 120 min. |
| Country | U.S. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,000,000 (estimated) |
| Gross revenue | $137,963,328 (USA) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Platoon is a 1986 Vietnam War film written and directed by Oliver Stone and starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Dillon, Keith David, John C. McGinley, and Johnny Depp. The story is drawn from Stone's experiences as a US Infantryman in Vietnam and was written by him upon his return as a counter to the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne's The Green Berets.[citation needed] The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1987. In 2007, the American Film Institute placed Platoon at #86 in their 100 Years...100 Movies poll. Channel 4 voted Platoon as the 6th greatest war film ever made, behind Full Metal Jacket and ahead of A Bridge Too Far.
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[edit] Plot
US Army soldier, Private Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), arrives in South Vietnam with several other replacements and is assigned to the 25th Infantry Division (which had a very successful combat record in Vietnam). As the new men step off the plane upon arrival in Vietnam, they see the seasoned veterans who have just finished their tours of duty (with the "thousand-yard stare" fully developed), taunting the new guys as they board a transport plane home. Along with fellow soldier Private Gardner, Taylor joins an experienced rifle platoon that has suffered in recent combat operations. His enthusiasm quickly evaporates as he goes on endless patrols and, as a new guy, is assigned to dig foxholes and perform other arduous tasks.
On his first night ambush patrol, his unit is set upon by a squad of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops who walk into the squad's ambush position. The soldier meant to be on guard duty (Junior) has fallen asleep. Private Gardner dies after being shot while standing up in a firefight and Tex (a soldier with a bad attitude towards Elias and new recruits) has his arm blown off from a grenade thrown by Sgt. Red O'Neil (John C. McGinley)[1]. Private Taylor is grazed in the neck. Junior shirks all responsibility, stating that Taylor was on guard duty.
As Private Taylor recovers from his wound—a rite of passage that grants him greater social contact with his platoon mates—he reveals that he dropped out of college to volunteer for service in Vietnam (Stone himself had dropped out of Yale twice). He states that he felt college was leading him nowhere and that it was unfair that lower-class youths had to carry the burden of the fighting in Vietnam, while rich kids could avoid the draft. His new friends among the more experienced troops introduce him to the "Underworld," a bunker converted into a pseudo-nightclub, where they smoke marijuana and opium, drink beer, and dance with each other to soul music.
After returning to field duty, Taylor sees more combat and, during another patrol, a bunker complex is discovered. (In real life, the 25th Division encountered tunnel complexes at Cu Chi much like the ones in the film.[citation needed]) During the examination of a campfire left by the enemy, two soldiers, Sanderson and Sal, are mortally wounded by a booby trap when they tried to lift a box containing Maps. After leaving the bunker complex area, the soldiers come across another member of their unit, Manny, who has been snatched from his guard duty, tied to a post, and mutilated.
Reaching a nearby village several kilometers north of the bunker with a belief that the enemy was spotted there, the platoon discovers food and weapons caches. This scene is loosely based on the true events surrounding the My Lai Massacre.[citation needed]The villagers insist they were given no choice by the Viet Cong. The troops, tired and angry because of the deaths of some of their comrades, take out their frustrations on the village. They also begin murdering and torturing several civilians on many occasions such as the brutal murder of a one-legged villager by Bunny. While half of the men seem intimidated by these acts like Francis and O'Neil, the rest continue. Staff Sgt. Barnes kills a woman while interrogating her husband when she was yelling at her husband about the soldiers actions. The platoon burns the village and leaves, with a final scene depicting Bunny, Morehouse, Junior Martin, and Tony gang raping a teenage girl (which Chris stops).
Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe), having witnessed Staff Sgt. Barnes' (Tom Berenger) illegal actions and Lt. Wolfe's (Mark Moses) condoning of them, attacks Barnes and then puts the two men on report to their Company Commander (played by Dale Dye, a Marine Corps Vietnam veteran and technical advisor to the film). Chris, having originally admired Barnes, now finds his loyalties leaning towards Elias, while Barnes' supporters talk of fragging Elias to prevent him from acting as an eyewitness in a formal report about the illegal killings. Taylor speaks of this as "a civil war in the platoon. Half with Elias, half with Barnes."
On yet another patrol, the platoon is ambushed. Lt. Wolfe fails to take charge as the platoon suffers losses, and he calls friendly artillery fire down on his own men. Sgt. Elias, correctly anticipating an enemy flanking attack, suggests a flanking ambush to counter the threat. Although Wolfe is skeptical, Barnes agrees to the plan. Elias and three other men, including Pvt. Taylor, move around the fighting to try to intercept the flanking NVA troops. Along with the heavy fighting, many wounded need attention and Barnes calls for them to pull back. This action leaves Elias and his three troops unsupported.
While the rest of the platoon retreats to its landing zone to be airlifted out of the combat area, Barnes goes back, ostensibly to get Elias and his three men out. Barnes orders Taylor and the two others back to the landing zone, telling them that he will get Elias himself. However, instead of bringing Elias back, Barnes ambushes and shoots him.
Barnes then returns to the platoon. When Taylor asks where Elias is, Barnes tells him he is dead. In the film's iconic moment, during the extraction by helicopter the entire platoon sees Elias alive, badly wounded and running away from the pursuing North Vietnamese. Elias reaches up to the sky, as the Huey helicopters fly overhead, as seen on the movie poster, and finally collapses. He dies in an open field after being shot several more times by the North Vietnamese troops.
Taylor now suspects that Barnes caused Elias' death and begins talking to his fellow soldiers about killing Barnes in retaliation. As a result there is a confrontation between Taylor and Barnes in the bunker.
The company is sent back into the area and builds defensive positions to bait the NVA. It had been discovered that an entire NVA infantry regiment is on the move south down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This final battle ends with the obliteration of nearly the entire platoon, including Lt. Wolfe, due to the heavy NVA attack and a US aerial napalm attack. During the battle, a berserking Barnes nearly kills Taylor.
At dawn Taylor regains consciousness, finding himself wounded and surrounded by bodies. He takes an AK-47 rifle from a dead NVA soldier and wanders around, aimlessly. Taylor walks past, and ignores, a wounded but potentially dangerous NVA soldier (in the background), suggesting that now he is focused on exacting revenge on Sgt. Barnes. Eventually he finds the wounded Barnes.
Barnes orders Private Taylor to call a medic but Taylor does not budge and instead keeps the rifle trained on Barnes. Sneeringly, Barnes challenges Taylor to "do it." Private Taylor shoots Barnes three times in the chest, killing him. He then collapses and awaits medical attention. A unit of mechanized infantry arrive and begin tending to the survivors. One of the few other survivors of the platoon is Pvt. Francis (who fought in Taylor's foxhole), who emerges from a bunker and is seemingly horrified to find that he lived through the battle and will therefore be obliged to continue his tour of duty. He grabs a knife and stabs himself in the thigh.
An interesting detail to note is that when he is finally rescued after the final battle of the film, Taylor drops an object. It turns out to be a hand grenade, because Charlie Sheen thought that the character would, at this point, be suicidal.
After the final battle in the movie, the Platoon members still alive are Rodriguez, Rhah, King, Francis, Tex, Big Harold, Ace, Tony, Taylor, Huffmeister, Ebenhoch, Sgt. Warren, Sgt. O'Neil, Crawford, and possibly Gator.
The injured Private Taylor is reunited with Francis and the two are airlifted from the battlefield. The voiceover of the final scene suggests Chris Taylor is going home to the US, profoundly affected and significantly changed as a person. He states that those who survive have an obligation to those who died there and meditates on his life as a product of two fathers, Barnes and Elias.
[edit] Characters
Platoon is a character driven movie. Like the real life military subunit from which the movie gets its name, the film's characters have a nominal leader in Lieutenant Wolfe; though real power has become invested in the Platoon Sergeant, Staff Sergeant Barnes, because of his experience. The characters of the platoon are organized into three squads, led by Sergeants Elias, O'Neil, and Warren though in many cases the film does not explicitly state who belongs to which squad.
Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is the protagonist of the film, a college age volunteer through whose eyes and thoughts (delivered by voice over) the viewer experiences the events of the film. He describes his family as being traditional, upper-middle class. His grandfather and father fought in World War I and World War II, respectively. Chris had a stable, suburban life but after some time in college, felt it unfair to be exempt from service due to his school attendance, while the poor who can't afford higher education are sent off to fight. Feeling he's not learning anything substantive, he drops out and volunteers for the infantry and deployment to Vietnam. He also becomes part of the "Underworld" after being befriended by King.
Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes (Tom Berenger) is a hardened, ruthless, facially-scarred, and determined platoon sergeant who believes in what he is doing and cares about his men, but gives little regard to conventions of warfare or authority of superiors. It is revealed that he has survived being shot 7 times. He is shot to death by Taylor after the final battle.
Sergeant Elias K. Grodin (Willem Dafoe) is a compassionate sergeant and veteran of three combat tours of duty who has lost his enthusiasm for the war. He is most respected by the "Underworld" regulars, but is seen as a "do-gooder" and "crusader" by Barnes' clique. During the film, Elias is shot and left for dead by Barnes after an incident in which Elias threatened to report him for war crimes. To the astonishment of the escaping American soldiers in helicopters, Elias emerges out of the jungle while being pursued by a battalion of North Vietnamese troops. Elias's last motion to the sky as he is gunned down is the definitive vision of this film.
Big Harold (Forest Whitaker) is a large, friendly soldier who spends his down time in the bunker socializing in the "Underworld." He expressed empathy for the Vietnamese woman that Barnes had killed. He loses a leg from a Viet Cong booby trap as he tries to find cover during the artillery barrage called in by Lieutenant Wolfe.
Rhah Vermucci (Francesco Quinn) is the king of the underworld "heads" and a friend of Elias, he also respects Barnes' fighting ability and realises if Taylor attempted to kill Barnes it would only bring more trouble upon himself. After the death of Elias he takes over as a squad leader.
Sergeant "Red" O'Neill (John C. McGinley) is a lifer and squad leader who recognizes Barnes as the actual power in the platoon and is very loyal to him, seeing him as a way to keep himself alive. He is war weary to the point of feeling no shame in requesting relief from combat duty just before a battle. He survives the final battle, unharmed, having hidden beneath a corpse when the NVA overruns his position. He is given command of 2nd Platoon by Captain Harris after the incident because, with LT Wolfe and SSG Barnes having both died in the fight, he (O'Neil) is the ranking NCO (a not-uncommon occurrence in wartime). While happy that he has survived he tells the relieving soldiers he was abandoned by his comrades. At the film's end, Captain Harris informs him that he is the new leader of second platoon. After hearing this news, the last shot of O'Neill that we see in the film he is haunted, the color drains out of his face, and he holds little to no hope for his survival.
Bunny (Kevin Dillon) is a young and mentally unstable grunt who appears to enjoy the savage brutality of war. Bunny also an extremely violent individual; he beats a mentally handicapped Vietnamese villager to death due to the fact he was laughing and shoots a number of livestock while the platoon runs a search-and-destroy mission in the village. He prides his combat abilities and is a great admirer of Barnes and his ruthless tactics. During the final battle he is killed after being distracted when Junior runs away. he is equipped with a shotgun possibly a Remington 870 or a Mossberg 500. he claims to be Audie Murphy before the battle in which he is brutally killed
Junior Martin (Reggie Johnson) is a black radical who is depicted as a malingerer who falls asleep during ambush patrols and attempts self-inflicted maladies to avoid combat. He thinks that the "white man" is oppressing him, and does not support the war at all. He also attempts to rape a young Vietnamese girl. Having lost the will to fight in the last battle he retreats, leaving Bunny to die. However, while fleeing, Martin runs straight into a tree knocking himself out. Just afterwards, an NVA soldier finds him unconscious and bayonets him to death.
King (Keith David) is a poorly educated yet understanding and combat-experienced soldier from Pulaski, Tennessee who befriends Taylor. Before the battle at the end King's tour is over and he leaves for home. He tells Taylor to just try and survive and to not be a hero.
Sergeant Warren (Tony Todd) is a squad leader and morphine addict.[citation needed] He is wounded along with Lerner in the battle by the church, and is seen being airlifted away. His primary concern seems to be letting Barnes lead him because he thinks he holds the key to his survival, even if this means letting innocents be killed along the way. Junior comments that his judgment may be clouded as a result of his morphine addiction.
Lieutenant Wolfe (Mark Moses) is an Ohio University graduate who establishes only shallow relationships with his men. He is inept at giving or receiving orders, cannot read a map (which results in a disastrous friendly fire artillery barrage), does nothing to discipline his men when they step out of line, cedes control of the platoon to Barnes. In the final battle in a very dark scene he is forced to hold and fight by Capt. Harris but, unfortunately for him, is blinded by a grenade explosion and then shot through the chest. U.S. Military training schools have used the character of LT Wolfe as an example of how not to behave as an infantry leader.
Pvt. "Gator" Lerner (Johnny Depp) is the platoon's interpreter. One of the "heads", he often parties with the rest of Elias's side of the platoon, but members who get into the partying like Rhah unnerve him. Before the village massacre, Lerner translated the village chief's words for Barnes. Later, during the village ambush, Lerner is on point moments before the Vietcong ambush and is shot several times. Chris risks his life to grab Lerner and drag him to safety, though he suffers very severe injuries. He is last seen being evacuated by a helicopter, though it is unknown if Lerner makes it.
Pvt. Francis (Corey Glover)is a black soldier who befriends Pvt. Taylor. He fights with him in the same fox hole during the final battle, which he survives only to stab himself in the leg so he does not have to continue his tour of duty.At the end of the movie, he is seen being airlifted with Taylor, where he talks about getting high.
Pvt. Gardner (Bob Orwig) is an overweight new soldier from the South who arrives in the platoon at the same time as Chris. He has a girlfriend named Lucy Jean whom he reminisces about. He tries to fit in by buying hippie paraphernalia, but the experienced soldiers still insult him because he's new to the unit (an FNG, as they were known) and overweight. When a detail is sent out on night ambush, Elias pushes O'Neill to have two experienced soldiers go instead of Gardner and Chris, but O'Neill refuses to send out two short-timers just so "...two lame-asses just in from the World can get their beauty sleep". Gardner is shot in the chest and throat when he stands up during the ambush, and Doc Gomez is unable to save him. As they leave, Elias looks at Gardner's body and says regretfully that if he had lived for a few more weeks, he could have learned the necessary skills to survive.
Rodriguez (Chris Castillejo) is a devout Catholic who is somewhat anti-social (he is seen reading the Bible as opposed to playing cards with the rest of the men in one scene). He is not a major character, but he does ally himself with Elias due to his religious beliefs, and survives the movie, despite having his foxhole assaulted by an RPG and overran by VC during the final battle.
Tex (David Neidorf) is a hostile veteran of 2nd platoon. He is specifically harsh to the new recruits especially Taylor, calling him a "cheesedick rookie." During the first firefight Taylor experiences, Tex has his lower arm blown off by a grenade thrown by Sgt. O'Neill (though only the audience sees this). He is told to "take the pain" by Sgt. Barnes and he calms down. Tex is evacuated after the battle and sent home. Tex was the original M-60 machine gunner of 2nd platoon and took care of his weapon. After Tex his role as machine gunner was taken over by King.
Sandy (J. Adam Glover) is a regular soldier who hangs around with the "drinkers" of 2nd platoon. Despite being well liked in the platoon, he is best friends with Sal. Sandy is seen drinking Kentucky windage and offering some to Lt. Wolfe. On the second patrol shown in the film, Sandy and Sal are scrounging through an abandoned NVA bunker. Sandy is thrilled to find a cache of NVA maps and letters. But when he gets ready to leave he picks up the ammo box the papers are kept in and triggers a booby trap. The explosion kills Sal and tears both of Sandy's arms off from below the bicep. Although Sgt. Barnes tries to help him he dies as soon as he falls on the ground. Sandy's death is partially the catalyst for the platoon's anger at the villagers.
Sal (Richard Edson) is a nervous member of the platoon who discovers NVA intelligence in the abandoned bunker with Sandy. As Sandy goes through the letters and maps, Sal panics and encourages Sandy to leave and calls the intelligence they discover "gook stuff". Sandy responds by saying it's important while he lifts up the ammo box, and it immediately explodes, killing Sal and mortally wounding Sandy. Like Sandy, Sal's death is another event that justifies, in the soldiers' minds, their attack on the villagers.
Crawford (Chris Pedersen) is a younger soldier but a veteran none the less. He is a surfer from California, and "likes to have fun." When he first meets Taylor he says he has only has six months to go on his tour. When Crawford, Taylor and Rhah ambush the VC during the second fire fight, Crawford is mildly wounded and presumably sent home.
Ace (Terry McIlvain) is Barnes' radioman. He takes part in the village massacre and is wounded by friendly artillery fire at the church when shrapnel cuts into his back.
Manny (Corkey Ford) is a member of the "Underworld" who is notable for his singing voice. He is assigned to guard duty when the platoon discovers an abandoned NVA bunker complex while on patrol. The NVA kidnap him and he is found tied to a post, mutilated. His death, along with Sandy and Sal's, provides another reason for the platoon to attack the village.
Doc Gomez (Paul Sanchez) is the platoon's medic and another member of the "Underworld". When a soldier named Parker is wounded in the battle at the end of the film, Gomez panics while trying to save him and after Parker dies Gomez rushes into the battle in a mad, panicked rage and is killed.
Capt. Harris (Dale Dye) is the commander of 3rd battalion. He is usually seen talking on the radio though is sometimes seen talking to the men. After the village scene Elias and Barnes come to him to complain about each other's actions but Harris tells them to stop and let it go. During the NVA attacks on the perimeter, Harris is made head CO of the battalion after the Major (Oliver Stone) is killed by NVA sappers. He survives the napalm strike.
[edit] Production
Platoon was filmed on the island of Luzon in the Philippines between March and May of 1986. The production of the film on a scheduled date was almost cancelled due to the political upheaval in the country with then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos, but with the help of a producer well-known in Asia, Mark Hill, the shoot went on as scheduled.
The director, Oliver Stone, makes a cameo appearance as the battalion commander in the final battle. When the command bunker is blown up by an NVA sapper, his character is presumably killed.
[edit] Music
The piece played throughout the film is Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber.
White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane
Okie From Muskogee by Merle Haggard
Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival
During the memorable scene in the "Underworld" the soldiers sing along to The Tracks of My Tears by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles.
Various audio samples from the movie can be heard in the Ministry song "Flashback" from album The Land of Rape and Honey.
During the movie trailer Hello, I Love You by The Doors can be heard.
[edit] Reception
Critics both praised and criticised Platoon for its presentation of the violence seen in the war and the moral ambiguity created by the realities of guerilla warfare, when unit leaders have to make a choice between saving the lives of their own men and taking those of suspected guerilla sympathisers.[citation needed]
It shows some US soldiers as violent and indiscriminate killers. Fueled by rage at seeing their friends killed and maimed by booby traps, they take their anger out on villagers who were found hiding a cache of firearms, killing and torturing Vietnamese villagers and setting their village on fire. The film has been banned in Vietnam mostly due to these scenes and the negative and arguably condescending portrayal of the Vietnamese.[citation needed]
The film currently has an 88% rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 82%.
Platoon's release was timely. During the mid-1980s there was a softening of attitudes towards Vietnam veterans (which had taken over ten years, since the last American soldiers pulled out of Vietnam in 1973. Saigon fell in 1975).[citation needed] Sparked by the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington, DC, in 1982, Hollywood suddenly saw a small surge in films related to the war.[citation needed]
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Winner of 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound.
- Nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tom Berenger), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Willem Dafoe), Best Cinematography and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.
[edit] Spin-offs
Computer and video games were published during 1986-1988 for various home computer systems by Ocean, and the NES (ported and published by Sunsoft). The object of this action game is to survive in the Vietnamese jungle against guerrilla attacks. It is loosely based on the movie.
In level 1, the character leads a platoon of five men navigating a maze of paths. He must find explosives and blow up the bridge to prevent an enemy with a rocket launcher from destroying his platoon. Then, he must enter the village and continue to kill enemy soldiers without harming too many villagers, since it lowers morale. He must find a map and a compass in order to navigate the next level. Level 2 consists of an underground maze where the player has limited ammunition and must find flares and a flare gun. Level 3 requires the player to shoot down enemy machine gunners at night. Level 4 is the final confrontation in which the player must repeatedly shoot down the enemy and find his way through the maze to a bunker, at which he repeatedly throws explosives until it is destroyed. The game features cinematic sequences during the intro and at the ending, but no dialog is involved, so the plot is difficult to discern.
- A novelization was written by Dale Dye as a tie-in to the film.
- A wargame was produced by Avalon Hill as an introductory game to attract young people back to the wargaming hobby. The Platoon game was a direct film tie-in as well.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Platoon at the Internet Movie Database
- Platoon at Rotten Tomatoes
- Platoon at Box Office Mojo
- Platoon at Allmovie
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Out of Africa |
Academy Award for Best Picture 1986 |
Succeeded by The Last Emperor |
| Preceded by Out of Africa |
Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama 1987 |
Succeeded by The Last Emperor |
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| Preceded by Critical Condition |
Box office number-one films of 1987 (USA) February 1, 1987 – March 1, 1987 |
Succeeded by A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors |
