About the movie

Synopsis: The film probes the psyche of the young soldiers who fought in Vietnam. Their camaraderie, their struggle for survival amid terrifying violence and madness of combat. Dealing with the day-to-day existence of an infantry rifle platoon of thirty guys from all walks of life, Platoon examines the fight between good and evil in the outfit and what it was really like to be a foot soldier (grunt) in Vietnam.

Theatrical Release Date: Dec 19, 1986
MPAA Rating: R

Cast and Crew

Director, Screen Writer: Oliver Stone
Cinematographer: Robert Richardson
Executive Producers: Derek Gibson; John Daly
Producer: Arnold Kopelson
Production Designer: Bruno Rubeo

Starring: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, John C. McGinley, Richard Edson, Kevin Dillon, Reggie Johnson, Johnny Depp, Keith David

Review

Winning a raft of awards, not least of which four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, Oliver Stone's Platoon was a box-office smash heralding Hollywood's second wave of Vietnam war films. Where predecessors The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979) were elaborate epics, Platoon simply showed the daily reality of the war from the point of view of ordinary soldiers.

Stone's own service in Vietnam gives his work a unique authenticity. Charlie Sheen gives his best performance to date, enduring a series of increasingly large-scale and bloody battles which retrospectively make one wonder why Saving Private Ryan was hailed as so new. Against this gruelling verity the film falters over the symbolic conflict between good and evil sergeants played by Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger.