The cast a long shadow across one of the most fertile periods of American filmmaking, and has led filmmakers for the half-century since to reckon with its complicated legacy.
These 10 films, assembled to mark the 50th anniversary of , range from indelible anti-war classics to Vietnamese portraits of resistance, capturing the vastness of the war鈥檚 still-reverberating traumas.
鈥淭he Big Shave鈥� (1967)
The war was more than a decade in and some eight years from its conclusion when a 25-year-old made . In it, a man simply shaves himself before a sink and a mirror. After a few knicks and cuts, he doesn鈥檛 stop, continuing until his face is a bloody mess 鈥� a neat but gruesome metaphor to Vietnam.
鈥淭he Little Girl of Hanoi鈥� (1974)
A young girl (Lan H瓢啤ng) searches for her family in the bombed-out ruins of Hanoi in H岷 Ninh鈥檚 landmark of Vietnamese cinema. It鈥檚 a work of wartime propaganda (it begins with the intro: 鈥渉onoring the heroes of Hanoi who defeated the American imperialist B-52 bombing raid鈥�) but also of aching humanity. Set against the December 1972 bombing raids on Hanoi, 鈥淭he Little Girl of Hanoi鈥� is cinema made in the very midst of war.
鈥淗earts and Minds鈥� (1974)
Controversy greeted Peter Davis鈥� landmark documentary around its release, but time has only proved how soberly clear-eyed it was. Newsreel clips and homefront interviews are contrasted with the horrors on the ground in Vietnam in this penetrating examination of the gulf between American policy and Vietnamese reality. Its title comes from President Lyndon B. Johnson鈥檚 line, said when escalating the war, that 鈥渢he ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live out there.鈥�
鈥淭he Deer Hunter鈥� (1979)
It's arguably the preeminent American film about the Vietnam War. No other movie more grandly or tragically charts the American evolution from innocence to disillusionment than Michael Cimino鈥檚 devastating epic about working-class friends (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage) from a Pennsylvania steel town drafted into war. The final sing-along scene to 鈥淕od Bless America,鈥� after their lives have irrevocably changed, remains a powerfully poignant gut punch.
鈥淎pocalypse Now鈥� (1979)
Francis Ford Coppola wagered everything he had on his masterpiece 鈥� and nearly lost it. which transposes Joseph Conrad鈥檚 鈥淗eart of Darkness鈥� to the Vietnam War, is an epic of madness that teeters on the brink of hallucination. Shot in the Philippines and more faithful to Conrad than to Vietnam, 鈥淎pocalypse Now鈥� doesn鈥檛 so much illuminate the chaos and moral confusion of the war as elevate it to grandiose nightmare.
鈥淧latoon鈥� (1986)
The 1980s saw a wave of Hollywood films about Vietnam, including 鈥淔irst Blood,鈥� 鈥淗amburger Hill,鈥� 鈥淕ood Morning Vietnam,鈥� 鈥淐asualties of War鈥� and 鈥淏orn on the Fourth of July.鈥� Foremost among them is the Oscar best picture-winning 鈥淧latoon,鈥� which wrote based on his own experiences as an infantryman in Vietnam. Widely acclaimed for its realism, Stone鈥檚 film remains among the most intensely vivid and visceral dramatizations of the war.
鈥淔ull Metal Jacket鈥� (1987)
Stanley Kubrick should be more often thought of as the supreme anti-war moviemaker. His devastating World War I film 鈥淧aths of Glory鈥� and the subversive satire 鈥淒r. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb鈥� are classics in their own right. 鈥淔ull Metal Jacket鈥� carries those films鈥� themes of dehumanization into an even more brutal place. Split between the harrowing boot-camp tyranny of R. Lee Ermey鈥檚 drill instructor and the urban violence of , 鈥淔ull Metal Jacket鈥� fuses both ends of the war machine.
鈥淟ittle Dieter Needs to Fly鈥� (1997)
How former soldiers lived with their experience in Vietnam has been a subject of many fine films, from Hal Ashby鈥檚 鈥淐oming Home鈥� (1978) to (2020). In Werner Herzog鈥檚 nonfiction gem, he profiles the astonishing story of German-American pilot Dieter Dengler. In the film, which Herzog later remade as 2007鈥檚 鈥淩escue Dawn鈥� with Christian Bale, Dengler recounts 鈥� and sometimes reenacts 鈥� his experience being shot down over Laos, being captured and tortured and then escaping into the jungle.
鈥淭he Fog of War鈥� (2003)
Not long after the turn of the century, former U.S. defense secretary and Vietnam War architect Robert S. McNamara sat for interviews with documentarian . The result is a chilling reflection on the thinking that led to one of American鈥檚 greatest follies. It鈥檚 not a mea culpa but a thornier and more disquieting rumination on how rationalized ideology can lead to the deaths of millions 鈥� and still not yield an apology. Of McNamara鈥檚 lessons, No. 1 is 鈥渆mpathize with the enemy.鈥�
鈥淭he Post鈥� (2017)
dramatizes the Washington Post鈥檚 1971 publishing of , a collection of classified documents that chronicled America鈥檚 20-year involvement in Southeast Asia. While government analyst (a moving participant in 鈥淗earts and Minds鈥�) could be considered the hero of this story, 鈥淭he Post鈥� turns its focus to Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep) and the wartime role of the Fourth Estate.
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For more coverage of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War鈥檚 end, visit .
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
