PLATOON or HAMBURGER HILL?

To date, PLATOON and HAMBURGER HILL are considered among the most realistic of Vietnam War movies. Other movies are close behind: Apocalypse Now; We Were Soldiers; Deer Hunter.

Interesting. HAMBURGER HILL is the U.S. Army's unofficial favorite. It would have been PLATOON but there's too much uncomfortable stuff in there for the Army's comfort. Without wanting to be anti-war, PLATOON is anti-war. While showing the moral breakdown of men under such intense life or death struggle, the things men end up doing do not reflect well on America and the military, even though that was not the purpose of the movie.

The purpose of PLATOON, in my opinion, was to disabuse any young men that war is an adventure. PLATOON was meant to prove Civil War General Sherman's adage, 'War is hell'. Any young man who wants to go to war should watch PLATOON first and see if he feels the same way afterwards.