Top 10 Films: Best Vietnam Movies

Although anybody could write about the movies they think are the best Vietnam movies ever, since one of the focuses of my graduate history degree was Vietnam, I bring a slightly different perspective to this category of films, looking at it from both a cinematic and a historical perspective. Ironically, I'm not all that interested in the films that were historically accurate, but the ones that brought unique perspective to the issues surrounding the War at the time they were released. In fact, most Vietnam films are not historically accurate at all. Thus, my list of the best Vietnam movies ever are a mix of historical narratives and mythologically based movies. Ultimately, the Vietnam War was a controversial conflict that inspired many great films.

Director: Ivan Passer

Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Heard, Lisa Eichhorn

Why it's one of the best Vietnam movies: "Cutter's Way", also known as "Cutter and Bone" was a kind of film that used Vietnam as a thematic device rather than attacking the war in any political or mythological way. In "Cutter's Way", Passer examines how an event like the Vietnam War can ravage people psychologically. The film is wrapped in a mystery that ultimately doesn't resolve itself, which goes to show the movie isn't about the mystery. It's about what drives each of the characters: a rudderless slacker named Bone (Jeff Bridges), his friend Cutter (John Heard), who's a vet who's lost an eye and leg, and Cutter's wife (Lisa Eichhorn). Bone witnesses what may be a murder, but is unmotivated while Cutter sees it as an opportunity to engage. It's a largely overlooked film with tons of symbolism.

Director: Norman Jewison

Starring: Bruce Willis, Emily Lloyd, Joan Allen

Why it's one of the best Vietnam movies: A very underrated movie. One of the first films to really tackle the Vietnam Veteran experience in a realistic way. Although it was never destined to be a blockbuster, I can only imagine that since Bruce Willis was in a stage of his career we'll call the "Hudson Hawk" stage, he wasn't generally regarded as a good serious actor and people stayed away. However, Willis gives a very compelling performance as an emotionally damaged vet who has to deal with his baggage and heal, ultimately by visiting the Vietnam War Memorial.

Director: Michael Cimino

Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, Meryl Streep

Why it's one of the best Vietnam movies: Michael Cimino's epic film was the first to bring Vietnam into the mainstream (though "Coming Home" was also released the same year). Although its fictionalization of the Russian Roulette sequences could perhaps be considered exploitation and avoidance of the real, emotional issues that affected veterans, that very dramatic sequence brought the overall devastation of the war home. Let's face it, of everything that went on in that film, the Russian Roulette sequences are almost the only thing that's remembered. That powerful image symbolized the destructiveness of the Vietnam experience and burned in our collective memories.

Director: Oliver Stone

Starring: Tom Cruise, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava

Why it's one of the best Vietnam movies: For all his weirdness, Oliver Stone has made some great movies and this is one. The story of Ron Kovic, in both the film and in real life, is of a young patriot who goes off to war and comes back, still a patriot, but horribly injured - a paraplegic. Then, Kovic turns against the war, essentially realizing it was a mistake. While previous Vietnam films dealt with various aspects of the war symbolically, none dealt quite so overtly with the political elements. It is perhaps not surprising that such a film got made in Hollywood, but remember that political message films usually only get made when there is some degree of public acceptance of the message and that's what this film symbolizes.

Director: Barry Levinson

Starring: Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker

Why it's one of the best Vietnam movies: Some might say that it's only when we can laugh at a tragic and/or failed event collectively that we've come to accept it. Such is the case with Vietnam and the year we came to collectively look upon that event in a complete way was 1987 when this movie came out. However, not only is this movie a comedy with Vietnam as the backdrop, it's also a film that humanizes the Vietnamese, which is another stepping stone in the assimilation of the Vietnam experience in the American consciousness. Here was a film that laughed at the absurdity of the situation, but also took the Vietnamese (through the eyes of the Robin Williams character) and showed us real people fighting their own, legitimate battle.

Director: Brian De Palma

Starring: Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn

Why it's one of the best Vietnam movies: My Lai was one of the most horrific events of the Vietnam War. Approximately 500 people were murdered by United States Army soldiers. Many were women and children and many were tortured, raped, and beaten. It is one of the most horrific events of any war. In a much smaller way, "Casualties of War" tries to examine how it's possible for such an event to occur and what challenges an honorable person faces trying to bring such an event to light. In this case, a five man patrol kidnaps a Vietnamese woman, forces her to march with them, and eventually rapes and murders her. Again, when popular entertainment is able to take this sort of thing and present it honestly, it's a signal that our culture is ready to deal with the reality of our failures. It's a significant moment.

Director: Randall Wallace

Starring: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear

Why it's one of the best Vietnam movies: As Vietnam wore on our collective cultural consciousness, films came out that seriously examined some of the planning failures of the war and those battles that symbolized why America couldn't succeed there. Compare the battle sequences here with the ones in "Apocalypse Now" and you begin to understand how complex issues are digested in the public's consciousness. Things move slowly from the mythic to the real and "We Were Soldiers" is a signal of the real. The battle depicted, one of the first land battles of the war, effectively characterized battle in Vietnam, but also how the Vietnamese were willing to die and outlast the U.S. military.

Director: Oliver Stone

Starring: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe

Why it's one of the best Vietnam movies: This was the first, great, realistic film about the Vietnam War. The battle sequences were harrowing. The storytelling was magnificent. At its heart are two different points of view depicted by the conflict between the Willem Dafoe character and the Tom Berenger character. It reminds me of my favorite book about the war, "Backlash". The basic thesis of that book was that the American military was incapable of fighting the war the way it needed to be fought, not because our soldiers were in any way incapable, but because the system was incapable. Dafoe's character, who fights by his own rules but is ultimately destroyed by the system is that hope. Berenger, a different kind of military man, is his opposite. It's a truly great movie that says a lot about what didn't work and what could have worked in Vietnam.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall

Why it's one of the best Vietnam movies: "Apocalypse Now" is widely considered a masterpiece, so it's natural to say it's also a great Vietnam film. What makes it so has nothing to do with any accurate portrayal of the Vietnam War, but with the images and ideas it expresses. Who can forget Robert Duvall leading the helicopter charge? Who can forget Martin Sheen traveling up the river to bring back Marlon Brando's "insane" Colonel Kurtz? The Duvall scene represents how America saw itself and imagined things would be. Sheen's pursuit of Kurtz is a metaphor for where we ended up.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Starring: Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey

Why it's one of the best Vietnam movies: Well, it's Kubrick. The film being split into two parts essentially is a choice that would seem to lack continuity, but it explains a lot. It shows how soldiers are indoctrinated into the mentality of killing and how that can sometimes backfire. Since Vietnam itself was a failure in terms of how the American way of war worked, the second half of the movie basically illustrates very simply how and why Vietnam went wrong. The soldiers engage in a mission that involves hunting down and killing a girl. There's also the mythological element that Kubrick weaves into the film. The singing of the Mickey Mouse Club at the end, for instance. This didn't actually happen, which tells you that Kubrick wasn't interested in telling a true war story. He was interested in making a film about larger issues, which is exactly what he did. The film says everything about what went wrong in Vietnam.