Customer Reviews

The Anderson Platoon [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Going through some reviews, I understand what their disappointment might be. This is not a documentary produced by Hollywood or by a major movie Cy. This is the result of 6 weeks shooting, on the field, with the troop, in the very conditions the soldiers lived then and there, a completely accurate picture of what their lifes really were. Some point out the low camera angle in some parts, but I guess the cameraman couldn't simply stand up and record whereas the Vietcong were shooting at them ! Risk was there and the movie team (three people) could be killed every moment...Just to show what the soldier's life is. Not more, not less. The american awards it received are simply telling how people liked it then, in 1966. This documentary is simply human. A must see.

The original version By Pierre Schoendoerffer,is an Excellent film, A MUST see for any military historian.

BUT BEWARE!!!!! there is a 1987 remake of this film that has the same title ands uses rearanged original footage from the film, This butchery is the WORST thing to happen to "Anderson Platoon" Try to make sure you are buying the original!!!! Huge difference!!! The edititng in the 1987 verson looks like a high school AV room, and the broken naration is so vauge, you have no clue what is going on, (unless you had seen the original already)
It was VERY frustraiting to watch this film, Id give The original 5 stars, and the remake 1 star.
-Sam Johnson

This is hands down the best movie about the Vietnam conflict I have ever seen. I saw it this evening, and I already want to stick it back in my VCR. While "Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," and "Full Metal Jacket" are all fantastic Hollywood movies with brilliant actors and amazing special effects, "The Anderson Platoon" is just as entertaining if not moreso. You look at the soldiers as they silently file past the camera, knowing that in two weeks some of them will be dead. And it's the real thing too, from policing up a helicopter wreck to dodging the MPs in forbidden Saigon. The cinematography is magnificent as well.

Good documentary of a combat platoon in Vietnam. This isn't an action movie. The director/narrator has a heavy french accent and you find yourself rewinding the tape at certain points. The film is in black and white with a few shots that get kind of blurry. If you are not familiar with times,places and certain battles of the Vietnam war you could find yourself getting confused. This is a movie for someone that is very interested in the Vietnam war i wouldn't recommend it to someone that is used to seeing hollywood on the front lines because you will be disapointed. I thought this was one of the better films showing war to someone who has never experienced it first hand. Well worth the price tag and if I were you I would get express shipping on this one.

I was wondering [while viewing this remarkable film] why I never saw it as a kid during Vietnam on the U.S. media. I realized why it was buried in the American press soon enough. It showed Americans helping sick women, children and wounded enemy personnel --- while being shot to pieces.

This is hands down the best movie about the Vietnam conflict I have ever seen. I saw it this evening, and I already want to stick it back in my VCR. While "Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," and "Full Metal Jacket" are all fantastic Hollywood movies with brilliant actors and amazing special effects, "The Anderson Platoon" is just as entertaining if not moreso. You look at the soldiers as they silently file past the camera, knowing that in two weeks some of them will be dead. And it's the real thing too, from policing up a helicopter wreck to dodging the MPs in forbidden Saigon. The cinematography is magnificent as well. It has the added benefit of being suitable for a high school history class. The violence, although horrific, is not gruesome, and the language, while conveying the same flavor of Vietnam as the other movies, is not gratuitous.

I have seen many documentary's and dramatized films on the Vietnam war. Even though this film is grainy and the narrator has a strong French accent, I believe it is the best representation of what an average infantryman faced in Vietnam on a day to day basis.

Indeed, as a "This is what the entire Vietnam Intervention was like in its entirety" documentary, this falls far short. However, remove the "entirety" part, (which was probably never the goal, anyway) and "The Anderson Platoon" is revealed to be a brilliantly straightforward and nonjudgemental microscopic view of "a pawn in a much larger game." If one is beginning a collection of Vietnam Intervention nonfiction, don't start here; still, make sure to include this before the finish.

This is the real documentary of one platoon during the Vietnam War. The group is lead by a young African American, Joe Anderson. This film documents what is was like for these young men fighting in Vietnam and the effect it had on them. The film won an Academy Award. It's a must see!

I ordered this video based on the overwhelmingly high marks other viewers gave, but I cannot concur. Although some of the action scenes were enough to evoke strong emotion, overall the video is replete with irrelevant scenes like the ankle-level footage of the soldier's footsteps; bad music and nearly indecipherable narration. English subtitles would be a plus. I can't decide whether the high point was the soldier buying his "girlfriend" a guitar while on R&R, or the urination scene.