Vietnam War Movies, best to worst
-must have a significant focus on the Vietnam War.
-Just having a character who's a Vietnam vet/gets sent to 'Nam, doesn't count.
-Having a significant amount of the film (10min+) set in the war automatically qualifies the movie.
-Veterans returning to Vietnam, post-war, to settle some business from the war (eg retrieving a P.O.W, etc) qualifies, too.
[Had to make up these criteria, coz there really aren't that many half-decent Vietnam movies; A handful of absolute CLASSICS... And then the rest are 90% either (1) great movies, only tangentially/briefly about Vietnam (The Deer Hunter,Bullet in the Head, Forrest Gump, Dead Presidents) (2) Largely set in Vietnam, but kinda trash (Uncommon Valor, MIA, Rambo, etc]
-Just having a character who's a Vietnam vet/gets sent to 'Nam, doesn't count.
-Having a significant amount of the film (10min+) set in the war automatically qualifies the movie.
-Veterans returning to Vietnam, post-war, to settle some business from the war (eg retrieving a P.O.W, etc) qualifies, too.
[Had to make up these criteria, coz there really aren't that many half-decent Vietnam movies; A handful of absolute CLASSICS... And then the rest are 90% either (1) great movies, only tangentially/briefly about Vietnam (The Deer Hunter,Bullet in the Head, Forrest Gump, Dead Presidents) (2) Largely set in Vietnam, but kinda trash (Uncommon Valor, MIA, Rambo, etc]
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- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.
- DirectorPeter DavisStarsTin ChanChau DiemNgo Dinh DiemA startling and courageous landmark documentary that unflinchingly confronted the United States' involvement in Vietnam at the height of the controversy that surrounded it.
- DirectorEmile de AntonioStarsHarry S. AshmoreDaniel BerriganJoseph ButtingerA documentary chronicling the background to, and history of, the Vietnam War.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMatthew ModineR. Lee ErmeyVincent D'OnofrioA pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsCharlie SheenTom BerengerWillem DafoeChris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRobert McNamaraJohn F. KennedyFidel CastroThe story of America as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense under President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsChristian BaleSteve ZahnJeremy DaviesA U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsDenzel WashingtonRussell CroweChiwetel EjioforAn outcast New York City cop is charged with bringing down Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, whose real life inspired this partly biographical film.
- DirectorTom JeffreyStarsGraham KennedyJohn HargreavesJohn JarrattIn between drinking cans of Fosters beer, Australian soldiers tread on a few landmines, and generally experience the war in Vietnam.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsTom CruiseBryan LarkinRaymond J. BarryThe biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsMichael J. FoxSean PennDon HarveyDuring the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager, for their sexual enjoyment.
- DirectorJohn IrvinStarsAnthony BarrileMichael BoatmanDon CheadleA very realistic interpretation of one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsTom HanksRobin WrightGary SiniseThe history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
- DirectorRoger SpottiswoodeStarsMel GibsonRobert Downey Jr.Nancy TravisA young pilot finds himself recruited unwittingly into a covert and corrupt CIA airlift operation in Laos during the Vietnam conflict.
- DirectorsFax BahrGeorge HickenlooperEleanor CoppolaStarsDennis HopperMartin SheenMarlon BrandoDocumentary that chronicles how Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) was plagued by extraordinary script, shooting, budget, and casting problems - nearly destroying the life and career of the celebrated director.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiJacky CheungWaise LeeWhen three close friends escape from Hong Kong to war-time Saigon to start a criminal's life, they all go through a harrowing experience which totally shatters their lives and their friendship forever.
- DirectorAdrian LyneStarsTim RobbinsElizabeth PeñaDanny AielloMourning his dead son, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
- DirectorBen StillerStarsBen StillerJack BlackRobert Downey Jr.Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsRobin WilliamsForest WhitakerTom T. TranIn 1965, an unorthodox and irreverent DJ named Adrian Cronauer begins to shake up things when he is assigned to the U.S. Armed Services radio station in Vietnam.
- DirectorRandall WallaceStarsMel GibsonMadeleine StoweGreg KinnearThe story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War, and the soldiers on both sides that fought it, while their wives wait nervously and anxiously at home for the good news or the bad news.
- DirectorsAlbert HughesAllen HughesStarsLarenz TateKeith DavidChris TuckerA Vietnam vet adjusts to life after the war while trying to support his family, but the chance of a better life may involve crime and bloodshed.
- DirectorSidney J. FurieStarsStan ShawAndrew StevensJames CanningIn 1967, five young men undergo boot camp training before being shipped out to Vietnam. Once they get there, the experience proves worse than they could have imagined.
- DirectorPeter MarkleStarsGene HackmanDanny GloverJerry ReedDuring the Vietnam War, Colonel Hambleton's aircraft is shot down over enemy territory and a frantic rescue operation ensues.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsColin FarrellMatthew DavisClifton Collins Jr.A group of recruits go through Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana's infamous Tigerland, last stop before Vietnam for tens of thousands of young men in 1971.
- DirectorMichael CiminoStarsRobert De NiroChristopher WalkenJohn CazaleAn in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.
- DirectorSteven Hilliard SternStarsTommy Lee JonesHelen ShaverYaphet KottoVietnam veteran Mitch wants to raise awareness of how veterans, the elderly, and the underprivileged are overlooked. He takes Central Park hostage for 72 hours on Veterans' Day weekend and must defend his position with gunfire.I'm cheating on my own criteria, but it's so Vietnam-centric, I had to include it.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsGene HackmanPatrick SwayzeRobert StackTen years after his son went M.I.A. in Vietnam, U.S. Marine retired Colonel Jason Rhodes assembles a private rescue team to find Americans held in P.O.W. camps in Laos.
- DirectorPatrick Sheane DuncanStarsJonathan EmersonNicholas CasconeJason TomlinsThe title refers to the U.S. Army's former "MOS" (job code) for a combat cameraman. The story follows a unit of American G.I.s in Vietnam, all with different backgrounds and motives for being there, through the lens of his camera.
- StarsPeter CoyoteHuy DucJames WillbanksA comprehensive history of the United States' involvement in the bitterly divisive armed conflict in Southeast Asia.
- DirectorPierre SchoendoerfferStarsJoseph B. AndersonStuart WhitmanThe director, a French veteran of the Indochina war (La 317e Section), returned to follow a platoon of American soldiers for six weeks at the height of fighting in Vietnam in 1966. The documentary discusses the background and fate of the soldiers and emphasizes how much American culture pervades the soldiers' behaviors in the midst of jungle life and fighting.
- DirectorWayne BlairStarsChris O'DowdDeborah MailmanJessica MauboyIn 1968, four talented young Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship, and war when their all-girl group The Sapphires entertains the US troops in Vietnam.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsJane FondaJon VoightBruce DernIn 1968 California, a woman whose husband is a Marine officer fighting in Vietnam falls in love with a former high school classmate who suffered a paralyzing combat injury in the war.
- DirectorJohn MiliusStarsDanny GloverWillem DafoeBrad JohnsonDuring the air war over Vietnam, a U.S. Navy A-6 Intruder bomber pilot schemes with a hardened veteran to make an unauthorized air strike on Hanoi.
- DirectorJoseph ZitoStarsChuck NorrisM. Emmet WalshDavid TressColonel Braddock launches a mission deep into the jungles of Vietnam to find the POW camp that he escaped from and free the Americans still held captive there.
- DirectorTed PostStarsBurt LancasterCraig WassonJonathan GoldsmithDuring the early 1960s, U.S. military advisers in South Vietnam discover the same challenges that plagued the French army in Indochina ten years prior.
- DirectorGeorge P. CosmatosStarsSylvester StalloneRichard CrennaCharles NapierRambo returns to the jungles of Vietnam on a mission to infiltrate an enemy base-camp and rescue the American POWs still held captive there.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsMichael GambonDonald SutherlandAlec BaldwinIn the mid 1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson (Sir Michael Gambon) and his foreign-policy team debate the decision to withdraw from or escalate the war in Vietnam.
- DirectorRod HolcombStarsJames SpaderClaire ForlaniPaul GiamattiDefense worker Daniel Ellsberg seeks to publish a series of classified government documents detailing the true nature of America's involvement in the Vietnam War.
- DirectorAaron NorrisStarsTony PierceRobert F. LyonsMichael DudikoffA young officer, just out of West Point is sent to Vietnam, where the men don't respect him until he gets wounded and returns to be a wiser soldier and a better commander
- DirectorSidney J. FurieStarsKen WahlCheryl LaddStephen LeeIn middle of the Vietnam War, a Navy surgeon and a nurse fall in love. Their affection for one another provides a striking contrast to the violence of warfare.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsMatthew ModineMichael WrightMitchell LichtensteinFour young soldiers waiting to be shipped to Viet Nam deal with racial tension and their own intolerance when one soldier reveals he's gay.
- DirectorPeter MarkleStarsShawn HatosyCary-Hiroyuki TagawaJoe ChrestThe story of John McCain's experience as a Vietnam War POW. Based on the memoir of the same title.
- DirectorSidney J. FurieStarsKen WahlCheryl LaddStephen LeeIn middle of the Vietnam War, a Navy surgeon and a nurse fall in love. Their affection for one another provides a striking contrast to the violence of warfare.
- DirectorRory KennedyStarsRichard NixonHenry KissingerStuart HerringtonDuring the final days of the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese forces closed in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance crumbled. An unlikely group of heroes emerged as Americans and South Vietnamese took matters into their own hands.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsDieter DenglerWerner HerzogEugene DeatrickGerman-American Dieter Dengler discusses his service as a U.S. naval pilot in the Vietnam War. Dengler also revisits the sites of his capture and eventual escape from the hands of the Viet Cong, recreating many events for the camera.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDelroy LindoJonathan MajorsClarke PetersFour black veterans battle the forces of man and nature when they return to Vietnam seeking the remains of their fallen squad leader and the gold fortune he helped them hide.Apparently Vietnam is full of middle-aged black men, whining about Donald Trump
- DirectorCirio H. SantiagoStarsBrad JohnsonVernon WellsKevin DuffisLt. Vance Calhoun takes on a dangerous rescue mission of American POWs in the treacherous Darloc Valley in Vietnam. His only chance to escape is with the help of five young, fearless soldiers on motorcycles.
- DirectorJack StarrettStarsWilliam SmithBernie HamiltonAdam RoarkeA quintet of CIA-trained Hells Angels take their specially armored hogs to Cambodia and head across southeast Asia to rescue a captured presidential advisor.
- DirectorsRay KelloggJohn WayneMervyn LeRoyStarsJohn WayneDavid JanssenJim HuttonCol. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam. First off is to build and control a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy. The second mission is to kidnap a North Vietnamese General.The first (fictional, non-doco) Vietnam movie made, and pretty definitely the worst. Directed by and starring John Wayne (playing a role he's way too old for), it's the most ham-fisted, tone-deaf, pro-war cheese, imaginable. But I don't say it's bad, because of it's pro-war politics; A good pro-war movie would be interesting... but this most certainly ISN'T "a good pro-war movie"....
Even compared to no-budget, b-movie genre-trash like biker movies 'Nam Angels' and 'The Losers', this somehow manages to be even LESS compelling, and LESS engaging...