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"Hamburger Hill" (John Irwin, '87)


Sabrejet
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Don Cheadle, Steven Weber, Courtney B. Vance, and Dylan McDermott were just a few whose careers were made by this film.

 

Underrated film that only made 13 million box office. The script writer was a Vietnam Veteran who based his characters including names on those he served with. He would also write "Heartbreak Ridge" and 'The Lost Battalion".

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My favorite part is when Languilli holds up a magazine and says "love this Camaro", the perfect scene for a military collector/Chevy guy like me!

 

Rob

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My favorite part is when Languilli holds up a magazine and says "love this Camaro", the perfect scene for a military collector/Chevy guy like me!

 

Rob

Yeah!!...thats one of my favorite scenes too!!......mike (chevy guy!) :thumbsup:

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One reason I feel it's so good is that all the guys WERE basically nobodys, and didn't feel they had to compete

with a big name star and his ego, or any body else's for that matter. All they had to do was act, and they did

it in such a natural way that it comes across as real. It is the one thing that, for myself, I have not seen in ANY

war movie made to date.

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Yeah!!...thats one of my favorite scenes too!!......mike (chevy guy!) :thumbsup:

 

Hey Mike,

 

A military collector who likes vintage Chevy's? We have a lot in common! :thumbsup:

 

Rob

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Just watched it the other day on DVD. I’d almost forgotten what a well-done film this is.

They got the effects of dismounts out in the open under indirect fire down with chilling effect. The scene where the grunts are passing among some trees and they simply disappear when the explosions go off, man, that just gives the shudders every time I see it. I even went frame-by-frame on the DVD to see the break in the editing and you don’t see it. Looks like the stunt guys were really vaporized by close-in explosives. I’ve never seen that effect done so realistically before or since. It’s tough to watch but a true testament to the moviemakers who did such a good job on the effects. No “thermonuclear grenades” in this film!

And at the start of the movie, the guy who gets blown into the air from a mortar round and you can hear him coming by his scream until he lands right in front of the camera. I bet plenty of VN vets watching this movie got up and left (or turned off the DVD) after seeing that part.

God knows I don’t groove on watching scene like that but I am very impressed when a true effort is made to portray these horrors as correctly as possible. The producers should be commended for the effort.

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The opening sequence which transitions from the Vietnam Wall back to the war is a very powerful one for me. Having been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, having cried there myself because of it's impact is something I will never forget. The movie starts by honoring the dead and taking you back and ends with a reflective poem penned by a man who lost his life along with twelve others extracting members of RT Pennsylvania inside Cambodia. He is listed on Panel 12W Line 040. Essentially starting with the wall and going back to it.

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  • 1 month later...

Does anyone know if this movie was in any way based on John Del Vecchio's novel "The 13th Valley"? Even though the movie was based on a real event, it seems to me some of the characters and events may have been inspired by the novel?

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  • 2 weeks later...

My Company, C/158th AVN Bn, flew the first assault onto Dong Ap Bia. Confusion did abound in our opinion and it didn't make us feel warm and fuzzy when we gave it back...and then went back and retook it later. The crumps of the mortars and arty in the film made me set up and take notice. Guy's dissappearing or flying through the air are much more realistic than some dude who throws his arms straight up into the air and then slowly falls to his knees--hell, being blown backwards off your feet when you took an AK in the chest was pretty common place. The guys I've carried back were hit by hammer blows, not love pats.

FYI-Some of the units never went to the subdued Screaming Eagle patch. They stayed colored until they stood down to go home. I wore mine colored until 1986. Here's a photo that Ken Mayberry, Phoenix 50 took going to Hamburger Hill on the west wall of the A Shau. Can you make out the craters from the B-52 air to surface artillery strikes? Cheers, Bookie Phoenix 62

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  • 9 months later...

I watched this clear through twice this weekend. I'm glad you guys recommended it. Definitely gives a much more sober picture to the war than any other Vietnam movie I have ever seen.

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  • 3 weeks later...

One of my all-time VN movies favorites.

 

I watched it on TV in the late 80s, and unfortunately it was dubbed in French. Translating this GI slang was probably very difficult, although translaters made a commendable effort to keep as close as possible to the original text. But it just doesn't work. When a French actor has to say the translation of "It don't mean nuthin'", of course without that deep African-American accent, the result sounds off, as do most of the dialogs. Now that my English level has improved, I really need to watch it in original version! :lol:

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It was really interesting watching "Vietnam In HD", especially when one of the soldeirs who fought at "Hamburger Hill" talked about his experiences in Vietnam on the show.

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