Platoon (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2013)
This article's lead section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (January 2013)
Platoon
Platoon posters 86.jpg
Theatrical release poster by Bill Gold
Directed by Oliver Stone
Produced by Arnold Kopelson
Written by Oliver Stone
Starring Tom Berenger
Willem Dafoe
Charlie Sheen
Music by Georges Delerue
Cinematography Robert Richardson
Editing by Claire Simpson
Studio Hemdale Film Corporation
Distributed by Orion Pictures
Release date(s)
  • December 19, 1986 (1986-12-19)
Running time 120 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $6 million
Box office $138,530,565[1]

Platoon is a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone and stars Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. It is the first of Stone's Vietnam War trilogy, followed by 1989's Born on the Fourth of July and 1993's Heaven & Earth. Stone wrote the story based upon his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam to counter the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne's The Green Berets.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1986. In 1998, the American Film Institute placed Platoon at #83 in their "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies" poll.

Contents

Plot [edit]

In 1967, Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) has dropped out of college and volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam. Assigned to Bravo Company, near the Cambodian border, he is worn down by the exhausting conditions and his enthusiasm for the war wanes. One night his unit is set upon by a group of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers, who retreat after a brief gunfight. New recruit Gardner is killed while another soldier, Tex, is maimed by friendly fire from a grenade thrown by Sergeant "Red" O'Neill (John C. McGinley), with Taylor being mistakenly reprimanded by the ruthless Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes (Tom Berenger). Taylor eventually gains acceptance from a tight-knit group in his unit who socialize and use drugs in a cabin clubhouse. He finds a mentor in Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe) as well as the elder King (Keith David).

During one patrol, a soldier named Manny is found mutilated and tied to a post while two others, Sal and Sanderson, are killed by a booby-trap. As tension mounts, the platoon soon reaches a nearby village where a supply cache is discovered. Taylor finds a disabled young man and an elderly woman hiding in a spider hole. Taylor snaps, screaming and threatening the man but is shocked to see Bunny (Kevin Dillon) then bludgeon him to death. Barnes interrogates the village chief to determine if they have been aiding the enemy. Despite the villagers' adamant denials, Barnes shoots and kills the chief's wife due to her persistent arguing. Barnes takes the child of the woman at gunpoint, threatening to shoot her if the villagers do not reveal information. Elias arrives, scolding Barnes and engaging in a scuffle with him over the incident. Platoon commander Lieutenant Wolfe (Mark Moses) orders the men to leave with the villagers and burn the village. As they leave, Taylor stops a group of soldiers from raping two girls.

Upon returning to base, Captain Harris (Dale Dye) warns that if he finds out an illegal killing took place, then a court-martial would be ordered, which concerns Barnes as Elias might give a testimony. On their next patrol, the platoon is ambushed and pinned down in a firefight, in which numerous soldiers are wounded. Wolfe calls in a mortar strike on incorrect coordinates, resulting in friendly fire casualties. Elias takes Taylor and Rhah (Francesco Quinn) to intercept flanking enemy troops. Barnes orders the rest of the platoon to retreat, and goes back into the jungle to find Elias' group. Barnes finds Elias and shoots him, returning to tell the others that Elias was killed by the enemy. After they take off, a wounded Elias emerges from the jungle, running from a group of North Vietnamese soldiers. Taylor glances over at Barnes and reads the apprehension on his face as Elias dies. At the base, Taylor attempts to talk his group into retaliation when a drunken Barnes enters the room and taunts them. Taylor attacks him but is cut near his eye as a result.

The platoon is sent back into the combat area to maintain defensive positions. King is sent home and Taylor shares a foxhole with Francis (Corey Glover). That night, an NVA assault occurs and the defensive lines are broken. Several soldiers in the platoon including Junior, Bunny and Wolfe, are killed, while O'Neill barely escapes death by hiding under a dead soldier. To make matters worse, an NVA sapper armed with explosives rushes into battalion HQ, self-detonating and killing everyone inside. Meanwhile, Captain Harris orders his air support to expend all remaining ordnance inside his perimeter. During the chaos, Taylor encounters Barnes, but the wounded sergeant attacks him. Just before Barnes can pummel Taylor, both men are knocked unconscious by an air strike on the overrun base. Taylor regains consciousness the following morning, picks up an enemy Type 56, and finds an injured Barnes, who dares him to pull the trigger. Taylor shoots Barnes, killing him. Taylor then sits, contemplating suicide until reinforcements arrive and find him. Francis, who survived the battle unharmed, deliberately stabs himself in the leg and reminds Taylor that because they have been twice wounded, they can return home to the U.S. O'Neill, who desperately wants to go home, is given a promotion to platoon commander and is told he will remain in duty and replace Barnes. The helicopter flies away and Taylor weeps as he stares down at the death and destruction.

Cast [edit]

The following actors appeared in the film:[2]

(Official Cast list dated March 3, 1986 Platoon Productions N.V.)

  • (1) Charlie Sheen as Chris Taylor
  • (2) Tom Berenger as Sergeant Bob Barnes
  • (3) Willem Dafoe as Sergeant Elias
  • (4) Paul Sanchez as Doc
  • (5) Bob Orwig as Gardner
  • (6) Kevin Dillon as Bunny
  • (7) Keith David as King
  • (8) Andrew B. Clark as Tubbs**
  • (9) Richard Edson as Sal
  • (10) Corey Glover as Francis
  • (11) Johnny Depp as Lerner
  • (12) David Neidorf as Tex
  • (13) Reggie Johnson as Junior
  • (14) Forest Whitaker as Big Harold
  • (15) Chris Pedersen as Crawford
  • (16) James Terry McIlvain as Ace
  • (17) John C. McGinley as Sergeant O'Neill
  • (18) Tony Todd as Sergeant Warren
  • (19) Mark Moses as Lieutenant Wolfe
  • (20) Basile Achara as Flash
  • (21) Francesco Quinn as Rhah
  • (22) Ivan Kane as Tony Hoyt
  • (23) Steve Barredo as Fu Sheng
  • (24) Chris Castillejo as Rodriquez
  • (25) Peter Hicks as Parker
  • (26) Corkey Ford as Manny
  • (27) Kevin Eshelman as Morehouse
  • (29) Mark K. Ebenhoch as Ebenhoch**
  • (28) Robert Galotti as Huffmeister**
  • (30) J. Adam Glover as Sanderson
  • (31) Dale Dye as Captain Harris

(** denotes military technical advisor 'ringers'[3])

Additional cast:

  • (39) Clarisa Ortacio as Old Woman
  • (41) Bernardo Manalili as Village Chief
  • (40) Romy Sevilla as One-Legged Man
  • (42) Than Rogers as Village Chief's Wife
  • (43) Li Thi Van as Village Chief's Daughter
  • (47) Matthew Westfall as Terrified Soldier
  • (57) Nick Nickelson as 1st Mechanized Soldier
  • (58) Warren McLean as 2nd Mechanized Soldier
  • (59) Ron Barracks as Medic
  • (48) Oliver Stone as 3/22 Infantry, Battalion Commander in Bunker (uncredited cameo)[4][5]
  • Li Mai Thao as Rape Victim

Development [edit]

"Vietnam was really visceral, and I had come from a cerebral existence: study... working with a pen and paper, with ideas. I came back really visceral. And I think the camera is so much more... that's your interpreter, as opposed to a pen." —Oliver Stone[6]

After his tour of duty in Vietnam ended in 1968, Oliver Stone wrote a screenplay called Break: a semi-autobiographical account detailing his experiences with his parents and his time in Vietnam. Stone's return from active duty in Vietnam resulted in a "big change" in how he viewed life and the war, and the unproduced screenplay Break was the result, and it eventually provided the basis for Platoon.[6]

In a 2010 interview with the Times, Stone discussed his killing of a Viet Cong soldier and how he blended this experience into his screenplay.[7] It featured several characters who were the seeds of those who would end up in Platoon. The script was set to music from The Doors; Stone sent the script to Jim Morrison in the hope he would play the lead (Morrison never responded but the script was returned to Oliver Stone by Morrison's manager shortly after Morrison's death - Morrison had the script with him when he died in Paris). Though Break went ultimately unproduced, it was the spur for him to attend film school.[6]

After penning several other produced screenplays in the early 1970s, Stone came to work with Robert Bolt on an unproduced screenplay, The Cover-up. Bolt's rigorous approach rubbed off on Stone, and he was inspired to use the characters from his Break screenplay (who in turn were based upon people Stone knew in Vietnam) as the basis for a new screenplay titled The Platoon. Producer Martin Bregman attempted to elicit studio interest in the project, but Hollywood was still apathetic about Vietnam. However, the strength of Stone's writing on The Platoon was enough to get him the job penning Midnight Express in 1978. Despite that film's critical and commercial success, and that of other Stone-penned films at the time, most studios were still reluctant to finance The Platoon, as they feared a film about the Vietnam War would not attract an audience. After the release of The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now, they then cited the perception that these films were considered the pinnacle of the Vietnam War film genre as reasons not to make The Platoon.[6]

Stone instead attempted to break into mainstream direction via the easier-to-finance horror genre, but The Hand failed at the box office, and Stone began to think that The Platoon would never be made. Stone wrote Year of the Dragon for a lower-than-usual fee of $200,000, on the condition from producer Dino De Laurentiis that he would then produce The Platoon. De Laurentiis secured financing for the film, but struggled to find a distributor. Because de Laurentiis had already spent money sending Stone to the Philippines to scout for locations, he decided to keep control of the film's script until he was repaid.[6] Then Stone's script for what would become Salvador was passed to John Daly of British production company Hemdale. Once again, this was a project that Stone had struggled to secure financing for, but Daly loved the script and was prepared to finance both Salvador and The Platoon off the back of it. Stone shot Salvador first, before turning his attention to what was by now called Platoon.[6]

Production [edit]

Platoon was filmed on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, starting in February 1986. The production of the film, on a scheduled date, was almost canceled because of the political upheaval in the country due to then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos, but with the help of well-known Asian producer Mark Hill, the shoot went on as scheduled. The shoot lasted 54 days and cost $6.5 million. The production made a deal with the Philippine military for the use of military equipment.[6] The film had real Vietnamese refugees acting in different roles in the film.[8] Filming was done chronologically.[9]

James Woods, who had starred in Stone's previous film, Salvador, was offered a part in Platoon. He turned the role down, later saying he "couldn't face going into another jungle with [Stone]". Upon arrival in the Philippines, the cast was sent on a two-week intensive training course, during which they had to dig foxholes and were subject to forced marches and nighttime "ambushes" which utilized special-effects explosions. Stone explained that he was trying to break them down, "to mess with their heads so we could get that dog-tired, don't give a damn attitude, the anger, the irritation... the casual approach to death".[6] Willem Dafoe said "the training was very important to the making of the film," including its authenticity and the camaraderie developed among the cast: "By the time you got through the training and through the film, you had a relationship to the weapon. It wasn’t going to kill people, but you felt comfortable with it."[10]

Stone makes a cameo appearance as the battalion commander of 3/22 Infantry in the final battle, which was based on the real-life New Year's Day Battle of 1968 that Stone took part in while in Vietnam. Dale Dye, who played Bravo company's commander Captain Harris, is a U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam veteran who also acted as the film's technical advisor.[11]

Soundtrack [edit]
Adagio for Strings
The famous theme of Platoon, composed by Samuel Barber.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Music used in the film includes Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane and "Okie From Muskogee" by Merle Haggard. During a scene in the "Underworld" the soldiers sing along to "The Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, which also featured in the film's trailer. The soundtrack also includes "Ride of the Valkyries" (in reference to Apocalypse Now, an earlier Vietnam War film that had Charlie Sheen's father, Martin Sheen, billed in the starring role); "Groovin'" by The Rascals and "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding.

Release [edit]

[icon] This section requires expansion. (January 2013)

The film was marketed with the tag line, "The first casualty of war is innocence," an adaptation of Senator Hiram Johnson's assertion in 1917 that "The first casualty of war is the truth."[12] (c.f. Aeschylus (BC 525 - BC 456), "In war, truth is the first casualty.")

Reception [edit]

Reviews [edit]

[icon] This section requires expansion. (January 2013)

Roger Ebert gave it four out of four stars, calling it the best film of the year, and the ninth best of the 1980s.[citation needed] The film currently has an 87% rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 86%.[13]

Awards [edit]

Won:

Nominated:

Honors [edit]

American Film Institute lists:

British television channel Channel 4 voted[when?] Platoon as the 6th greatest war film ever made, behind Full Metal Jacket and ahead of A Bridge Too Far.[17]

Adaptations [edit]

A novelization of the film was written by Dale Dye. Copyright 1986 by Ixtlan Corporation.[citation needed] A wargame was produced by in 1986 Avalon Hill as an introductory game to attract young people into the wargaming hobby.[18]

Video games [edit]

Main articles: Platoon (1987 video game) and Platoon (2002 video game)

A shooter video game was developed by Ocean Software and published by Data East for a variety of computer and console gaming systems in 1987-88. In 2002, Digital Reality developed and Strategy First published a real-time strategy game based on the film for Microsoft Windows.[19]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Box Office Information for Platoon. Box Office Mojo. April 13, 2012.
  2. ^ Stone, Oliver; Boyle, Richard (1987). Platoon and Salvador: The Screenplays. London: Ebury Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 0-85223-648-4. 
  3. ^ Sharbutt, Jay (25 May 1986). "The Grunts' War, Take 1". The Los Angeles Times. 
  4. ^ "Greatest Film Director Cameos". filmsite.org. Retrieved 2012-05-08. 
  5. ^ "Platoon Directed by Oliver Stone". The Independent. 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2012-05-08. 
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Salewicz, Chris (1999-07-22) [1997]. Oliver Stone: The Making of His Movies (New Ed edition ed.). UK: Orion Publishing Group. ISBN 0-7528-1820-1. 
  7. ^ http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/film/article2660321 (subscription required)
  8. ^ Dye, Dale. Part 3 - Confronting Demons in "Platoon". Interview with Almar Haflidason. Movies. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/10/15/dale_dye_2001_3_interview.shtml. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  9. ^ "Mohr Stories 84: Charlie Sheen". Mohr Stories Podcast. Jay Mohr. Aug 27, 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012. 
  10. ^ Chua, Lawrence. "BOMB Magazine: Willem Dafoe by Louis Morra". Bombsite.com. Retrieved 2012-10-28. 
  11. ^ Stone, Oliver. Platoon DVD commentary (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment.  Text " 1 " ignored (help)
  12. ^ Mooallem, Jon (February 29, 2004). "How movie taglines are born". The Boston Globe. Retrieved November 13, 2008. 
  13. ^ "Platoon - Rotten Tomatoes". Uk.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2012-10-28. 
  14. ^ "The 59th Academy Awards (1987) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
  15. ^ "Berlinale: 1987 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-03-01. 
  16. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains Nominees
  17. ^ "Channel 4's 100 Greatest War Movies of All Time". Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
  18. ^ "Platoon (1986)". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 2008-06-12. 
  19. ^ "Platoon: The 1st Airborne Cavalry Division in Vietnam". GameSpot.com. 2002-11-21. Retrieved 2012-10-28. 

External links [edit]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Platoon (film)
Films by Oliver Stone
Films directed
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Documentaries
Screenwriter only
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Platoon_(film)&oldid=555254757"