The Firebase

There are many comments already about this movie but as a vet and been there I consider this as many of the other vets have said in their comments...a super great and realistic movie. Not for the squimish but if you want to see what it really was like..this is the movie for you. Certainly NOT...for children! I agree with the other VN vets...only those who were not there would pick it apart for tech details and acting abilities. I agree the wisecracking chopper pilot is a bit overdone for sure but that's hollywood for you. Ignoring that, it is still the best and most truthfull depiction of what it was really like. Former USMC....Jerry von Lind

I was an 8 yr old wanna be marine in 1968, having grown up on a steady diet of books about the Marine's island-hopping campaign during WWII and shows like "Combat!", "Sands Of Iwo Jima", "To Hell and Back", and "The Longest Day." My hearts desire was to be with the defenders of a place I could barely pronounce [Khe Sanh]and help them break out of that siege. As a result, over the years I have read almost every combat account/Oral History and a few novels about that particular war and the experience of being in it.

SOFG answered one of the abiding questions I'd always had during my many readings: "What was it like when your firebase was overrun?" I could never quite understand or picture it until I saw that movie. The performances were excellent--R. Lee Ermey in particular--and the character development of the NVA/VC added a welcome and needed layer to the movie. There were flaws, for sure, like rifles that shot for ever, and defenders not crouching down but standing tall; but from what I have read, the movie was realistic and right on target. The very 'feel' of it seemed to capture what I had read about that war.

And to the many vets who served there: thank you for your service and sacrifice for this country, and all that you saw and endured. If instead of Vietman, WWII or Korea had been the 'first TV War', people's repulsion for what they saw as real war would have been taken out in a similar way on those who served in these conflicts.

First off. This is a movie not a documentary. As a former Recon Marine who served in that hell, the movie has many realistic and uncompromising moments. Like a movie it went for the splatter and over the top special effects. However, the story of a Marine Recon patrol plays out properly. Although, the fishing village shootout wouldn't have been the best way to gather intelligence.

The movie greatest asset is it tells the truth about the transition from guerrilla warfare to guerrilla political warfare. Defeat the village supporting the warrior then you can defeat the warrior. The movie attempts to tell the story of both the professional marine and the Viet Minh. The guerrilla forces operating in the South while the North militarizes its forces. The marines aren't all gung-ho over the top, but they are marines. It's our job, lets get it done. However the job is a fight that can't be fought and moral support wasn't forthcoming from home. Marines fought and won every one of their land battles in Vietnam. We weren't trying to win wars, just the current fight and get out alive.

The Amazon special issue tape doesn't contain the subtitles of the Viet Minh. Thereby, removing the essence of the movie's twofold storytelling. The creation of a social awareness on both sides of the fences.

In combat your only motivation is to survive and that means keeping yourself and the guy on your flank covered. The Viet Minh aren't shown as mindless communists, but soldiers fighting foreign invaders and the corruption that they fostered.

This movie has an intelligent story to tell, but Hollywood recognized the need to entertain the dopers in the back rows. They buy more movie tickets. Also this movie is from the 80's. When you judge a movie remember the mental and social climate in which it was made. So there are a lot of oil drums being blown to simulate explosions. And super bullets being fired on both sides. As I said this is a movie.

If you want to be entertained and maybe have your eyes opened a little bit more about that time. This is the movie for you.

Sometimes low budget doesn't have to mean low quality. Hollywood needs to sweep you into the popcorn tub and drench it with butter. But you don't have to swallow all the crap that's put in front of you.

Other movies to check out are Platoon Leader (Vietnam), Bravo Two Zero (SAS in the Gulf). I didn't like Platoon or A Crop of S--T Now (Apocalypse Now). That the essence of our individual freedom, choices.

Semper Fi

The Siege of Firebase Gloria is not a very well known Vietnam war film. In fact it hardly gets a mention at all and is overshadowed by films such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and others.

The premise is as follows: a Marine patrol led by sergeant Hafner (the great R. Lee Ermey) ends up in a remote US Army outpost deep in the jungles of Vietnam right at the start of the Tet offensive. Hafner takes command and must fend off waves of attacks by the Vietcong and NVA.

The story is quite interesting of how these men, outnumbered and almost forsaken must defend themselves against all odds. Although Ermey's role isn't too big (the film focuses on a few key soldiers), he is great in every frame he is in. Having been an actual Marine, he reprises his role as a tough commander with a witty tongue. The film in general find a nice balance between the main story while at the same time showing how war takes its toll on men. Interestingly enough the North Vietnamese commanders are also portrayed and fortunately not as cartoonish enemies but competent leaders.

The production values are quite good, there are lots of real helicopters, the sets and location are grand and well built and the action scenes quite vast in their scale.

However the film doesn't reach the levels achieved by Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket. Despite that, its still worth a watch.

i had bragged on this film so much over the last year that i finally pleaded with IMDB to include it, and they did (thank you).

i finally got home from a contract and found several folks had put in comments ahead of me. i respect these opinions expressed and am pleased that the film got such an immediate group of comments.

this movie is a shocker, and much of what it says is too painful to be accepted by most folks. i am not going to defend it... it is worthy of standing alone. but if you watched it and found it another RAH-RAH WE ARE AMERICANS film, a john wayne we win in the end shootem-up, then consider watching it again, but pretend you come from america, home of the north viet nam peoples and the round eyes are the invaders from a place far away and unimportant.... then see if you can count the autocracies committed in the name of their backward, wrong country. no, this is not a routine movie, not by any sense of the word.

by the way, Lee Ermey is a genuine, real live viet nam war hero, multiple tours, a leader of men... his performance is over the top for those of you who weren't there, but for us guys who had 3 feet of piled dirt between us and 500 of them at one time or the other, nothing sounded so good as a gruff old man saying that if we did as we were told, we would live to see morning.

catch Lee in 'purple hearts'