Le Dernier Assaut

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'

If you've never heard of this movie before, you're in good company. Apparently, neither have Leonard Maltin, Roger Ebert, or the editors of the "VideoHound Golden Movie Retriever." Fortunately, the editor of VideoHound's book on war movies had heard of it. Based on his favorable review, I taped and viewed the film recently. If you enjoy a good "battle" movie, be sure to catch this one--you won't be disappointed.

"The Siege of Firebase Gloria" is a real film about real people in an unreal hell. Its apparently low budget was a blessing because it forced the creators to focus on plot and character development rather than on bombastic and meaningless special effects. Nevertheless, the battle sequences are believable and well-done.

This film is a sleeper that apparently did not get the exposure that it deserved. Then again, R. Lee Ermey and Wings Hauser, who played the lead roles, are not exactly box-office draws, and the other names in the cast were totally unfamiliar to me. However, Ermey, Hauser, and everyone in the cast do a solid job.

The action takes place during the Vietnamese Tet offensive in 1968, during a supposed holiday cease-fire, when the Viet Cong caught the South Vietnamese and U.S. forces by surprise with an all-out assault throughout South Vietnam. Ermey and his Marines are caught in the trap when they are ordered to help defend a small, meaningless outpost, Firebase Gloria, with virtually no help except, finally, from a small Air Cavalry unit. The Tet offensive was the beginning of the end for South Vietnam.

I never served in Vietnam, but this film has the feeling of being authentic. This is not a simplistic "good guys versus bad guys" film. The atrocities and inhumanities committed by both sides are not overemphasised but they are not glossed over either. They are just there as part of the fabric of the war.

Perhaps more importantly, they are shown in the context of a deadly, virtually unsurvivable siege and final battle. We sympathize with the Marines, of course, and we see them as ordinary, basically decent human beings. We may not condone some of the things that they do, but we understand why they may have seen no other alternative. It reminds me of the film "Zulu," about British troops trapped in a similar situation a century ago.

For many of us, our image of R. Lee Ermey is as the over-the-top drill sergeant in "Full Metal Jacket." His character in "Firebase Gloria" is more human and lower in key, yet you can see his character evolving into the drill sergeant following his tour in Vietnam. When you've walked through hell with your fellow battle-hardened Marines and been one of the few to come out alive, you know that you have to do everything in your power to prepare your green recruits to walk through that same hell.

Is "Firebase Gloria" on the same level of quality as "Platoon" and "Full Metal Jacket"? Not quite. I'd put it on a par with "Go Tell the Spartans," which, despite a strong performance from Burt Lancaster, has also never gotten the exposure that it deserves. These films deserve to be seen, not forgotten.

"The people were friendly. We liked them and they liked us... so it really hurt us to see their heads on stakes." This line, dryly spouted by R. Lee Ermey's character Sergeant Major Bill Hafner of the United States Marine Corps' Force Recon, begins a brutal portrayal of war at its worst. This film pulls no punches, showing combat for what it is: a slaughter.

Do not come into this film with a soft heart. If scenes showing piles of dead children, teenage Vietnamese prostitutes wrapping themselves in dynamite to act as suicide bombers or "sappers", American nurses and Embassy secretaries being machine-gunned by Viet Cong soldiers, the execution of prisoners by both the V.C. and Marines, and the wholesale slaughter of an entire generation of young men (both American and Vietnamese) have the potential to bother you, you might want to avoid this one. "Siege of Firebase Gloria" is frighteningly graphic and realistic and the only thing that keeps this movie from being little more than a snuff film is the humanity of the characters.

While the men on both sides commit acts that most people would consider atrocities, we can see them for what they are: scared human beings, some of them barely more than boys ("No way - Mighty Mouse could never get us out of this s**t," says Private "Shortwave" Coates) who don't know why they have to do these horrible things, only that they must if they want to survive.

In the end, it is the North Vietnamese Army Colonel Cao Van who gives the best summary of the situation: "The courage of your enemies does you honor."

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

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