The Siege of Firebase Gloria

"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."

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'

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.

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

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.