Vietnam addio

Where to begin? This is one of the greatest tv series ever made.

It has everything. Brotherhood, strife, politics, morality and ethics, courage, ambiguity, everything. You have to see this movie as part of the time it was made. In 1987, there was no real visual example of what the war in Vietnam was really all about. Vietnam during the seventies and sixties was something people protested against. It was the longest war the United States had ever fought. It split a nation, between people who wanted to make a stand against communism and for conservatism, and people who couldn't see how a war more than a thousand miles away could possibly affect the USA. The seventies was also an era during which many former colonies (like Vietnam) were trying to become independent, like Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia/Southwest Africa. During the eighties, there was a largely Republican leaning movement of movies tangentially about Vietnam (First Blood, about a vietnam veteran, but set in Colorado, not Vietnam), Chuck Norris' movies, even Magnum PI with Tom Selleck (1980 onwards) and later Miami Vice. The Vietnam theme was "in", but no real movies/series set in Vietnam or dealing with the real day-to-day of ordinary soldiers had been made. And then there was Tour Of Duty. Tour of Duty set out to describe the daily grind of a platoon of the 199th Light Infantry. This series is great. Yes, it may reflect earlier series like the WWII series "Combat", but it is still unique. Unlike most series in the eighties, it isn't afraid of featuring Black and Hispanic actors in major, leading roles - Stan Foster, Miguel Nunez and Ramon Franco, mainly. In no small measure reflecting that the Vietnam War was the first war during which the US military was fully integrated/desegregated. Meanwhile, the storylines are great. Most deal with the daily strain of patrols, the interaction with the Vietnamese population, and there is even a love interest thrown in, in the form of female reporter Alex Devlin (Kim Delaney, based on the real-life reporter and war casualty Dicky Chapelle). Lots of themes are explored, from the stresses of combat, to the attitude to the war, to the situation of the people of Vietnam, the psychological damage (as through psychiatrist Betsy Brantley), etc. The second part of the series has the squad enlisted as Special Forces, under Colonel Brewster (Carl Weathers), highlighting the strains and tensions between Special Forces and regular army on the one side and the CIA (Patrick Kilpatrick as Duke Fontaine) on the other. This is a great series, see it if you can.

Being a vet from the Viet Nam conflict era, I can't help but watch each episode over and over. This is the most realistic show on t.v.. When "COMBAT" came on in the 60s, My Dad , a WWII vet, said it was the most realistic WWII show he had ever seen. It also followed the main characters through tough battles. TOUR OF DUTY goes beyond "combat" probably because of the lack of strict censorship in the 80s compared to the 60s. I just have to say, the cast, the writing , the directing, and the filming of TOUR OF DUTY, marks the epidomy of excellence in television. Thanks goes out to "TBS" for bringing this great show back. When I get off of work at 2:00p.m., it gives me a chance to get home, get relaxed and settle in for the best hour on t.v.

Recently i bought all three series of tour of duty on DVD which are fantastic seems i haven't seen the show since i was 6 years when i use to watch it with my dad, but one thing i was really disappointed about was all the music has been changed for one none of the episodes started with "paint it black" which was recognisable factor of the show and all the music during the shows had been changed like in the first episode which i have the original on VHS the end of the show finishes with bob Dylan's "all along the watchtower" and also in the first episode the animals "when i was young" wasn't played when they were in the helicopter for the first time. Just a bit disappointed that none of the original music has been put onto the episodes on the dads compared to the old series on television and also the tour of duty Cd's.

TOUR OF DUTY, like Oliver Stone's PLATOON only a year before,

shows the emotional, social, and mental sides of the Vietnam War. In oppose to those larger than life war shows and movies (including THE A-TEAM or RAMBO II), the purpose of TOUR OF DUTY is to display how the young American troops felt and experience regarding the horrors of war, and they do a fine job at that. Terrance Knox and Stephen

Caffrey are fine as the leaders the platoon in subject.

Tour of Duty is one of the best series I have ever seen. It has great performances from the entire cast, a wonderfull human story about an inhuman war and the story-telling is perfectly paced.

Sadly, it didn't get the ratings it deserved back in the states, though it was a big hit over here (and several other countries, I've learned). If you get the chance, watch it (like I'm doing now as it's being re-run on SBS-6). I doubt you'll be disappointed.