Les boys de la compagnie C

Original title: The Boys in Company C

1978
R
2h 5m

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

3.7K

YOUR RATING

In 1967, five young men undergo boot camp training before being shipped out to Vietnam. Once they get there, the experience proves worse than they could have imagined.

Play trailer2:21

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Drama War

In 1967, five young men undergo boot camp training before being shipped out to Vietnam. Once they get there, the experience proves worse than they could have imagined.In 1967, five young men undergo boot camp training before being shipped out to Vietnam. Once they get there, the experience proves worse than they could have imagined.In 1967, five young men undergo boot camp training before being shipped out to Vietnam. Once they get there, the experience proves worse than they could have imagined.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

3.7K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Videos1

Trailer 2:21

Official Trailer

Photos33

+ 28

User reviews64

6.93.7K

Featured reviews

8tjnzski

The original Full Metal Jacket

This is one of my favorite movies. The film has a good storyline. Actor, Stan Shaw did an excellent job in his role as Tyrone Washington. He went on to perform another great acting job in "The Great Santini". The boot camp scenes where spot on authentic with the Drill Instructors. Reminded me of my bootcamp when I entered the Air Force. R Lee Emery does a great job in his first movie but my favorite drill instructor in the film is the Puerto Rican Gunney that rips the new recruits a new one. Amazingly, a lot of people don't know about this film. In my view, it's one of the most entertaining military/Viet Nam movies that have ever been made. Great movie!

starjohn7

Actors comment

As one of the actors in Boys in Company C , I can say the reality of war was not completely there. However, It did touch on some realistic moments.. Truly Full Metal Jacket was more the real thing, especially Boot camp..I went through Parris Island in 1966 and it was even more brutal I think..Example... When Pyle was eating the jelly donut and all the others were paying for it. In the boot camp I went through, every time anyone screwed up , we all paid for it. R Lee Ermey a long ago friend was the real thing.. Bye the way , Pyle would never have had that full metal jacket because all the brass was collected after the firing line to make sure no one would shoot the DI.. LOL Stan Johns ,Boys in Company C.....

jef1107

Wow, you obviously missed the point of this film

I guess if you took this movie literally then you would feel that it is a stupid war movie. However, if you saw that the Generals represented a bureaucracy focused more on statistical body counts than what was actually happening on the ground you would see that this film had a good message to it. This was by no means a great film, but it was a very good film. Basically, the film shows how the men on the ground genuinely wanted to help the people in country and also wanted to get out alive. This film, like Apocalypse Now and Catch 22, show the double edged sword of war in the name of peace.

And as to the "civilians might like this film" comment above, well, I'm a United States Army Veteran and I liked it.

Josiah

7jddreyer

Worth seeing

An interesting war film that is mostly overlooked by Full Metal Jacket fans. Stan Shaw gives a good performance that when I which makes me wonder we he hasn't had a bigger career.

This movie shares the soccer connection with the Caine/Stallone movie "Victory" (1981/I). I actually think the soccer scenes were better done in Company C.

Nonetheless this movie is an interesting choice which any war movie buff should not miss...

9sol-

My brief review of the film

Even though the low budget of this film shows through at times, it still manages to be a compelling and intense portrayal of the whole experience of being sent to Vietnam, right from boot camp up to fighting. It really feels like one is there is at times, and it is fascinating to watch the changes that characters undergo in the course of the film. The symbolic soccer themes and ideas do not always work, but they still retain some power. The camera-work and editing suits the project fine, and the film also has an excellent, haunting song, "Here I Am", to go with the material. It is quite similar in many ways to 'Full Metal Jacket', and even though the technical side and acting might be inferior here, this is still one hell of a fine movie depicting the experiences of being involved in war from a recruit's point of view.

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
R. Lee Ermey was completely unaware that Stan Shaw had a butterfly knife in his shirt pocket in the recruit receiving area. When Shaw pulls the knife out what you see is Ermey's actual reaction.

Goofs
DI SSgt Loyce (played by Lee Ermey) picks up the platoon of recruits at receiving as a Sgt, but is later seen as a SSgt with no explanation as to why or when he was promoted.

Quotes
SSgt. Aquilla: [the Boys have just arrived for Boot Camp] Hey goddamnit! You with the fuckin pretty face! What the hell are you spitting on the ground for, what is that shit in your mouth?
Pvt. Billy Ray Pike: Chewing tobacco sir.
SSgt. Aquilla: Its what?
Pvt. Billy Ray Pike: Chewing tobacco sir!
SSgt. Aquilla: What the hell are you doing with chewing tobacco in your mouth?
Pvt. Billy Ray Pike: I don't know sir, I chew when I play baseball.
SSgt. Aquilla: Do you think this looks like a baseball stadium?
Pvt. Billy Ray Pike: No Sir it doesn't.
SSgt. Aquilla: Then what the hell are you chewing tobacco for? Did you get on the wrong fucking train, or did they draft you!
Pvt. Billy Ray Pike: No sir, I enlisted Sir!
SSgt. Aquilla: You did what?
Pvt. Billy Ray Pike: I enlisted in the Marines Sir!
SSgt. Aquilla: What the hell would you do a crazy thing like that for?
Pvt. Billy Ray Pike: [pause]
SSgt. Aquilla: Answer me goddamn it!
Pvt. Billy Ray Pike: I wanna be a Marine sir!
SSgt. Aquilla: What the hell for?
Pvt. Billy Ray Pike: So I can fight for my country sir.
SSgt. Aquilla: Fuckin turd! Right now I can't stand to look at you! Sergeant get this shit out of my fucking face!

Alternate versions
German version was edited in a couple of areas to get a "not under 16" rating. Only in 2013 was the uncut version released on DVD and Blu-ray in Germany with the same "not under 16" rating.