Platoon

original title:
Platoon
country / year of production:
USA / 1986
original length:
120 min. , color
premiere:
19 December 1986, New York City, New York
genre:
melodrama
based on:
director:
Oliver Stone , Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
film script:
Oliver Stone
producer:
John Daly , Derek Gibson
cinematographer:
Robert Richardson
editor:
Claire Simpson
composer:
Georges Delerue
cast (role):
Tom Berenger (Sgt. Barnes) , Willem Dafoe (Sgt. Elias) , Charlie Sheen (Chris Taylor) , Forest Whitaker (Big Harold) , Francesco Quinn (Rhah ) , Tom Berenger , Willem Dafoe , Charlie Sheen , Forest Whitaker , Francesco Quinn
more:
Johnny Depp , John C. McGinley
plot synopsis:
Chris Taylor is 21-year-old college student who in 1968 quits school to volunteer for the Army. He's shipped off to Vietnam, where he serves with a culturally diverse group of fellow soldiers and under the two men who lead the platoon: Sgt. Barnes, whose facial scars are a mirror of the violence and corruption of his soul, and Sgt. Elias, who maintains a Zen-like calm in the jungle and fights with both personal and moral courage even though he no longer believes in the war. After a few weeks "in country," Taylor begins to see the naïvete of his views of the war, especially after a quick search for enemy troops devolves into a round of murder and rape.
keywords:
jungle , patrol , comradeship , war crimes
war:
Vietnam War (1946-1975)
literature:
Scott Baker. "Response to the Film ‘Platoon’. An analysis of the Vietnam veteran as jounalist-critic and ‘Priest’". In: Southern Communication Journal 55 (1990), 2, 123-143.

Milton J. Bates. "Oliver Stone`s `Platoon´ and the Politics of Romance". In: Mosaic: 27 (1994), 101-121.

A. Beck. "The Christian Allegory Structure of Platoon". In: Literature/Film Quarterly 20 (1992), 3, 213-222.

Peter Drexler/ Lawrence Guntner. "Vietnam im Kino - Pltoon" (1986). In: Werner Faulstich/ Helmut Korte (Eds.). Fischer Filmgeschichte, Bd. 5: Massenware und Kunst. Frankfurt a.M., 1995, 176-191.

Katrina Porteous. "History Lessons. Platoon". In: Jeffey Walsh/ James Aulich (Eds.). Vietnam Images. War and Representation. Houndmills: Macmillan, 1989, 153-159.
remarks:
The first movie in Vietnam veteran's Oliver Stone Vietnam trilogy.
Won four of the eight "Oscars" it was nominated for: Best Director, Best Picture, Best Sound, and Film Editing.
availability:
VHS, DVD