Hamburger Hill (1987)

Director:

John Irvin

Writer:

James Carabatsos (writer)

Release Date:

28 August 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War | Action

Tagline:

War at its worst. Men at their Best.

Plot:

A very realistic interpretation of one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.

Plot Keywords:

Hill | Vietnam | Vietnam War | Slaughter | Uniform

Cast

Anthony Barrile	...	Vincent 'Alphabet' Languilli
Michael Boatman	...	Motown (as Michael Patrick Boatman)
Don Cheadle	...	Pvt. Washburn
Michael Dolan	...	Murphy
Don James	...	McDaniel / Mac
Dylan McDermott	...	Sgt. Frantz
Michael A. Nickles	...	Galvan (as M.A. Nickles)
Harry O'Reilly	...	Duffy
Daniel O'Shea	...	Gaigin
Tim Quill	...	Pvt. Joe Beletsky
Tommy Swerdlow	...	Pvt. Bienstock
Courtney B. Vance	...	Doc Johnson
Steven Weber	...	Worcester
Tegan West	...	Lt. Eden
Kieu Chinh	...	Mama San

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:MA (Special Edition DVD) | New Zealand:M | West Germany:16 (f) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 (cut) | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Philippines

Company:

RKO Pictures

Trivia:

Near the end of the film, there is a scene where a soldier, his face covered with bandages, is blindly reaching out to his comrades as they hurry past him. This is taken from a famous picture taken at the real Hamburger Hill.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the scene where Sgt Franz is calling in an arty strike, he repeats "Rounds out" every time he heard an arty piece being shot. The correct radio comm procedure would have been the arty unit to call "Rounds over". Franz would have responded "Rounds out". 2-3 seconds before the rounds impacted, the arty unit would have radioed. "Splash over". Franz would have responded, "Splash out". This lets friendly units know rounds are coming down range and time to get down.

Quotes:

Sgt. Frantz: Now unass my AO!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "A Touch of Frost: Unknown Soldiers (#4.2)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

I Wish It Would Rain

One of the best about Vietnam

Drawing from a good book by the same name concerning a real battle, the film chose to concentrate on a single unit of the 101st Airborne during this engagement instead of the strategies and tactics of the battle. Fictionalizing the characters we see the typical group of soldiers, some new, some veterans, some black, some white, some Hispanic, conduct assault after assault on a hill for some reason that they only have a vague concept of. But instead of making the battle slick and interlaced with subplots about the possession of souls (such as "Platoon") or a work of art (such as "Apocalypse Now" or "Full Metal Jacket") the characters are real and the battle is believable.

Whether intentional or not, it is hard to identify individuals in this film. The viewer is aware that there are ethnic and class separations but identities are harder. I believe that this was intentional to some extent by the director so that the impression could be made that this could be any unit and the soldiers could be anyone that you may know. Like the faceless names on the Vietnam War monument during the opening of the film, these soldiers are essentially faceless forcing the viewer to place a face and personality that they are intimate with. The real star of the movie is the battle and the tragedies that resulted. As with the better, and more accurate war films, there are no heroics, just fear; there is no glorious flag waving over a captured fortification, just survivors.

Again, with the better war films it is the little stuff that separates the good ones from the "cowboys and Indians in battle dress" ilk: the radio operator calling in an artillery strike in panic and is reprimanded for not using proper radio protocol, the mud slide down the hill right in the middle of the battle, the officer trying to call for reinforcements and realizing that his radio was blown to bits along with his arm. All of these "touches" are real and give credibility to a film. In this case "Hamburger Hill" stands apart, and somewhat higher, than most films about the subject.