Platoon (1986)

Star Rating: 3
Length of Film: 120 minutes
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, John C. McGinley, Richard Edson, Kevin Dillon, reggie Johnson, Keith David, Johnny Depp, David Neldorf, Mark Moses, Chris Pederson, & Tony Todd
Oscars: Arnold Kopelson (best picture), Oliver Stone (director), Claire Simpson (editing), John Wilkinson, Richard D. Rogers, Charlies Grenzbach, Simon Kaye (sound)
Oscar Nominations: Oliver Stone (screenplay), Tom Berenger (actor in support role), Willem Dafoe (actor in support role), Robert Richardson (photography)
Berlin International Film Festival: Oliver Stone (Silver Bear-director, Golden Bear nomination)


Platoon is a movie about the Vietnam War, following 19 year old Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) who voluntarily enlisted in the army. Chris is thrown in the Bravo Company Platoon under ruthless Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes (Tom Berenger) and  Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe). The two men disagree in every decision made, which divides the Platoon into sides.


Tom Berenger w/o the make-up



The very intimidating Tom Berenger

 Chris bonds with Elias, when he gets him high for the first time. He's holding a rifle and tells him to put his mouth on barrel of the gun. Elias then inhales his joint and blows it out through the barrel, directly into Chris' mouth. There were raids, where the Vietnamese attacked them in the middle of the night, and then there were times when we attacked them, and burnt down a n innocent village.  During one of the raids, Barnes enforced a retreat, then goes after Taylor, Elias, and Rhah (Francesco Quinn) who's still on the battlefield. Barnes ends up shooting Elias point blank. He returns saying that Elias was killed by the enemy, and when they're in the helicopter, retreating, Elias emerges from the jungle, being chased by Vietnam soldiers and ends up being shot down. At the moment he was shot, it captures one of the greatest stand still photos of our time.



Director Oliver Stone actually served in the Vietnam War, so he used his own personal experiences and relates it to the big screen. The only thing that bugged me about this movie is that they played the same song over and over and over and over again. It's a beautiful song, don't get me wrong but overdone-overkill. The song is written by Samuel Barbert entitled, "Adagio for Strings".

Below is a list of actors that were in this film. If you pay close attention you will see that they've become big stars.

Keith David- King  

Forest Whitaker- Big Harold

Kevin Dillon- Bunny

John C. McGinley- Sgt. O'Neill

Reggie Johnson- Junior

Mark Moses- Lt. Wolfe

Corey Glover- Francis

Johnny Depp- Lerner

Chris Pederson- Crawford

Bob Orwig- Gardner

Corkey Ford- Manny

David Neidorf- Tex