Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1980s
    Movies - 1980s Movies - H 4 Mins Read

    Hamburger Hill (1987)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    On 10 May 1969, men of the 101st Airborne Division are ordered to take Hill 937 in the A Shau Valley, Vietnam, despite it being heavily defended by North Vietnamese army regulars.

    The squad contains five “FNG”s (“F***ing New Guys”): Joseph Beletsky (Tim Quill) – who worries that he won’t remember everything he has been taught; Vincent “Alphabet” Languilli (Anthony Barrile), a sex-obsessed recruit annoyed when people mispronounce his last name; David Washburn (Don Cheadle), an unassuming African American soldier; Martin Bienstock (Tommy Swerdlow), an outgoing volunteer; and Paul Galvan (Michael A. Nickles), the quietest but most capable of the new soldiers.

    Sgt. Adam Frantz (Dylan McDermott) is a seasoned combat veteran, while new commander, Lt. TerryEden (Tegan West), is sarcastically described by Platoon Sergeant Dennis Worcester (Steven Weber) as “Palmolive f***ing soap”.

    The platoon’s machine-gun team consists of the brawny Pvt. Michael Duffy (Harry O’Reilly) and his small, bespectacled companion, Pvt. Frank “Gaigs” Gaigin (Daniel O’Shea). There are also three African American veterans in the unit: Ray Motown (Michael Boatman), Abraham “Doc” Johnson (Courtney B. Vance) and Sgt. Elliott McDaniel (Don James), a “short-timer” with less than a month left on his tour of duty.

    After ten days and eleven assaults, when everyone has been put through the meat grinder, the hill is renamed after America’s favourite fast food.

    hamburgerhill7

    Between infantry assaults, American warplanes drop bombs, napalm and white phosphorus, cratering the mountain and denuding it of all its foliage. In one assault, Duffy – leading the charge – comes close to breaking the enemy lines but he is killed by misdirected  “friendly fire” from Huey gunships. During lulls in the fighting, members of the platoon discuss opposition to the war back home.

    Day after day, the shrinking platoon continues its assault on Hill 937 but cannot take the hill. The tenth assault happens during heavy rains, turning the hillside into a slippery sea of mud.

    Gaigin and Doc are shot dead, and Beletsky is injured but returns to his unit anyway.

    An eleventh and final assault is mounted and the remaining enemy positions near the summit are overrun but casualties soar. Murphy, Worcester, Motown, Bienstock, and Languilli are all killed and Lt. Eden is seriously wounded.

    Stunned by the deaths of most of his friends and comrades, a dazed Frantz is wounded during the battle. Beletsky pushes through his injuries towards the summit. Frantz also makes it to the summit and rests alongside Beletskyand Washburn as the battle draws to a close.

    The final image is of Beletsky’s haunted face as he gazes at the utter devastation below.

    It’s a straightforward documentary-style account of bloody real-life Vietnam action. There is a distinct sense of ho-hum though, compared to the heightened realism or the overt surrealism that lifted such potentially ordinary ‘Nam epics as Apocalypse Now (1979), Platoon  (1986) or Full Metal Jacket (1987).

    That said, it is astonishingly well-made with a cast of unknowns and a British director bearing a residue of guilt from the times when he was filming war footage but could easily retreat to a comfortable hotel away from the guns.

    Before securing a production deal with RKO Pictures in 1986, the filmmakers hired retired Colonel Joseph B. Covey Jr, the actual commander of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne at Hamburger Hill, as the film’s technical advisor. They also submitted the script to the Pentagon for vetting. Army officials suggested a series of changes for the sake of historical accuracy (and to paint the US military in a better light): less emphasis on soldiers patronising prostitutes and a more upbeat ending.

    The filmmakers agreed and won the full support of the Department of Defense: a three-week training camp at Subic Bay Naval Base for the actors; the use of Chinook C-47 helicopters for six days; simulated airstrikes by F-4 Phantom jets; and 30 days’ use of a UH-1 Huey helicopter.

    The 11-week shoot took place on the island of Luzon in the Philippines where a 1,800-foot hill had to be dressed with 1,000 planted trees, five off-camera stairways installed for access, and a large pool holding sanitised mud constructed to ensure the actors’ health.

    Vincent “Alphabet” Languilli
    Anthony Barrile
    Motown
    Michael Boatman
    David Washburn
    Don Cheadle
    Murphy
    Michael Dolan
    McDaniel
    Don James
    Sergeant Frantz
    Dylan McDermott
    Galvan
    M A Nickles
    Duffy
    Harry O’Reilly
    Gaigin
    Daniel O’Shea
    Joseph Beletsky
    Tim Quill
    Martin Bienstock
    Tommy Swerdlow
    Abraham “Doc” Johnson
    Courtney B. Vance

    Director
    John Irvin

    Related Posts

    • Uncommon Valor (1983)
      Uncommon Valor (1983)
      Like most movies about Vietnam, Uncommon Valor is more about guns and explosions than it is about people, but it's never dull…
    • Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
      Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
      Oliver Stone had already ploughed his own personal experiences into his Oscar-winning Platoon, a grunt's eye view of the Vietnam…
    • Casualties of War (1989)
      Casualties of War (1989)
      Casualties of War is a haunting and emotionally moving morality tale, involving the gang rape and murder of a young…
    • Southern Comfort (1981)
      Southern Comfort (1981)
      Often unfairly compared to Deliverance (1972), Southern Comfort is a spare, lucid drama about a platoon of National Guardsmen on weekend manoeuvres through…
    • Gardens Of Stone (1987)
      Gardens Of Stone (1987)
      Set in Virginia in 1968, Gardens of Stone stars James Caan as Sgt Clell Hazard - a decorated combat veteran whose ambivalence towards the…
    • Platoon (1986)
      Platoon (1986)
      Establishing Oliver Stone's reputation as a truly outstanding filmmaker, the Oscar-winning (but inflammatory) Platoon gives absolute credence to the adage 'war is…
    • Z for Zachariah (1984)
      Z for Zachariah (1984)
      This two-hour feature was one of the last productions of the BBC's Play for Today and depicted events in a Welsh…
    • Long Riders, The (1980)
      Long Riders, The (1980)
      In post-Civil War Missouri, the James-Younger gang are heroes to the local people but when one of their number gets…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleHairspray (1988)
    Next Article Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Cam-Pact
      Cam-Pact started as a Tamla Motown/Stax soul group in April […]
    • Jim Davidson Show, The
      1 9 7 9 – 1 9 8 2 (UK) 27 x 30 minute episodes A […]
    • Aphrodite’s Child
      Aphrodite’s Child were formed in Athens, Greece, by singer […]
    • Outbreak (1995)
      The inhabitants of Cedar Creek, California, are getting very […]
    • Fleur De Lys, Les
      Southampton’s Fleur De Lys were a 1960s Mod squad who made […]
    • Doctor Dolittle (1998)
      This fantasy comedy update of the 1967 musical starred Eddie […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.