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Platoon (film Notes)PlatoonTheatrical release poster by Bill GoldDirected byOliver StoneProduced byArnold KopelsonWritten byOliver StoneStarringTom BerengerWillem DafoeCharlie SheenMusic byGeorges DelerueCinematographyRobert RichardsonEditing byClaire SimpsonStudioHemdale Film CorporationDistributed byOrion Pictures (original)Metro Goldwyn Mayer (current)Release date(s)December 19, 1986?(1986-12-19)Running time120 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget$6.5 millionBox office$138,530,565Platoon is a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone and stars Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. It is the first of Stone's Vietnam War trilogy, followed by 1989's Born on the Fourth of July and 1993's Heaven & Earth.[1]Stone wrote the story based upon his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam to counter the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne's The Green Berets.[2] The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1986. In 2007, the American Film Institute placed Platoon at #83 in their "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies" poll. British television channel Channel 4 voted Platoon as the 6th greatest war film ever made, behind Full Metal Jacket and ahead of A Bridge Too Far.[3]PlotIn late 1967, young Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) has abandoned college for combat duty in Vietnam. Taylor and several other replacements have been assigned to Bravo Company, near the Cambodian border. Worn down by the exhausting heat and poor living conditions, his enthusiasm for the war wanes and he develops an admiration for the more experienced soldiers. He writes to his grandmother saying, "I think I made a big mistake coming here". One night while on an ambush, his unit is set upon by a group of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers, who are forced to retreat after a brief gunfight. Gardner, a new recruit, is killed while another soldier, Tex, is maimed by friendly fire from a grenade thrown by Sergeant "Red" O'Neill (John C. McGinley). Taylor eventually gains acceptance from a tight-knit group in his unit who socialize and take drugs in a cabin clubhouse. He finds a mentor in Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe) as well as the elder King (Keith David), while resenting the more ruthless Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes (Tom Berenger).During one patrol, a soldier named Manny is found mutilated and tied to a post while two others (Sal and Sandy) are killed by a booby-trap. As tension mounts, the platoon soon reaches a nearby village where a supply cache is discovered. Taylor finds a disabled young man and an elderly woman hiding in a spider hole beneath the floor in a hut. Taylor snaps, screaming at the man and threatening him but is shocked to see Bunny (Kevin Dillon) then bludgeon the man to death. Barnes interrogates the village chief to determine if they have been aiding the Vietcong. Despite the villagers' adamant denials, Barnes nonetheless shoots the chief's wife in the head due to her persistent crying. Barnes takes the child of the woman at gunpoint, threatening to shoot her if the villagers do not reveal information. Elias arrives, stopping Barnes and engaging in a scuffle with him over the incident. Platoon commander Second Lieutenant Wolfe (Mark Moses) orders the men to gather all the villagers and burn the village. As the men leave, Taylor comes across and stops a group of soldiers sexually abusing two girls.Upon returning to base, Elias reports Barnes' actions to Captain Harris (Dale Dye), who cannot afford to remove Barnes due to a lack of personnel. Harris warns that if he finds out an illegal killing took place, then a court-martial would be ordered, which concerns Barnes as Elias might give a testimony. On their next patrol, the platoon is ambushed and becomes pinned down in a firefight, in which numerous soldiers are wounded. Wolfe calls in an artillery strike to incorrect coordinates, resulting in friendly fire. Elias takes three men, including Taylor and Rhah (Francesco Quinn), to intercept flanking enemy troops. Barnes orders the rest of the platoon to retreat, and goes back into the jungle to find Elias' group. Barnes finds Elias and shoots him, returning to tell the others that Elias was killed by the enemy. After they take off, a wounded Elias emerges from the jungle, running from a group of North Vietnamese soldiers. Taylor glances over at Barnes and reads the apprehension on his face as Elias is killed before he can be rescued. At the base, Taylor attempts to talk his group into killing Barnes in retaliation. A drunken Barnes enters the room, taunting and daring them. No one takes up the offer. As Barnes leaves Taylor attacks him, but gets cut by Barnes near his eye.The platoon is later sent back to the area in order to maintain heavy defensive positions against potential attacks. King is sent home just before the fighting begins, and Taylor shares a foxhole with Francis (Corey Glover). That night, an onslaught occurs and the defensive lines are broken. Several soldiers in the platoon including Junior, Bunny and Wolfe, are killed, while O'Neill barely escapes death in his foxhole by hiding under the cover of a dead soldier. To make matters worse, an NVA sapper armed with explosives rushes past defenses into the battalion HQ, self-detonating and killing everyone inside. Meanwhile, Captain Harris orders his air support to expend all remaining ordnance inside his perimeter. During the chaos, Taylor encounters Barnes, but the wounded sergeant attacks him. Just before Barnes can pummel Taylor with his E-tool, both men are knocked unconscious by a nearby explosion. Taylor regains consciousness the following morning, picks up an enemy AK-47, and finds an injured Barnes, who dares him to pull the trigger. Taylor shoots Barnes, killing him. Taylor then considers suicide before reinforcements arrive and find him. Francis, who survived the battle unharmed, deliberately stabs himself in the leg and reminds Taylor that because they have been wounded, they can return home to the U.S. O'Neill, who desperately wants to go home, is told he will remain in duty and replace Barnes. The helicopter flies away and Taylor weeps as he stares down at the death and destruction.CastCharlie Sheen as Chris Tom Berenger as Sergeant Barnes Willem Dafoe as Sergeant Elias Forest Whitaker as Big Harold Francesco Quinn as Rhah John C. McGinley as Sergeant O'Neill Richard Edson as Sal Kevin Dillon as Bunny Reggie Johnson as Junior Keith David as King Johnny Depp as Lerner David Neidorf as Tex Mark Moses as Lieutenant Wolfe Chris Pedersen as Crawford Corkey Ford as Manny Corey Glover as Francis Bob Orwig as Gardner Tony Todd as Warren Kevin Eshelman as Morehouse James Terry McIlvain as Ace J. Adam Glover as Sanderson Ivan Kane as Tony Paul Sanchez as Doc Dale Dye as Captain Harris Peter Hicks as Parker Basile Achara as Flash Steve Barredo as Fu Sheng Chris Castillejo as Rodriquez Andrew B. Clark as Tubbs Bernardo Manalili as Village Chief Than Rogers as Village Chief's Wife Li Thi Van as Village Chief's Daughter Clarisa Ortacio as Old Woman Romy Sevilla as One-Legged Man Matthew Westfall as Terrified Soldier Nick Nickelson as 1st Mechanized Soldier Warren McLean as 2nd Mechanized Soldier Li Mai Thao as Rape Victim Alex Kelsey as Medic Oliver Stone as 3/22 Infantry, Battalion Commander in Bunker (uncredited cameo) [edit] Development"Vietnam was really visceral, and I had come from a cerebral existence: study... working with a pen and paper, with ideas. I came back really visceral. And I think the camera is so much more... that's your interpreter, as opposed to a pen." —Oliver Stone[4]After his tour of duty in Vietnam ended in 1968, Oliver Stone wrote a screenplay called Break: a semi-autobiographical account detailing his experiences with his parents and his time in Vietnam. Stone's return from active duty in Vietnam resulted in a "big change" in how he viewed life and the war, and the unproduced screenplay Break was the result, and it eventually provided the basis for Platoon.[4]In a 2010 interview with the Times, Stone discussed his killing of a Viet Cong soldier and how he blended this experience into his screenplay.[5] It featured several characters who were the seeds of those who would end up in Platoon. The script was set to music from The Doors; Stone sent the script to Jim Morrison in the hope he would play the lead (Morrison never responded but the script was returned to Oliver Stone by Morrison's manager shortly after Morrison's death - Morrison had the script with him when he died in Paris). Though Break went ultimately unproduced, it was the spur for him to attend film school.[4]After penning several other produced screenplays in the early 1970s, Stone came to work with Robert Bolt on an unproduced screenplay, The Cover-up. Bolt's rigorous approach rubbed off on Stone, and he was inspired to use the characters from his Break screenplay (who in turn were based upon people Stone knew in Vietnam) as the basis for a new screenplay titled The Platoon. Producer Martin Bregman attempted to elicit studio interest in the project, but Hollywood was still apathetic about Vietnam. However, the strength of Stone's writing on The Platoon was enough to get him the job penning Midnight Express in 1978. Despite that film's critical and commercial success, and that of other Stone-penned films at the time, most studios were still reluctant to finance The Platoon, as they feared a film about the Vietnam War would not attract an audience. After the release of The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now, they then cited the perception that these films were considered the pinnacle of the Vietnam War film genre as reasons not to make The Platoon.[4]Stone instead attempted to break into mainstream direction via the easier-to-finance horror genre, but The Hand failed at the box office, and Stone began to think that The Platoon would never be made. Stone wrote Year of the Dragon for a lower-than-usual fee of $200,000, on the condition from producer Dino De Laurentiis that he would then produce The Platoon. De Laurentiis secured financing for the film, but struggled to find a distributor. Because de Laurentiis had already spent money sending Stone to the Philippines to scout for locations, he decided to keep control of the film's script until he was repaid.[4] Then Stone's script for what would become Salvador was passed to John Daly of British production company Hemdale. Once again, this was a project that Stone had struggled to secure financing for, but Daly loved the script and was prepared to finance both Salvador and The Platoon off the back of it. Stone shot Salvador first, before turning his attention to what was by now called Platoon.[4][edit] ProductionThe famous scene depicting Elias with his hands in the air is a recreation of a 1968 photograph by Art Greenspon[6]Platoon was filmed on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, starting in February 1986. The production of the film on a scheduled date was almost canceled because of the political upheaval in the country due to then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos, but with the help of well-known Asian producer Mark Hill, the shoot went on as scheduled. The shoot lasted 54 days and cost $6.5 million. The production made a deal with the Philippine military for the use of military equipment.[4]James Woods, who had starred in Stone's previous film, Salvador, was offered a part in Platoon. He turned the role down, later saying he "couldn't face going into another jungle with [Stone]". Upon arrival in the Philippines, the cast was sent on a two-week intensive training course, during which they had to dig foxholes and were subject to forced marches and night-time "ambushes" which utilized special-effects explosions. Stone explained that he was trying to break them down, "to mess with their heads so we could get that dog-tired, don't give a damn attitude, the anger, the irritation... the casual approach to death".[4] Willem Dafoe said "the training was very important to the making of the film," including its authenticity and the camaraderie developed among the cast. "By the time you got through the training and through the film, you had a relationship to the weapon. It wasn’t going to kill people, but you felt comfortable with it."[7]Stone makes a cameo appearance as the battalion commander of 3/22 Infantry in the final battle. Dale Dye, who played Bravo company's commander Captain Harris, is a U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam veteran who also acted as the film's technical advisor.[2] Stone based the final attack on a real life battle he survived.Adagio for StringsThe famous theme of Platoon, composed by Samuel Barber.Problems listening to this file? See media help.Music used in the film includes Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane and "Okie From Muskogee" by Merle Haggard. During a scene in the "Underworld" the soldiers sing along to "The Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, which also featured in the film's trailer.[edit] Soundtrack"Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber "Ride of the Valkyries" (in reference to Apocalypse Now, an earlier Vietnam War film that had Charlie Sheen's father, Martin Sheen, billed in the starring role) "Groovin'" by The Rascals "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding "The Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane "Okie From Muskogee" by Merle Haggard [edit] ReceptionCritics both praised and criticized Platoon for its presentation of the violence seen in the war and the moral ambiguity created by the realities of guerrilla warfare, when unit leaders have to make a choice between saving the lives of their own men and taking those of suspected guerrilla sympathizers. Roger Ebert gave it four stars, calling it the best film of the year, and the 9th best of the 1980s.The film currently has an 86% rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 86%.[8][edit] Awards and nominations[edit] WinsAcademy Award for Best Picture[9] Academy Award for Best Director Oliver Stone Academy Award for Best Sound (John Wilkinson, Richard Rogers, Charles Grenzbach, Simon Kaye) Academy Award for Best Film Editing Berlin International Film Festival - Silver Bear for Best Director[10] Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama Golden Globe Award for Best Director Oliver Stone Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Tom Berenger Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing - Feature Film Oliver Stone BAFTA Award for Best Direction Oliver Stone BAFTA Award for Best Editing Independent Spirit Award for Best Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Director Oliver Stone Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay Oliver Stone Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography [edit] NominationsAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor Tom Berenger Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Willem Dafoe Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Oliver Stone Academy Award for Best Cinematography Robert Richardson Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay Oliver Stone BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography Robert Richardson Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay Oliver Stone Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead Willem Dafoe [edit] HonorsAmerican Film Institute ListsAFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - #83 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills - #72 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains: Sergeant Barnes - Nominated Villain[11] AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #86 [edit] MarketingThe film was marketed with the tag line, "The first casualty of war is innocence," an adaptation of Senator Hiram Johnson's assertion in 1917 that "The first casualty of war is the truth."[12] (c.f. Aeschylus (BC 525 - BC 456), "In war, truth is the first casualty.") Several licensed tie-ins were released between 1986-1988. A video game was produced by Ocean Software for various formats. The Nintendo Entertainment System version was ported and published by Sunsoft. Loosely based on the film, the object of the game is to survive in the Vietnamese jungle against guerrilla attacks. A wargame was also produced, by Avalon Hill, as an introductory game to attract young people into the wargaming hobby.[13] A novelization of the film was written by Dale Dye. In 2002, Strategy First published and Digital Reality developed a real-time strategy game based on the film for the Microsoft Windows.[14]Preceded?byOut RunUK number-one Spectrum gameMay-June 1988Succeeded?byWe Are The Champions[edit] Cast NoteKeith David worked with Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez on the film Men at Work [edit] See alsoVietnam War in film [edit] References^ "Platoon'--hollywood Steps On A Gold Mine". The Los Angeles Times. . Retrieved 2011-03-22.? ^ a b Stone, Oliver (2001). Platoon DVD commentary (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment.? ^ "Channel 4's 100 Greatest War Movies of All Time". . Retrieved 2011-08-13.? ^ a b c d e f g h Salewicz, Chris (1999-07-22) [1997]. Oliver Stone: The Making of His Movies (New Ed edition ed.). UK: Orion Publishing Group. ISBN?0-75281-820-1.? ^ thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/film/article2660321 ^ Parsons, David. "American Soldiers as Victims in Vietnam". Picturing U.S. History. CUNY Graduate Center. . Retrieved January 26, 2010.? ^ ^ ^ "The 59th Academy Awards (1987) Nominees and Winners". . . Retrieved 2011-10-16.? ^ "Berlinale: 1987 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. . Retrieved 2011-03-01.? ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains Nominees ^ Mooallem, Jon (February?29, 2004). "How movie taglines are born". The Boston Globe. . Retrieved November?13, 2008.? ^ "Platoon (1986)". BoardGameGeek. . Retrieved 2008-06-12.? ^ ................
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