We Were Soldiers (Widescreen Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Randall Wallace
Actors: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Chris Klein
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $12.98
Buy Used: $3.75
You Save: $9.23 (71%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  411 reviews
Sales Rank: 559
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Thx, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 138
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.2
MPN: D340024D
ISBN: 0792182103
UPC: 097363400240
EAN: 9780792182108
ASIN: B000068TPN
Theatrical Release Date: March 1, 2002
Release Date: August 20, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Based on the book by Lt. Col. Harold Moore (ret.) and journalist Joseph Galloway, We Were Soldiers offers a dignified reminder that the Vietnam War yielded its own crop of American heroes. Departing from Hollywood's typically cynical treatment of the war, writer-director Randall Wallace focuses on the first engagement of American soldiers with the North Vietnamese enemy in November 1965. Moore (played with colorful nuance by Mel Gibson) and nearly 400 inexperienced troopers from the U.S. Air Cavalry were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese Army soldiers, and the film re-creates this brutal firefight with graphic authenticity, while telling the parallel story of grieving army wives back home. While UPI reporter Galloway (Barry Pepper) risks his life to chronicle the battle, Wallace offers a balanced (though somewhat fictionalized) perspective while eliciting laudable performances from an excellent cast. Like the best World War II dramas of the 1940s, We Were Soldiers pays tribute to brave men while avoiding the pitfalls of propaganda. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 406 more reviews...
Very timely film April 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This film was released right before Cheney/Bush led our country down into IraqNam. Such tragedy, especially for our young men in uniform.
 By the DVD. April 6, 2008
The movie is great, but the HD copy has no better resolution than the DVD. I played them one after another on the same scene and there was no deference between the two. Basically, you pay for high definition and get a DVD. Disappointing.
 Great Movie March 15, 2008
Not a big war movie lover. But this movie was actually well directed and acted. I highly recommend this movie!!!
Right on February 17, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am a Vietnam vet and have been very disappointed by most movies that were made about this conflict. This movie shows us the bravery, fear, and brutality of this war. It also helps us understand why not all vets want to remember their experiences during their time there. Excellent movie and very realistic.
Vietnam -- It's Legacy, It's Lessons for Us Today, 25 May 2005 February 11, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
[Note: This comment was originally posted at IMDb.com but was later censored by the staff on the grounds that they had a complaint. I leave it up to the reader to decide if any sane, reasonable person would find anything offensive about what was said here.]
Vietnam -- It's Legacy, It's Lessons for Us Today, 25 May 2005
This film touched my heart in the way it showed the valor, the commitment, the utter devotion and supreme dedication of those whose awful task it was to go to Vietnam and suffer and die, or suffer and live (in many cases a fate worse than death), all for nothing. Well, it wasn't exactly for nothing, was it?. Many made fortunes off that war, and it is the contrast of the dedication of these great patriots, misguided and downright misled though they were, with the behind-the-scenes corruption and greed that used Communism as an excuse to wage a no-win war at the expense of human life that I wish to address.
I must say the movie did a good job in portraying just how awful it was to have to endure all that over there in Vietnam, and it gave me a new respect for those who went through it all.
Frankly, I didn't make it past the first jungle scene or two before I had to switch off. I couldn't bear to watch all that suffering and dying... all in vain. I was looking at this story of the war in Vietnam with hindsight, since I knew how it was going to end, and my heart groaned over that waste of human life that was going to accomplish nothing good. We were never meant to win.
Vietnam stank of Machiavellianism on an international scale.
Nicolo Machiavelli was a sub-human parasite. He lived in the 1700's I believe. He was a master at profiting from wars and disputes between peoples. If there was no conflict going at the moment he would try to instigate one, and then pretend to befriend both sides behind both their backs. By controlling the purse strings he could keep each side from getting too dominant and annihilating the other, thereby destroying that side's ability to pay off the war debt and also keeping the conflict alive as long as possible. Can we see any resemblance to the Vietnam war here? People back here at home smelled a rat and hated the war. Maybe they couldn't put their finger on the problem, but they knew something was deeply wrong. There was some talk about America having lost her resolve to make the world safe for democracy. Why should the world's greatest power not be able to bring a two-bit country like North Vietnam to its knees, they wanted to know, and couldn't articulate why not.
It wasn't about resolve, it was about money, and sacrificing human life to feed the economy and line the pockets of the ones who stood to gain at the expense of our fighting men's very lives.
The problem is that some of those people who opposed the war also hated our own soldiers for participating in the war. It is in the honor of those valiant men that this review is dedicated. They were patriots and should never have been mistreated by their own, no matter how misguided or exploited they were. They didn't question, they just obeyed. They followed orders, as they were taught to do.
I can't speak for the Army of today, but I can tell you about how it was back in the sixties. Independent thought was discouraged. You were taught to follow orders without question. Military life may always be so. It always has been, that's for sure. I remember one of the Dirty Dozen movies where there was a mission given the dozen to kill some general who planned to assassinate Hitler. The sharpshooter had the general in his sights but the problem was that Hitler was there too, and he thought Hitler made a better target. I remember Lee Marvin's character saying several times,"Just the general".
He knew that the higher ups in America wanted Hitler alive so he could keep on making his strategic blunders and keep on losing the war for his country. But would Marvin's character confide that to his sniper underling? Not on your life. Just obey orders and do not ask questions was his approach to command.
When I took an oath upon joining the Army I remember I had to sign a paper giving up my rights under the Constitution of the United States of America, especially that of free speech. We were ushered into another room after the swearing-in where it was explained to us that we were now property of the U.S. Army. "GI" stands for government issue. You became a part of the weapons arsenal, with your own serial number, even. The power and control that is exerted over you is deep and intense. It is hard to imagine what pressure these men who went to Vietnam were subjected to in order to get them to fight this awful war.
All I can say for those poor, blind, and misguided souls who fought in Vietnam is may God bless them, both living and dead. I deeply appreciate their unselfish devotion to their country and to the oath they swore.
But also, may God curse those who exploited them so they could become rich. A curse on them and all that their filthy blood-soaked money ever built.
And a curse on all those who would repeat that abuse today --or in the future.
But let us not forget that we are supposed to be a government of, by, and for the people. In America, the government derives its power to govern from those governed. At least an honest president we once had thought so. If we have let our country become a government of the people, by the politicians, for the special interest groups, if we refuse to discharge our obligation to remain ever vigilant over those whom we elect to run our country, then will the blood of those who fought and died (or else survived, broken and traumatized) not be on our heads as well?
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