Hamburger Hill
By Brian Costello,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Unsparing, graphically violent depiction of Vietnam War.
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Hamburger Hill
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What's the Story?
HAMBURGER HILL takes place in May of 1969 in South Vietnam as a platoon receives five new recruits. Sgt. Adam Frantz (Dylan McDermott) gives the men a crash course in surviving the battlefield -- everything from the proper way to brush one's teeth to how stealthily the Viet Cong can sneak past barbed wire fortifications. Among the new recruits are the quietly intense Washburn (Don Cheadle), and the cars-and-girls obsessed Languillli, who is nicknamed "Alphabet," much to his chagrin, because no one in the platoon can pronounce his name. The men immediately face skirmishes with the enemy, resulting in casualties, and a tragic loss of life due to friendly fire from a helicopter. When not fighting, the men patronize a local brothel, drink heavily, get into fights, and reflect on how the burden of the war is disproportionately placed on the shoulders of African Americans and the working class, while college students defer and jeer at their service. Soon, the platoon is sent to Hill 937 to take the hill and remove the North Vietnamese Army. They encounter heavy resistance, and against what seems to be increasingly insurmountable odds, the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne display incredible courage and self sacrifice in fighting for their platoon and their country.
Is It Any Good?
What makes this an unforgettable Vietnam War movie is its unsparing depiction of the horrors of battle. There's plenty of heroism, valor, and sacrifice in these soldiers as they fight what is quite literally an uphill battle, and the filmmakers know this. Therefore, they don't rely on the usual Hollywood cliches of bombastic orchestral background music, very buff action movie heroes wielding a machine gun in both hands while bellowing, "Nooooo!," and nice clean happy endings. The story and the characters develop organically, and it's refreshing to see a war movie develop in this way. By presenting these soldiers in all their imperfections, the movie highlights what they did when it counted.
While better than most Vietnam War movies, Hamburger Hill is by no means perfect. The tirades and anecdotes about anti-war protestors and "Senator Kennedy" are heavy-handed, to put it mildly. The trope of the soldier/cop/fireman who is merely days away from shipping back home or retiring who then gets killed has become one of the most predictable tropes in cinema and television. Nonetheless, the ability to truly create depth to these characters rather than relying on the usual archetypes/stereotypes is almost as remarkable as the battle scenes themselves. The takeaway is a moving tribute to those who fought in the war, a tribute that doesn't require the Sousa fanfare and the obnoxious jingoistic spectacle of other war movies.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about war movies. How does Hamburger Hill compare to other war movies and movies about the Vietnam War?
In most action and war movies, filmmakers rely heavily on intense background music to heighten the violent scenes. This movie doesn't do this. How does the lack of background music heighten the life-or-death seriousness of what's at stake for these soldiers?
Do war movies tend to romanticize the realities of warfare? How does this movie show the heroism and valor of the soldiers without resorting to the overblown and outsized heroism of the lead characters in other war and action movies?
Movie Details
- In theaters: August 28, 1987
- On DVD or streaming: May 20, 2008
- Cast: Don Cheadle, Michael Boatman, Dylan McDermott
- Director: John Irvin
- Inclusion Information: Black actors
- Studio: RKO
- Genre: Drama
- Topics: History
- Run time: 110 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- Last updated: May 24, 2023
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