Vietnam Battle Hell DVD

Advantages: ITS A WESTERN
Disadvantages: NONE

...John Wayne saves the day yet again , battling the bad guys and rescuing Eleanor Hunt a beautiful woman. The Duke plays opposite his fellow Western star, John Mack Brown, as cattle-driving cousins Dare Rudd and Tom Fillmore. There is certainly no love is lost between them, especially when Dare falls for Tom's girlfriend, but they discover a new found respect for each other after joining forces against cattle rustlers and meeting the grateful rancher who then saves him from a card shark. Yes I loved the film but some would say the sad person that I am I love all the Dukes westerns. Get it watch it, it is good fun. Not forgetting of course it is an English film. Hell Town [DVD] (1937) One of the Duke's best "B" vehicles finds John Wayne forming a fast friendship with Johnny Mack Brown after he rescues Brown's livestock. Johnny Mack... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: First part is really good
Disadvantages: Second part not so good

...This Stanley Kubrick film is an adaption of a novel called The Short Timers, which was about the dehumanization of soldiers during the Vietnam War. The first half of the film shows a group of raw recruits going through the hell of marine training. They are put through their paces by drill instructor Lee Ermey, who torments one particular lad to his limit. Post-training, we move to the action in Hue City. This story here is seen mostly through the eyes of a cynical reporter nicknamed Joker (Matthew Modine). As a Vietnam War film, Full Metal Jacket is notable for focusing on the urban battles, rather than jungle action. So we don't get the rice paddies and brown rivers of Apocalypse Now or The Deer Hunter. Also interesting to note that Kubrick, who lives and works in England, recreated the Vietnam battle areas in London's docklands. It... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great aerial photography, stirring score, fine all-star cast
Disadvantages: Some subplots are a bit dire....

...During a 15-year period (1962-1977), the all-star cast recreation of major World War II battles was an expensive sub-genre of the action-adventure/war film category. Undoubtedly spurred by the success of 20th Century-Fox's 1962 mega hit The Longest Day and ending, ironically, with 1977's well-intentioned but widely ignored A Bridge Too Far, the "big cast, big budget" war epics ranged from excellent (The Longest Day, The Great Escape), decent (Tora! Tora! Tora! and A Bridge Too Far), all the way down to dismal (1966's Battle of the Bulge, 1976's Midway). Not only did the law of diminishing returns apply here (as it did with the countless Star Wars knock-offs that hit the silver screen soon after that film became a cultural force to be reckoned with), but the then-ongoing war in Vietnam soured audiences on any film that was in any way... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful