Three steelworkers enlist in the army and are sent to Vietnam, one leaving behind a rushed marriage, the others a shared love. What they encounter during the war changes their lives forever.
Acting
Walken's thousand-yard stare is uncanny valley human
Direction
Cimino's wedding hour is chaotic cinema perfection
Editing
Sudden Saigon cut still drops jaws decades later
Director
Michael Cimino
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Cimino insisted on live ammunition during Russian roulette scenes—actors' terror is partially genuine. The studio nearly fired him weekly.
The film invented the 'Vietnam vet trauma' genre template that Platoon and Full Metal Jacket would later refine. Cimino's Ukrainian-American specificity also sparked debate about whose war story this really was.
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