Platoon (1986) UK
Platoon Image Cover
Additional Images
Director:Oliver Stone
Studio:Live / Artisan
Producer:Arnold Kopelson
Writer:Oliver Stone
Rating:4.5
Rated:R
Date Added:2007-03-06
Purchased On:2007-06-03
ASIN:6304675763
UPC:0012236045403
Price:$24.98
Awards:Won 4 Oscars. Another 18 wins & 9 nominations
Genre:Drama
Release:1997-10-12
IMDb:0091763
Duration:120
Picture Format:Widescreen
Aspect Ratio:1.85:1
Sound:Dolby
Languages:English, Dolby Digital 5.1, French, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Spanish, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, Commentary by director Oliver Stone, Commentary by military supervisor Captain Dale Dye, Unknown
Subtitles:Spanish, French
Features:Letterboxed
Oliver Stone  ...  (Director)
Oliver Stone  ...  (Writer)
 
Tom Berenger  ...  Sgt. Bob Barnes
Willem Dafoe  ...  Sgt. Elias Grodin
Keith David  ...  King
Johnny Depp  ...  Private Gator Lerner
Kevin Dillon  ...  Bunny
Richard Edson  ...  Sal
Corkey Ford  ...  Manny
J. Adam Glover  ...  
Reggie Johnson  ...  Junior Martin
Ivan Kane  ...  
John C. McGinley  ...  Sgt. Red O'Neill
Mark Moses  ...  Lt. Wolfe
David Neidorf  ...  Tex
Chris Pedersen  ...  Crawford
Francesco Quinn  ...  Rhah
Paul Sanchez (II)  ...  
Charlie Sheen  ...  Pvt. Chris Taylor
Tony Todd  ...  Sgt. Warren
Forest Whitaker  ...  Big Harold
Corey Glover  ...  Francis
Bob Orwig  ...  Gardner
Comments: The first casualty of war is innocence.

Summary: Platoon put writer-turned-director Oliver Stone on the Hollywood map; it is still his most acclaimed and effective film, probably because it is based on Stone's firsthand experience as an American soldier in Vietnam. Chris (Charlie Sheen) is an infantryman whose loyalty is tested by two superior officers: Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), a former hippie humanist who really cares about his men (this was a few years before he played Jesus in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ), and Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), a moody, macho soldier who may have gone over to the dark side. The personalities of the two sergeants correspond to their combat drugs of choice--pot for Elias and booze for Barnes. Stone has become known for his sledgehammer visual style, but in this film it seems perfectly appropriate. His violent and disorienting images have a terrifying immediacy, a you-are-there quality that gives you a sense of how things may have felt to an infantryman in the jungles of Vietnam. Platoon won Oscars for best picture and director. The digital video disc transfer was supervised by cinematographer Robert Richardson, and includes two commentary tracks (one by Stone and one by military technical advisor Dale Dye) and a 50-minute documentary about the making of Platoon called A Tour of the Inferno: Revisiting Platoon. --Jim Emerson