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pre vietnam drama

one of the better vietnam war movies out
burt lancaster is in fine form as a gritty veteran
who knows the in's and out's of politics
a young marc singer as his captain gives a great performance
the battle scenes, and american attitudes
make this war movie a slight better tan the rest of
the vietnam movies that followed

Go tell your friends!

This film came out the year before 'Apocalypse Now', and possibly that's one reason why it's not so well known today, having been pushed out of the limelight by Coppola's monstrosity which set a disappointing trend for later Vietnam films. They became immersed in 'pop culture' (as another reviewer here notes) rather than having any historical or dramatic interest; 'Apocalypse Now', 'Platoon', 'Full Metal Jacket', etc., despite their respective claims to be hard-hitting, uncompromising, gritty dramas, etc. etc., are just glamour-fests that tend at times to degenerate into little more than music videos. This film doesn't have their glitz, and it certainly has its own faults, but on the whole it's more thought-provoking and interesting. The early-war (indeed, technically, 'pre-war') setting allows for reflection on just what a mess the Americans were gradually getting themselves sucked into, and its effects on the officers and soldiers who were sent out into the jungle without being told quite what they were actually supposed to be doing there.

Dead-on Perfect!!

There aren't many movies about the beginning of America's involvement in Vietnam. It is fortunate that this is one of those film. Burt Lancaster is perfect as a career Army officer who recognizes early on that this war will be different from any other...and that American power may not be enough to win it. "Beastmaster" Marc Singer is wonderful as a shallow young officer so wrapped up in the boost Vietnam is going to give his career that he is immune to the madness around him. The scene in which Lancaster explains to Singer why, after three wars and a bucket full of medals, he (Lancaster) is still only a major, is priceless. Craig Wasson's portrayal of an idealistic draftee who progresses from caring about the Vietnamese, to accepting the brutality they perpetrate on each other is a chillingly accurate metaphor for the shift in American attitudes to come. Perhaps the film's best performance is by Jonathan Goldsmith, as a career NCO for whom the insanity finally becomes too much. The haunting score by Dick (Blood, Sweat & Tears) Halligan is a perfect accompaniment.

A tough but honest look at Vietnam without breast-beating.

This excellent but neglected film was recently released on videocassette and is well worth your purchase and viewing. I first saw it in a badly edited format on cable television, and it was still powerful. I was delighted to find that HBO had released the film on videocassette. _Go Tell the Spartans_ tells a short story that chronicles the Vietnam War in microcosm, and though ostensibly set in 1964 reveals a number of the essential, underlying flaws in the U.S. involvement that resulted in our ultimate withdrawal.

This is, however, no dreamy, introspective _Apocalypse Now_, nor is the film a weepy, self-pitying confessional like _Platoon_. With a fraction of the production budget of those films, Ted Post did a remarkable job in producing a gritty, honest, fast-paced work.

Burt Lancaster is at his understated best as the dead-ended but still professional Major Asa Barker. Craig Wasson plays the willing but inexperienced draftee, Corporal Coursey. The interplay between these two is at the heart of the film as one generation of soldiers tries its best to hand-off to another, in a war that concededly is going nowhere. The other characters represent the various types that one encounters in other, later Vietnam films (the burned-out suicidal noncom, the doper, the ticket-punching officer, the seductive villager who is a VC), but even these stereotypes are more convincingly and sympathetically played than in later, "evil U.S. imperialist" movies.

While I suspect that the author, Dan Ford, is too hard on himself in his review of the movie, he should get the credit for the concept and characters that resulted in this excellent film. As an interpretive work, this film will stand the test of time.

A "Sleeper" War Movie

Having staged/flown out of Muc Hoa (they spelled the name wrong in the Movie) I knew the area well. As far as I'm concerned, this picture is more realistic than any other Viet Nam war movie ever made!

Burt Lancaster Says Some Baaaaaaaaad Words!

GO TELL THE SPARTANS (3 outta 5 stars)Not a bad movie... depicting the early days of the conflict in Vietnam and how it affected the American troops... but there are so many other *better* movies about that particular war that this one seems kind of lackluster in comparison. Still, it provides a nice, more modern role for screen icon Burt Lancaster (it is quite a shock to hear him liberally spouting profanity) and I've always liked Craig Wasson, who plays the new addition to Lancaster's group of battle-weary soldiers. Wasson is the green kid, still full of good intentions and the desire to win the hearts and minds of the people who actually have to live in that war-torn country... but over the course of the movie his altruism is put through the wringer. Lancaster has a great monologue about why he never became a general... which is probably the highlight of the movie. Other than the language, the movie kind of has the look and feel of a made-for-TV movie from the period... there is little of the style or flair that seems to enliven most other 'Nam movies... but it does get the job done. War movie buffs will love this... if you hate war movies... you might want to pass.

Vietnam - The First Steps

A very true to life accounting of the early days of our involvement in South Vietnam. I just hope we learnt something from the experience, and the errors made.

I was there

I served 3 combat tours in South Vietnam. the first was in 1962-1963 under MAAG (Military Assistance Advisory Group). I have seen this movie and have placed an order for a copy on DVD. A lot of what is shown was true on what you had to do to get along and get the job done. It is a super movie and a depiction of life in South Vietnam during the early years.

Go Tell It to the Spartans that here in obedience to their order we lie

"Go tell it to the Spartans that here in obedience to their order we lie," ran the quote of Heroditus, the father of Western History which inspired this movie.In a more recent time line, this film is based in part on a vignette Robin Moore told in the book version of Green Berets where American advisors bribe an ARVN (Army of the Republic of Viet Nam)officer to launch a barrage in support of a Republic of Viet Nam (RVN) outpost manned by mountagnards.Go Tell it to the Spartans shows certain aspects of the American advisory personnel: that they became very loyal to the Vietnamese units they worked with. Robin Moore's authoritative text on the subject, not to be confused with the John Wayne movie, would seem to bear this out. Whether the loyalty extended so far as to join in a suicide mission at an outpost apparently written off, well that's hard to say.Yet the movie is a good primer on a subject that's very difficult for most Americans to approach even today.

One of the best ever films about Viet Nam

This is one of the best movies abut Viet Nam ever and the best about the early (fist five years) part of the war. If you thing Rambo and Delta force are what Viet Nam was about, don't watch. If you want a feel for what was going on then, watch.

best movie about vietnam i have ever seen

engaging, thought-provoking, informative, superbly acted. i am inclined to add realistic to the list, but since i wasn't even alive at the time of the vietnam war, i will let those who have be the judge of that. however, it was refreshing to find none of the war cliches that are so prevalent in better known movies about vietnam, like "platoon", "full metal jacket" and "apocalypse now" to name a few.

Clearly one of the best Vietnam Films

I first saw this film in the theater. It was genuine. I rate it high. I would recommend it without reservation, except, if what you know about Vietnam you learned from Hollywood or on campus, it may surprise you. It's not about what the other movie makers wanted to show you, to shock you, to entertain, to proselytize. I never kept a scorecard of technical deficiencies, but to my mind, "Go Tell the Spartans was unmatched by Vietnam stories on film until "We Were Soldiers" in 2002, nearly a quarter century later. There were several others that tried hard. One prolific and self-assured reviewer has rated "Spartans" a one star and does a "Siskel and Ebert" number on it, during which, unwittingly, he discredits his own commentary, at least in the eyes of this veteran, when he says Go Tell the Spartans "...is no way comparable to the great post-Vietnam War films...Apocalypse Now, Taxidriver, Platoon, Born in the USA, and finally the devastating Full Metal Jacket..." Really? Apocalypse Now was a fairy tale! It may have been great storyline and cinematography, as were the Lord of the Rings, but fairy tales, none the less. And, Stone's movies seemed more defaming of real soldiers, with political overtones. I returned from Vietnam in 1969. I know a man who was in Vietnam 15 years earlier - 5 years before our country acknowledged our first casualties [The Memorial dates the war from 1959 to 1975]. There are many millions of stories about Vietnam over the course of a changing war that was the longest in our history. Go Tell the Spartans is one such story. It wasn't the most memorable, by Hollywood standards. But it was compelling. And it was the most believable. And, in this veteran's assessment, whatever its warts, Go Tell the Spartans was the best until "We Were Soldiers".

An excellent study of the 'Advisor War'

I can't agree this is a bad movie, though it's not the best. Anyone who doesn't think this movie is realistic should read Neil Sheehan's 'A Bright Shining Lie' or see the film of it. The constant lying about the success of the war between 1960 and 1965 ensured the disaster that followed.Burt Lancaster has a fantastic anecdote which explains why Major Barker never got to be a Colonel.

More anti-Vietnam war propaganda than "best movie"

Yes, there were many, many failures in Vietnam. Truthful writers/directors should portray them and help us examine the reality and complexity of that war. But truthful authors should also show the successes, innovations, sacrifices, and honorable motives that are an equal part of the Vietnam story. This overdone movie errors by heavily playing up the negatives, often stereotypical as well as actual. It does show some individual heroism and sacrifice, but the overall purpose of the film is very clear. I've read a lot of memoirs and battle records of the Special Forces in 'Nam; this movie cheapens the professionalism and cross-cultural successes of many of those "advisors," not so much by what it includes but what it leaves out. Wayne's "Green Berets" may be one extreme. This movie heads the other direction. I picked it up on the chance that it would be a solid story; instead, I got one director's profane, crude hostility toward the war. Well-acted? Sometimes. Worth keeping? Ask my garbage can.

NOTE: Let me add the following after seeing how "non-helpful" I've been :) and the comment below. There is almost always a point of view, an agenda, built into a movie - especially a war movie. For any objective viewer, this movie has a clear anti-Vietnam war bias, and this purpose drives the crafting of the characterizations and the plot. The political and social history of Burt Lancaster supports this. Lancaster was renowned as a left-wing activist. He strongly supported the ACLU, vocally opposed many Republican politicians, refused to work with John Wayne in a movie because of their opposite political views, and was known as a Vietnam war opponent. As to the movie itself, even though the Department of Defense praised some portrayals of self-sacrifice in the film, the Army refused to cooperate in making the film (and straightening out some inaccuracies) because they felt it incorrectly portrayed the specially-chosen advisors of the era as unprofessional "losers." (They also objected to Lancaster's crude story of oral sex with a general's wife as the reason his character had not been promoted.) My point? Every film has a cultural context. If you want to watch something that is designed to support criticism of the Vietnam War, have at it. If you want a war film built on historical facts, watch something like "Black Hawk Down," which manages - all at once - to question war, question policies, truthfully show the stories of real men who deliberately sacrificed themselves for hurt comrades, and immerse the viewer in the intensity of street combat. "Black Hawk" is realism. "Spartans" is well-made, selective propaganda.

Unsung, but interesting take on Vietnam

This low-key, but thoughtful, examination of the early stages of The Vietnam War offers up a few clichés, but also does a nice job of presenting the conditions and experiences of the soldiers involved in it. Lancaster plays a rebellious Major, assigned to the disbursement of various soldiers in the field who are meant to aid and advise the South Vietnamese in their quest for democracy. Singer plays his cocky sidekick, a Captain with eyes on advancement. When they are instructed to set up a garrison at an abandoned site called Muc Wa, they send in a rag tag assortment of soldiers who don't always compliment each other. Wasson is an idealistic youth who tends to see only the good in people. Goldsmith is a grizzled veteran on the edge of burnout. Unger is placed in charge of the mission, but must overcome a troublesome physical reaction to the surroundings. Howard is a drug addict, assigned as medic. They are assisted by the hotheaded and brutal, but effective, native soldier Kim. Meanwhile, Lancaster is pestered by an efficiency expert-type (Clennon) who uses a computer to assess which areas of the conflict are most susceptible to attack. Other roles include Hong, as an elderly Vietnamese recruit and Kumagai, as a demure local girl who takes a shine to Wasson. Though the film is serious in it's approach to the material, it isn't without doses of humor, mostly coming from Lancaster and his offhand approach to the warmongering around him. He has a combative relationship with his no-nonsense superior Sweet and a flustered rapport with his ever-casual communications officer Hicks. Eventually, the events turn more toward the dramatic as it becomes clear that Muc Wa is going to be targeted by the Communist troops. Lancaster does a nice job in a role that suits his confident persona. The rest of the cast is solid as well with many of the actors enjoying lengthy TV and film careers afterwards. Goldsmith (best known as J.R.'s favorite private investigator on "Dallas") gets what is probably his best showcase ever here and rises to the occasion. Each of them, however, gets his chance to shine. A rather low budget gives the film a certain lack of polish, but also helps keep it rather grounded and prevents it from becoming an operatic, over the top epic as some war films have become.

Better than many of the more well known Vietnam films

I was in the military in the late 60s, but I did not go to Vietnam. I watched this with a friend of my age who was there as an Army corporal for two years. He gave the film high marks for accuracy. Lancaster was excellent in portraying the skepticism of career military officers about our involvement. The scene where he must go and plead with the corrupt South Vietnamese officer is especially telling. The "cowboy" character was well conceived. Unlike another reviewer, I did not see the Wasson character becoming totally callous. In fact his last line about just wanting "to go home now" (spoken to the spectral Viet Cong in the mist after the battle) shows his disillusion with the war.

BEST VIETNAM WAR MOVIE EVER MADE

This movie is as real and true to the facts as you can get without being there...I was...I know. Heroism usually comes out of desperation and it doesnt always win. This movie shows how it really was...without the smells.
A postscript...it's now 2002, and I find that the interest in the Viet Nam war is up a couple of notches. Another generation is asking questions about the experience and my standard answer is to loan them my copy of this movie. It usually generates more questions, but it gives them a base of info so that my sometimes inadequate answers make more sense. I would recommend this film to any history teacher who is trying to make some sense out of an event that occured a generation ago.

So Close To Reality It Hurts

As one who was there in 1964 and early 1965, this film is so accurate it brings back things I thought were long forgotten. The absence of insignia and the motley collection of uniforms and weapons is so accurate of that time. I can still see a Marine in khaki Burmuda shorts, boots and a muted Aloha shirt with a Thompson slung over his shoulder and a bush hat on his head. The only film close to it is The Quiet American but that is more the diplomatic and press end of things. I hope you can find this in your local video store. Semper Fi.

Viet Nam, the Early Years

Go Tell the Spartans is one of the best, albeit little known, movies about the Viet Nam war, which was overshadowed by Platoon, Hamburger Hill and Full Metal Jacket.

It takes place in the early years of the war, when a few Americans were in-country as advisors to the South Vietnamese government(s). Burt Lancaster does an outstanding job as a team commander, whose career is on a downward slide following some mischief in Washington. His job is to help hold the line from the early Viet Cong infiltrations and attacks in the South.

His support troops range from an educated draftee and a drugged out medic, to a young hotshot captain wanting to earn his CIB and a senior staff NCO who has been in combat a little too often.

The movie is a fine character study and, although movies are the last place to learn history, this one gives a pretty good view of how we got involved and the politics that was rampant in the South - a Viet Nam veteran's perspective.

The violence is minimal for a war movie. This one is definately character driven. See it. You won't regret it.

Worst Movie in History

This is the worst movie I have ever seen. The plot is completely unrealistic. These events are far from the truth and Burt Lancaster is a disgrace. Don't waste your time watching this movie, watching grass grow is much more exciting!