

As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.
Direction
Stone lived this. You can taste the jungle.
Acting
Dafoe's arms-out death march — cinema history.
Cinematography
Vietnam as green hell, beautifully suffocating.

Director
Oliver Stone
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Stone enlisted twice and requested combat duty; he was wounded twice and earned a Bronze Star. This isn't researched — it's exorcised.
The 'Platoon vs. Platoon' Oscar race against fellow Vietnam vet Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket defined 1987's war on war films. Stone's gritty realism won, but the debate rages.