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
Charlie Sheen
Chris Taylor
Willem Dafoe
Sergeant Elias Grodin
Tom Berenger
Sergeant Robert "Bob" Barnes
Kevin Dillon
Bunny
Forest Whitaker
Big Harold
Mark Moses
Lieutenant Wolfe
Keith David
King
Richard Edson
Sal
Francesco Quinn
Rhah
John C. McGinley
Sergeant O'Neill
Johnny Depp
Gator Lerner
David Neidorf
Tex
Chris Pedersen
Crawford
Tony Todd
Warren
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.
US
