Middle class college kid Chris Taylor (Sheen) volunteers for the Army out of patriotic duty and is sent to Vietnam. Soon he is told "you don't belong here" and he learns how true that is. Two veteran sergeants battle for the soul of Taylor: scarred Staff Sgt. Bob Barnes (Berenger), gruff and cynical, who orders a massacre of villagers; and Sgt. Elias Grodin (Dafoe), a good and spiritual man but given to escaping into drugs. Their struggle splits the platoon (which includes young actors Kevin Dillon, Johnny Depp, and Forest Whitaker) down the middle. This 1986 film was the first of writer-director Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy (including "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Heaven and Earth"), is fairly autobiographical, and won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, and Sound.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
This story follows a young soldier in the Vietnam War. A sergeant in his platoon orders the massacre of a small village. This causes a civil war in the platoon while they are fighting the Vietnamese.
--Jack Bauer, Resident Scholar
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Analysis of Platoon
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie Actual chase scenes or violence - 35% Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 15% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 50%
Time/Era of Movie:
- 1960's-1970's
War Thriller
Yes
Armed Forces:
- Army
Specific to
- Vietnam
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- infantry soldier
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- short/standard straight (man)
Body type
- average (man)
Events of movie makes character more...
- tougher
- cynical
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Body type
- average build (man)
How much in movie?
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- infantry soldier
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard curly
Body type
- average (man)
- muscular (man)
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Setting
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- Southeast Asia
Jungles?
Yes
Jungles
- snakes
- heat/bugs
Misc setting
- fort/military installation
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately messy visuals of dead
Movie makes you feel...
- all mixed up
How many deaths in film?
- dozens
- hundreds
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references only
How much use of techno gadgets?
- 2 (a little)
Kind of violence:
- hand to hand
- guns
- knives
Unusual forms of death
- flamed
- impaled
- perforation--bullets
- perforation--swords/knives
Any profanity?
- A lot of foul language
Lot of special effects?
Yes
Kinds of F/X
- exploding bombs
