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Summary: The toughest movie about the Vietnam War
Review: "Full Metal Jacket" and "Platoon" are probably better movies ABOUT the war in Viet Nam - this is one of the only movies IN the War. Other reviewers have referred to a lack of plot; they're right. This is not a tale, it's a chronicle, a portrait of a series of events and of the men who lived them. Every soldier who went to war and survived two or more battles will see Truth in this movie - especially the truth that brotherhood is the only explanation for surviving combat. Those who do not assume responsibility, who do not recognize the job to be done and do it do not survive, let alone prevail. Hill 937 was one of those places where the 101st made their names to shine, and the sergeant's warning to the reporter could be the division's watchword: get out of here - you haven't earned the right to be here. "Hamburger Hill" shows soldiers earning their right, and that's enough.
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Summary: Realisitc action & devastation
Review: Rakkassans rock! This is my drill sergeant's old unit. He loved this movie and told everybody to buy it. He swore that it was the most accurate portrayal of Vietnam that he had seen. (Could he have been prejudiced because he was there? We Eagles tend to be prejudiced for our own.)When I watched it the first couple of times, I was reduced to tears. Geez, those guys went through hell, but never gave up their fighting spirit or determination to win - even when facing a no-win political situation! My drill once commented that after being at HH, none of the survivors will go to hell because the devil knows they'll take over! These are the ultimate fighting men on a most horrendous mission. Get this movie. Encourage your local history teachers to utilize it in their classrooms. It ain't pretty, but war never is.
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Summary: It Really IS the Most Realistic Vietnam War Movie
Review: This movie is billed as the most realistic war movie to come out of our experience in Vietnam. From the ping of mortar rounds leaving their tubes to the crump of their impact, I agree. Its heroes are Vietnam grunts who only want to survive, but who give it their all because their sense of responsibility to each other and to themselves demands it. There are no masterful generals, no crusading journalists, no anti-hero politicians -- just a group of young men caught up in events they didn't control, probably didn't understand, and certainly didn't want. There is no shortage of combat scenes. Hamburger Hill depicts in gory detail the action that spanned 11 days (May 10-21, 1969) during which the 3rd Battalion of the 187th Airborne (3/187th, the "Rakkasans" of Korean fame) tried and finally succeeded in taking what was labeled on their maps as Hill 937 (meaning it was 937 meters high). Hill 937 was actually one of several ridges that comprised Dong Ap Bia on the Laotian border in the A Shau Valley. A series of coordinated operations was planned with the intended purpose to clear the valley, deny its use, and disrupt the enemy's plans. These operations would comprise ten battalions of US and ARVN troops that would move into various parts of the valley in a coordinated scheme of maneuver. The Rakkasans of the 3/187th and an ARVN battalion drew the prize: Dong Ap Bia (Ap Bia Mountain), occupied by two battalions of NVA -- some 600 to 900 strong and probably reinforced during the battle. The movie follows a fictitious infantry squad, along with the supporting medic, and their platoon sergeant and platoon leader. Focusing on a single squad subtly points out how combat in dense terrain becomes very localized. Their link to the outside world is through the platoon leader's radio and the disembodied voice emanating from it that keeps urging them on and asking for SITREPs (situation reports). You quickly understand that despite the frustrations of the war, the growing hostility at home, and the growing racism within the military, they understand that their individual and collective survival depends on each other. This binds them in a way that few other situations can. The movie's real strength is its attention to detail. Everything has the right look, sound, and feel. From the crack of M-16 rifle rounds, the hollow resonance of the M-79 grenade launchers, and the crump of impacting mortar rounds, to the radio traffic, the banter, jargon, and slang, the locales and locals, the sandbags on the floors of the trucks, the mud, wooden ammo boxes and artillery shell containers littering the base areas, the red filters on the flashlights, etc. I was particularly thankful to be spared the hand grenades and mortar rounds that explode like giant balls of fire so typical of war movies. The mistakes were few and minor. The biggest error was that there were not 11 assaults up the hill as the movie leads you to believe. May 10 saw the first contact. On each of the next three days (May 11, 12, and 13) the 3/187th conducted a "reconnaissance in force" (RIF) to find the enemy, probing for weak points. Deliberate assaults occurred on May 14, 15, 18, and 20. The days in between were either stand-downs for resupply or aborted assaults due to the inability of supporting ground units to get into position. No company, thus no squad, was committed to each RIF and deliberate assault. The squad in the movie is a composite of all the squads engaged. The various incidents -- the squad members' deaths, the NVA virtually rolling their grenades downhill on the attacking Rakkasans, the friendly fire, the torrential downpour on May 18 that stopped that day's assault, and so on -- all happened. They just didn't all happen to the same squad. Other than the platoon leader, the officer chain of command is never seen; rather, they are depicted as disembodied voices over the radio. This is misleading. The command structure at company and below would be on the ground with the troops; battalion command would be either on the ground or in the air, depending on where the battalion commander thought he could best control the battle. The movie's anti-war message is apparent from the opening credits, which are interspersed with views of the Capitol and the Vietnam Memorial in Washington. The symbolism of our seat of government juxtaposed with the memorial to the fallen is heightened by the wintry sunset reflecting off the Vietnam Memorial. Rather than a history lesson, the movie is a metaphor for the war in Vietnam: the relentless push to achieve ground of questionable importance despite the high cost in blood. Good men fought and died. Was it worth it? As the fatalistic mantra among the grunts in the movie said, "It don't mean nothin'." That's a sad, angering attitude until you recall that shortly after the battle was over, we left the hill, as we did with so many other hills, and another NVA regiment moved in and retook possession. Hamburger Hill doesn't glorify war, but it does show the best attributes of men caught up in war. In so doing it rightfully praises the American soldier. However, one has to conclude that the lives of the men who fought at Hamburger Hill -- the deaths, the anguish, the exhaustion, the physical and emotional wounds -- didn't matter if the capture of the hill didn't ultimately contribute somehow to victory. In the same way, the lives of the men and women who fought in Southeast Asia didn't matter since we didn't prevail in the war. Private Beletsky (Tim Quill) said it all with his silent tear as he surveyed the body-strewn, devastated slope from the summit of Hamburger Hill at the end of the movie. So, the message is fight to win or don't fight. Make it mean something. That's what some came away from Vietnam with, and that's what makes this a movie worth seeing.
Rating: 
Summary: Garbage
Review: I can't believe anyone actually liked this show. It is full of bad acting and horrible dialouge. If I was to describe this movie with one word it would be "Cheese".
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Summary: YOUR A SOLDIER NOW FIGHTING IN A BATTLE TO BE FREE ONCE MORE
Review: I watched Hamburger Hill and thought that it was well done-because this is how it really happened-soldiers trying and dying to take out the enemy. The most realistic portayal of the Vietnam war ever filmed. Becuase its the only one thats true. War at its worst. Men at their best. One scene that was tragic was when the helicopter came along and started shooting the soldiers!
The soldiers waved their arms screaming "NO"and that one soldier on that phone screaming into it "No stop it-your shooting soldiers"but the pilot could not tell if they were the enemy or not! Even I wanted to yell stop it too! That scene is still in my mind-pilot not knowing who he was killing. The war had alot of things-but what I think it had was sacrifice-taking you away from your loved ones and familes and you get killed and never see them again. That poem at the end of the movie is nice about the soldiers who
fought and died for freedom. LET THE SOLDIERS WHO DIED FOR FREEDOM BE REMEMBERED.
Rating: 
Summary: PROBABLY THE BEST VIETNAM MOVIE EVER MADE
Review: I ASKED MY FRIEND, A MARINE VIETNAM VET WHO SERVED TWO TOURS IN NAM WHAT HE THOUGHT OF THIS MOVIE SEVERAL YEARS AGO. HE SAID TO HIM, THE COMBAT SCENE WERE THE MOST REALISTIC THEN ANY OTHER VIETNAM MOVIE EVER MADE. THIS MOVIE BASICALLY SHOWS THE UTTER BRUTALITY AND PAIN OF VIETNAM. I READ SOME OF THE REVIEWS, WHICH STUNNED ME BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT THIS NEVER HAPPENED OR WAS MADE UP. IT IS A TRUE STORY OF ONE OF THE MANY BATTLES THAT HAPPENED IN VIETNAM. THE SAD PART IS THEY SPENT A WEEK AND SUFFERRED NUMEROUS CASULTIES TRYING TO TAKE THE HILL, THEN IT WAS QUICKLY ABANDONED. THIS IS A SAD BUT, TRUE STORY.
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Summary: Reality
Review: Seems like a lot of reviewers never served in Viet Nam. Hard to say the things I've read after watching the movie if you'd been there. Reality was like this movie. You don't have to like it but you better realize that it's real. This wasn't a nice sanitary six week war in a nice clean dry desert.
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Summary: Great Story
Review: This story revolves around a squad of Americans fighting against the N.V.A. on a hill for ten days. There is no dramatic twist or subplot. This is simply a story of men at war, and that is what makes it the best of the Vietnam War movies.
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Summary: One of the best
Review: This movie is a highly accurate portrayal of life in Nam with the 101st. Good stuff. Some may criticize the lack of plot, but the battle for Hamburger Hill to the grunt didn't have one. It was just a struggle up a muddy, bloody hill that meant nothing.
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Summary: Best War Movie ever made
Review: This is the best all out war movie ever produced. It has little of the silly manufactured, contrived Hollywood bologna. There is no love story, no big morallesson, no phoney conflict amoung the men (like in Platoon), no hugs, and glorification of the enemy, as in many forgetable Hollywood schlock .
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