Vietnam War - Hamburger Hill (1987)

This 1987 American War film written by James Carabatsos and directed by John Irvin was very successful making over $13.8 million at the box office. The reason I chose this film is because of the success it had during the late 1980s.
Critics such as Hal Hinson of the Washington Post called the film "deeply affecting, highly accomplished film". As well as this, Hamburger Hill is one of the few films that has been rated 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Due to the success of the film, Hamburger Hill was made into a novel written by William Pelfrey showing the popularity of the story of brave men fighting for their country.

The history of the battle of Hamburger Hill shows that the battle was an significant part of the history of the Vietnam War. The battle was fought between the United States and South Vietnam against the North Vietnamese in 1969. Due to the nature of the command to capture the hill and then to abandon the mission it left a lasting impression on America. The battle resulted in 72 US soldiers being kileld and 372 wounded.

This is important for the significant of the film because it takes a significant element of the Vietnam War that directly outraged America and uses this to represent the Vietnam War showing, as the tagline of the film states, "War at its worst, Men at their best".The film manages to represent the Vietnamese as strong competitors which adds to the praise and attitude toward the men that fought during the battle.

 references:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hamburger_hill/
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/vietnamwar/p/hamburgerhill.htm
http://www.historynet.com/battle-for-hamburger-hill-during-the-vietnam-war.htm