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We Were Soldiers (Widescreen Edition)
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Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
DVD
April 25, 2017 "Please retry" | Standard | 1 |
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| $3.98 | $1.50 |
DVD
August 20, 2002 "Please retry" | Standard Edition | 1 |
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| $9.00 | $1.75 |
DVD
November 5, 2007 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
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| $10.18 | $3.75 |
Watch Instantly with | Rent | Buy |
We Were Soldiers | — | — |
Purchase options and add-ons
Format | Multiple Formats, THX, Color, Closed-captioned, NTSC, Widescreen |
Contributor | Chris Klein, Duong Don, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Mel Gibson, Randall Wallace, Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway, Josh Daugherty, Keri Russell, Robert Bagnell, Sam Elliott, Barry Pepper, Ryan Hurst, Marc Blucas See more |
Language | English |
Runtime | 2 hours and 18 minutes |
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Product Description
Mel Gibson and Randall Wallace, the star and writer of Braveheart, reunite for this action-packed war movie that features explosive battle sequences, thrilling aerial photography and unforgettable military heroes who fought for their country, their loved ones and their freedom. The year is 1965 and America is at War with North Vietnam. Commanding the air cavalry is Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Gibson), a born leader committed to his troops. His target: the La Drang Valley, called “The Valley of Death.” As Moore prepares for one of the most violent battles in U.S. history, he delivers a stirring promise to his soldiers and their families: “I will leave no man behind…dead or alive. We will all come home together.” This heroic true story of commitment, courage and sacrifice also stars Madeline Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Chris Klein, Keri Russell and Barry Pepper.
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.85:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
- Package Dimensions : 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 4 ounces
- Director : Randall Wallace
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, THX, Color, Closed-captioned, NTSC, Widescreen
- Run time : 2 hours and 18 minutes
- Release date : August 20, 2002
- Actors : Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Chris Klein
- Subtitles: : English
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), Unqualified, French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
- Studio : Paramount
- ASIN : B000068TPN
- Writers : Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway, Randall Wallace
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #53,394 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #768 in Military & War (Movies & TV)
- #5,273 in Action & Adventure DVDs
- #8,961 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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So to me, and the millions of others in their 30's and 40's, Vietnam is both past and present. To understand today's political climate and ideological animus which drives it, Vietnam must be understood. But before that, the experience of the men who fought and died 12,000 miles away in places most had never heard of, must be grasped. And, as other reviewers here have noted, most "Vietnam" movies tend to concentrate on politics, propaganda or the just plain weird (to this day I'm still not sure what, despite its cinematic phantasmagoria, exactly Francis Ford Coppola was trying to say with "Apocalypse Now").
"We Were Soldiers" eschews all three. The prism through which Randall Wallace presents his film is the experience of Lt. Gen. Hal Moore (Ret.), Joe Galloway's and the officers and men of the 7th Air Cavalry. Geopolitics and the macroview are irrelevant here. As Hal Moore puts it, this is the story of survival, and brotherhood, under the most horrendous things man can do to man.
As Barry Pepper's Joe Galloway, reporter UPI and co-author of the book upon which the movie is based, tells us, in a voice over at the end of the movie, "[The veterans of Vietnam] went to war because their government ordered them to... But[in the end] they fought for each other." And that, more than anything else, is what this movie captures more poignantly and realistically than any other "Vietnam" ever has or is ever likely to.
The camraderie of the battlefield is something only those who have survived it can truly understand. Randal Wallace, the masterful, intensely human Mel Gibson (the irrational, ridiculously petty hatred of him that is expressed by some reviewers mars what are otherwise some good reviews) and the superb cast bring the brutal reality, fear, the blood, death, tragedy, dirt, and the sheer horror as close to the reality as a movie is ever likely to. Just as "Saving Private Ryan" stripped World War II of the rose colored prism of Audie Murphy heroics (one is tempted to say "melodramatics") to reveal what was ultimately an ugly, horrible conflict, "We Were Soldiers" does something like the opposite. The Vietnam soldier is FINALLY presented as neither war criminal ("Babykillers!") or only as a pawn of myopic, idiot politicians, obsessed with the quotidian (though he certainly was that) "kill-ratios."
Everytime I watch this movie I find myself feeling deeply moved, the emotions nearly as strong as when I saw the Wall in DC in high school. As I watched it with my father, who was too old for Vietnam, we both found ourselves in tears. With stark simplicity this film brings the reality home of what it the was ultimately was about: the men who fought and died in it. The men who were seared together in a bond of brotherhood that transcended the political, racial and religious divisions that were (and still are) rending our national fabric. To the soldiers, as Galloway's narration tells us, what they became together was more important than anything else.
If "We Were Soldiers" leaves you with nothing else, it should be the penultimate image of the airport, where one 7th Cav vet pushes another, wheelchair bound, through the airport--with no marching bands, no crowds of of eager families, no TV news cameras to "hail the conquering heroes." The Vietnam veteran came home very much as he'd left it: quiet and unnoticed. Though occasionally denounced & insulted, he was far often simply forgotten; he was an unwanted & visible reminder of the tremendous upheaval our society had endured. The country wanted to forgot that and the easiest way was to forget him.
"We who have seen war will never stop seeing war," Galloway tell us, and no movie can be anything but a pale echo of that reality. But what a deeply moving pathos Wallace and Gibson bring to it!
There is an intangible quality this movie captures what few war movies, and no Vietnam movie, have ever brought tbeen able to do. If Hal Moore himself, in one of the documentaries on the DVD, can say, "[This is] the first movie that gets it right," what more needs to be said?
Watch the movie with awe and gratitude for it gives to the men who fought in the Ia Drang in 14-16 NOV, 1965, what Lincoln did for the men who had fought 102 years earlier at Gettysburg: a monument so that we can "never forget what they [gave]...the last full measure of devotion."
Wallace and Gibson give us a tribute to those brave young men (four of whom won the Congressional Medal of Honor during the battle) that "neither adds nor detracts" but presents it as closely as any work of art ever can.
I can never know what it was like to fight and die in that place. I can never know, equally, what it was like to wait, anxious and benumbed, as the wives and families of the men of the 7th Air Cav. To repeat, nothing can ever give these experiences of those men and women to those who didn't live through, but this movie finally allows me to understand, on some small level, what is was like to be "soldiers [then] and young."
I knew that Mel Gibson was at Fort Benning, Georgia (GA) preparing to make the film. I also knew that they moved the film crew out to Fort Hunter-Liggett in California for the actual battle scenes. I was aware that the producer, director, screenplay writer and company involved with making the movie had also done "Braveheart" which won five Academy Awards a few years ago. I felt they would stick to reality rather than sugar coating the true story. While some things were changed to make the movie from the book most of it was as real as possible.
The movie began by showing French soldiers being massacred in June 1954 in the IaDrang Valley by the North Vietnamese. This valley became known as the Valley of Death and was often compared to GEN Custer's battle at the Little Big Horn. This was the first intense battle scene of the film but it was far from being the last.
Although this film was about the IaDrang Valley battle of November 1965 it also showed the public much more. It gave you the opportunity to meet certain characters up close and personal. It shows the wives, families, how they were affected and how these women helped each other during this time in history as well as their spouses and children.
On Sunday 14 November 1965 the 1/7, made up of about 400 US soldiers, arrived at Landing Zone (LZ) Xray and soon found themselves up against more than 2000 North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers. For the next three days the soldiers battled the enemy. Precise times and locations were scrolled across the bottom of the screen. This entire part of the film is very intense. There were firefights, hand-to-hand combat, and bombing missions, which were so close to our own men that there were friendly fire casualties.
As darkness engulfed the battalion things got worse. LTC Moore walked among his soldiers reassuring them and telling them they did well to that point and to continue. Casualties were mounting. Moore was seen several times praying over the dead and wounded members of his battalion. This showed his compassion even more for his men.
As word was spreading back home of casualties the wives soon found out that the Army was not prepared for this. Taxicab drivers were delivering those dreaded telegrams. For whatever reason it showed that there were no chaplains or counselors there to handle this process. I don't recall that ever really happening so I'm hoping that was just a little bit of the Hollywood effect put on the film. Whatever the case was, in this movie Julie Moore took it upon herself to deliver all the messages to the spouses of her husband's soldiers.
Meanwhile Joe Galloway knew that there was heavy fighting going on and he jumped onboard a chopper to go see for himself. Armed only with several cameras he goes into the heat of the battle. When asked why he was there Galloway said to help the people home understand the war by shooting pictures not a rifle. More air strikes are called in and one of the men Joe came to know briefly was badly burned. He carried him to a waiting chopper. This was a rather gruesome scene.
The second and third days of battle weren't any better. The NVA kept bringing in fresh troops as our soldiers were trying to continue the battle themselves. LTC Moore asked for a head count of his men and when he found two were missing he went out himself looking for them.
As Joe Galloway continued shooting pictures Moore said "I'll never forgive myself that my men died and I didn't." Joe commented, "I don't know how to tell this story." And Moore's response was "You got to Joe. Tell them how my troopers died.
"LTC Moore refused to leave the IaDrang till all his men living or dead were taken off the field of battle. He kept his promise although 234 of his troopers died. LTC Moore wrote personal letters to each deceased soldier's family. His compassion continued throughout the next 235 days his battalion was in Vietnam and to this day.
Before the credits rolled there was a brief narration about how our soldiers returned home with no bands, flags, or welcomes. The soldiers knew they fought for each other. The final scene was one of two soldiers, one in a wheelchair, going down what appeared to be an airport hallway. A woman with her children approached them and she pulled the children away from the soldiers as if they were diseased or something.
The names of the fallen soldiers of the 1/7 are listed on Panel 3 East of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Moore and Galloway told their story well. Randall Wallace and Mel Gibson portrayed it excellently.
Though graphic in nature this is a MUST SEE movie. Be prepared for a roller coaster of emotions. I believe the film has shown what the IaDrang Valley battle was really like. Those people who may be squeamish about blood, burns, broken burns, etc might want to stay home. BUT if you are a true fan and prefer seeing war movies-this is the one to go to! You not only see the battle scenes but also learn some of the relationship between the men, their wives, and families.
Top reviews from other countries
Esta Edición en Blu-ray contiene el Audio en Español Latino Original que es una gran noticia después de escuchar los terribles nuevos doblados que están sacando en algunas ediciones nuevas como en el caso de Corazón Valiente o algunas de Disney. También incluye subtitulos en Español para quien guste de oirla en su idioma original.
Algo también a considerar, es que se encuentra con bastante frecuencia disponible para envío rápido, yo la compré una mañana y ya por la tarde estaba disfrutándola cómodamente en mi sala.
El envío llego sin problemas y en perfecto estado, eso sí, mi eterna queja es y siempre serán las nuevas cajas de reciclaje con la que estan llegando ahora las películas, y esta no fue la excepción.