The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1988) on Netflix
Sergeant Major Bill Hafner and Corporal Joseph L. Di Nardo lead a Marine recon patrol to Firebase Gloria as the Tet Offensive opens. Hafner takes command of the poorly defended base.
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- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.8/103,847 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
When the Tet Offensive begins, a Marine long range reconnaissance patrol led by Sergeant Major Bill Hafner and Corporal Joseph L. Di Nardo reaches a village whose people have been executed for fraternizing with American troops. Di Nardo finds the only survivor, a young Vietnamese child. The patrol, which includes the college kid Murphy and a radioman with seventeen days left on his enlistment, discovers a Viet Cong tunnel complex holding an American prisoner. At Firebase Gloria, Hafner finds the commanding officer, Captain Williams, unfit for duty and takes control of the base. He recruits a passing photographer and asks the nursing staff to leave, but Captain Flanagan stays with her patients. Hafner and Di Nardo secure the base and ready the men for a major Viet Cong offensive.
Cast
- Margaret Gerardas Capt. Kathy Flanagan, MD
- Michael Cruzas Vietnamese Child
- Erich Hauseras Patrol Member
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1988)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Siege of Firebase Gloria was shot in the Philippines on land contested by the New People's Army, whose members were hired as security guards and extras. Director Brian Trenchard-Smith recalled the government-owned helicopters due for battle scenes arrived half a day late because their crews had been strafing NPA positions 100 miles north.
- Director Brian Trenchard-Smith planned to book-end the film with a scene set years after the Tet Offensive in which R. Lee Ermey's Sergeant Major Hafner shakes a Viet Cong soldier's hand and says "Chào mừng" ("Welcome"). American sales executives had the scenes cut before sound mixing, one of them saying the bookends placed "too much emphasis on the gooks".
- R. Lee Ermey, drawing on his two tours of duty in the Vietnam War, co-scripted extra scenes for the film with director Brian Trenchard-Smith, while Wings Hauser wrote his own dialogue for his character's confessional scene near the climax.
