Synopsis: Platoon
- Chris Taylor, played by Charlie Sheen, leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Once he’s on the ground in the middle of battle, his idealism fades. Infighting in his unit between Staff Sergeant Barnes, played by Tom Berenger, who believes nearby villagers are harboring Viet Cong soldiers, and Sergeant Elias, played by Willem Dafoe, who has a more sympathetic view of the locals, ends up pitting the soldiers against each other as well as against the enemy.
Actors & Crew
- Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen is an American actor who became one of the defining leading men of the 1980s and beyond. The son of actor Martin Sheen, Charlie followed in his father’s footsteps — even adopting the “Sheen” surname professionally. He broke out in a string of iconic 80s films including Red Dawn, Platoon, Wall Street, Young Guns, and Major League, cementing himself as a Hollywood bad boy with serious box office power. In the 2000s, he became a television juggernaut, first on Spin City — earning a Golden Globe — and then on Two and a Half Men, where he became the highest-paid actor on TV at the time. Of course, his career has been as dramatic off-screen as on — from very public personal struggles and his 2011 exit from Two and a Half Men, to his 2015 announcement that he is HIV positive, which sparked national awareness and testing efforts sometimes called the “Charlie Sheen effect.” From Oscar-winning war dramas to slapstick parody comedies, Charlie Sheen’s career is peak 80s swagger — complicated, chaotic, and undeniably memorable.
- William James “Willem“ Dafoe Willem Dafoe is a highly respected American actor known for his versatility and distinctive screen presence. Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, he has built a prolific career spanning both mainstream and independent cinema. He received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Platoon, where he portrayed Sergeant Elias; Shadow of the Vampire; The Florida Project; and At Eternity’s Gate, in which he played Vincent van Gogh. Over the decades, he has appeared in a wide range of films including To Live and Die in L.A., Born on the Fourth of July, The English Patient, American Psycho, John Wick, and most recently Nosferatu. In addition to his live-action work, Dafoe has lent his voice to animated films such as Finding Nemo, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Boy and the Heron. With a career defined by range, intensity, and artistic depth, Willem Dafoe remains one of the most respected actors of his generation.
- Thomas Michael Moore (born May 31, 1949), known professionally as Tom Berenger is an American actor best known for his work in film and television throughout the 1980s and beyond. He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes in Platoon (1986). He is also widely recognized for playing Jake Taylor in the Major League films and Thomas Beckett in the long-running Sniper film series. In television, Berenger received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his role as Jim Vance in the 2012 miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. With a career spanning decades, Berenger has built a reputation for portraying strong, complex characters across both film and television.
- Forest Whitaker is an Academy Award–winning American actor known for his powerful, deeply nuanced performances. He first gained widespread attention for his role in Platoon and went on to build an acclaimed career across film and television. Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. His other notable films include Good Morning, Vietnam, The Crying Game, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The Butler, and Black Panther. Known for his quiet intensity and emotional depth, Forest Whitaker remains one of the most respected and versatile actors of his generation.
- John C. McGinley is an American actor best known for his sharp, fast-talking performances in both film and television. He gained early recognition for his role as Sergeant Red O’Neill in Platoon, beginning a long collaboration with director Oliver Stone that included films like Wall Street and Born on the Fourth of July. He later became widely known to television audiences for his portrayal of Dr. Perry Cox on the hit series Scrubs, a role that showcased his signature rapid-fire delivery and comedic intensity. With a career spanning decades across drama and comedy, McGinley has built a reputation as a dynamic character actor with a commanding on-screen presence.
- John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor, musician, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and two British Academy Film Awards. His films, in which he has often played eccentric characters, have grossed over $10.8 billion worldwide. This is one of his first roles before becoming an idolized sensation. Depp appeared in Platoon in a minor role as a Vietnamese-speaking private.
- Written by William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) Oliver Stone is an American filmmaker known for his bold, often controversial explorations of war, politics, and American power. Over the course of his career, he has earned three Academy Awards, along with numerous Golden Globes, a BAFTA, and a Primetime Emmy. Stone first gained recognition as a screenwriter, winning an Academy Award for Midnight Express in 1978, and later writing Conan the Barbarian and Scarface. He rose to prominence as both writer and director with the Vietnam War dramas Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, winning the Academy Award for Best Director for both films. Platoon also earned the Oscar for Best Picture. His other notable directing credits include Wall Street, The Doors, JFK, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, Any Given Sunday, W., and Snowden. Collectively, his films have grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide. With a career defined by politically charged storytelling and an unflinching look at American history, Oliver Stone remains one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation.
Budget/Release/Shooting Location
- Released: December 19, 1986
- Rated: R
- Budget: $6mil
- Box Office: $137.9mil
Shooting Locations:
- Exterior shooting began on the island of Luzon in the Philippines in February 1986.
- The production made a deal with the Philippine military for the use of military equipment.
- Scenes were shot in Mount Makiling, Laguna (for the forest scenes), Cavite (for the river and village scenes), and Villamor Air Base near Manila.
Awards
- Won 4 Academy Awards from 8 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Film Editing, and Sound. It also won Best Motion Picture – Drama at the Golden Globes and was recognized for Best Director and Editing at the BAFTAs
Roger Ebert gave it four out of four stars, calling it the best film of the year, and the ninth best of the 1980s.
Gene Siskel also awarded the film four out of four stars.
In his New York Times review, Vincent Canby described Platoon as “possibly the best work of any kind about the Vietnam War since Michael Herr‘s vigorous and hallucinatory book Dispatches.
However, black journalist Wallace Terry, who spent a two-year tour in Vietnam, and wrote the 1967 Time cover story titled The Negro in Vietnam, criticized the film for its depiction of African-American soldiers in Vietnam. In an interview with Maria Wilhelm of People, he called the film’s depiction of black troops “a slap in the face”. In the interview, Terry noted that there were no black actors playing officers, and the three notable black soldiers in the film were all portrayed as cowards. He further went on to criticise the film for perpetuating black stereotypes, stating the film “barely rises above the age-old Hollywood stereotypes of blacks as celluloid savages and coons who do silly things”.
Some Vietnam War veterans criticized the film for showing the killing of civilians, drug use among soldiers, and its portrayal of officers as ineffective as adhering to stereotypical views of soldiers. Others praised Stone for a realistic depiction of the war.
Platoon is considered by many critics to be one of the greatest films ever made, particularly within the war genre. In 1998, the American Film Institute placed Platoon at #83 in their “AFI’s 100 Years … 100 Movies” poll. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”
Where to watch: Tubi, Pluto, The Roku Channel (Free), Prime, Youtube, Apple TV, Google Play (for a fee)
