Platoon (1986)
93%RT Audience Score: 93%
Awards & Nominations: Won 4 Oscars
24 wins & 15 nominations total
Informed by director Oliver Stone’s personal experiences in Vietnam, Platoon forgoes easy sermonizing in favor of a harrowing, ground-level view of war, bolstered by no-holds-barred performances from Charlie Sheen and Willem Dafoe.
Platoon is like a punch in the gut, but in a good way. It’s not your typical war movie with heroic soldiers and epic battles. Instead, it’s a raw and honest portrayal of the Vietnam War that will leave you feeling shaken. Oliver Stone doesn’t hold back in showing the brutality and senselessness of war, and the performances from the cast are top-notch. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s an important one. Just make sure you have some tissues nearby.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Orion Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Philippines
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1987
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Stereo
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 0m
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Language(s):English, Vietnamese
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Country of origin:United States, United Kingdom
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 19, 1986 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 15, 2000
Genre(s)
War/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, John C McGinley, directed by Oliver Stone, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Arnold Kopelson, war, drama, box office success, budget, reviewed by Michael Blowen, Kathleen Carroll, Jay Boyar, Dave Kehr, Carrie Rickey, Sheila Benson, Stephen Silver, Kyle Smith, Mark Jackson, Mike Massie, MPAA rating R, Vietnam War, infantry, combat, Staff Sergeant Barnes, Sergeant Elias, Pvt Chris Taylor, Big Harold, Rhah, Sgt Red O’Neill, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Orion Pictures, Surround Sound Mix
Worldwide gross: $138,545,632
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $369,810,832
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 411
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 40,328,335
US/Canada gross: $138,530,565
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $369,770,615
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 136
US/Canada opening weekend: $241,080
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $643,499
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,345
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $6,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $16,015,409
Production budget ranking: 1,484
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $8,624,298
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $345,171,125
ROI to date (est.): 1,401%
ROI ranking: 77
Willem Dafoe – Sgt. Elias Grodin
Charlie Sheen – Pvt. Chris Taylor
Forest Whitaker – Big Harold
Francesco Quinn – Rhah
John C. McGinley – Sgt. Red O’Neill
Director(s)
Oliver Stone
Writer(s)
Oliver Stone
Producer(s)
Arnold Kopelson
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 4 Oscars
24 wins & 15 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Directing Winners, Oscar Best Achievement in Editing Winners, Oscar Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Winners, Oscar Best Picture Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (70) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (61) | Rotten (9)
Although Platoon is not the easiest film to watch, it is one of the best at reminding us that the cinema is not always interested in evading or distorting history. Sometimes it tells the truth.
April 26, 2018
Michael Blowen
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
This film is an act of courage. Stone, the gutsy writer-director, records in a devastating barrage of images the relentless horror and the senseless carnage experienced by far too many Americans in Vietnam.
February 22, 2015 | Rating: 3.5/4
Kathleen Carroll
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
Stone’s strongest suit, however, isn’t so much realism as it is his way of blending immediacy and insight.
February 22, 2015
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
There are images in Platoon so powerful that they seem, rather than simply imprinted on celluloid, to have been burned into memory.
February 24, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4
Dave Kehr
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Precisely because Stone forces you to experience a grunt’s tunnel vision and rage, Platoon is a film of inspiring empathy and awesome force. Curiously, that same tunnelvision in the end compromises Platoon.
February 24, 2014 | Rating: 3/4
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
This is movie-making with a zealot’s fervor.
February 19, 2013 | Rating: 4.5/5
Sheila Benson
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
A brilliant, bleak Vietnam War film (35th anniversary)
December 31, 2021 | Rating: 5/5
Stephen Silver
Tilt Magazine
Everything Platoon has to say is right there on the surface, like a tattoo: “War is hell.” There are no layers to suss out. There is nothing to ponder.
March 8, 2021
Kyle Smith
National Review
Oliver Stone’s recreation of the infantry foot-soldier’s Vietnam War is an accurate depiction of how little-or-no-choice-having, U.S. drafted soldiers comport themselves, as opposed to true-calling warriors like the elite Navy SEALS in “Lone Survivor.’
January 3, 2021 | Rating: 4.5/5
Mark Jackson
Epoch Times
It’s extremely violent and brutal, yet tragically realistic.
September 6, 2020 | Rating: 10/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
Platoon (1986) is a harrowing, visceral, ultra-realistic, gutsy, visually-shattering Vietnam-war film, based on the writer/director’s own first-hand knowledge as a Vietnam combat-infantry soldier. The insightful Best Picture-winning war film
September 29, 2019 | Rating: A+
Tim Dirks
Filmsite
Oliver Stone based his movie on his own experiences and attempted to make a more “realistic” Vietnam movie, simpler and more grounded than things like Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter… and he succeeds, truly making this war look like hell.
November 7, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/4
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid…
Plot
Chris Taylor is a young, naive American who gives up college and volunteers for combat in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers that his presence is quite nonessential, and is considered insignificant to the other soldiers, as he has not fought for as long as the rest of them and felt the effects of combat. Chris has two non-commissioned officers, the ill-tempered and indestructible Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes and the more pleasant and cooperative Sergeant Elias Grodin. A line is drawn between the two NCOs and a number of men in the platoon when an illegal killing occurs during a village raid. As the war continues, Chris himself draws towards psychological meltdown. And as he struggles for survival, he soon realizes he is fighting two battles, the conflict with the enemy and the conflict between the men within his platoon.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Willem Dafoe’s performance in Platoon is considered one of the standout performances in the film.
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