Hearts and Minds (1975)
92%RT Audience Score: 90%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
5 wins & 1 nomination total
A powerful, unflinching exploration of the Vietnam War, with first-person stories from both sides of the conflict, Hearts and Minds still hits the mark decades after its release.
Hearts and Minds is a documentary that packs a punch, and not just because it’s about the Vietnam War. Critics have called it heavy-handed, lacking in mind, and seething with hate, but let’s be real, it’s a movie about war. What did they expect, a musical number? Despite the mixed reviews, Hearts and Minds remains a powerful and eye-opening piece that challenges our understanding of patriotism and the necessity of war. Plus, it’s got violence and racial slurs, so you know it’s gonna be a wild ride. If you’re looking for a thought-provoking documentary that will leave you feeling a little bit angry and a little bit sad, Hearts and Minds is the one for you.
Production Company(ies)
Excelsa Film
Distributor
Rialto Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Linden, New Jersey, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1975
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 52m
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Language(s):English, French, Vietnamese
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Nov 17, 1975 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 2, 2002
Genre(s)
Documentary/War
Keyword(s)
hearts and minds, documentary, war, powerful, anti-war, Vietnam War, Lyndon B Johnson, military, violence, brutality, first-person stories, conflict, critic reviews, Peter Davis, Bert Schneider, Rialto Pictures, Tin Chan, Chau Diem, Kay Dvorshock, David Emerson, Mui Duc Giang, Charles Hoey, reviewed by Matthew Leyland, Stefan Kanfer, Mike D’Angelo, Scott Tobias, Jeremiah Kipp, Jim Ridley, Jordan M Smith, John Simon, Robert Hatch, directed by Peter Davis, produced by Peter Davis, Bert Schneider, written by Peter Davis, genre: documentary, box office performance: $28.3K, budget, MPAA rating: R, producer names: Peter Davis, Bert Schneider, actor names: Tin Chan, Chau Diem, Kay Dvorshock, David Emerson, Mui Duc Giang, Charles Hoey
Worldwide gross: $28,754
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $173,016
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,954
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 18,868
US/Canada gross: $28,754
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $173,016
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,570
US/Canada opening weekend: $8,556
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $51,482
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,198
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Chau Diem – self
Kay Dvorshock – self
David Emerson – self
Mui Duc Giang – self
Charles Hoey – self
Peter Davis – director/producer
Bert Schneider – producer
Director(s)
Peter Davis
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Peter Davis, Bert Schneider
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
5 wins & 1 nomination total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Documentary Feature Winners, Oscar Winners
All Critics (41) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (4)
Though you could accuse the film of being heavy-handed… it’s impossible not to feel its punch to the gut.
June 11, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Matthew Leyland
BBC.com
TOP CRITIC
Throughout, Hearts and Minds displays more than enough heart. It is mind that is missing.
February 8, 2018
Stefan Kanfer
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
A cry of despair made by a person whose viewpoint hadn’t yet been soundly vindicated.
July 2, 2014 | Rating: B+
Mike D’Angelo
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
It’s a cinematic essay of constant movement and provocation, a record of one man finding his way through the fog of war.
June 23, 2014 | Rating: 5/5
Scott Tobias
The Dissolve
TOP CRITIC
Hearts and Minds is an essay told in a voice of thinly controlled moral outrage, which sometimes dribbles over into seething hate.
March 19, 2009 | Rating: 3.5/4
Jeremiah Kipp
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Not only the definitive American documentary about the war in Vietnam but a landmark political action.
March 17, 2009
Jim Ridley
Village Voice
TOP CRITIC
Hearts and Minds remains a brutal, eye opening piece that mixes 60s style direct cinema with honest and balanced interviews columnating in a work of activist non-fiction that falls unapologetically in the anti-war camp.
November 4, 2020
Jordan M. Smith
IONCINEMA.com
The faces, intonations, backgrounds of Hearts and Minds — even its small gestures and sometimes very long pauses — speak as eloquently as its words.
February 10, 2019
John Simon
Esquire Magazine
It operates to arouse hatred against hatred, to induce a gut reaction against gut reactions, and by so doing serves to sustain a morbid emotionalism of the very sort it claims to abominate.
February 6, 2018
Robert Hatch
The Nation
has not lost its power to provoke and challenge our conventional understanding of patriotism and the necessity of war
July 29, 2014 | Rating: 4/4
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk
Provocative Vietnam War docu with violence, racial slurs.
August 24, 2012 | Rating: 5/5
Brian Costello
Common Sense Media
Peter Davis’ Oscar-winning feature is a must-see documentary about Vietnam.
April 22, 2012 | Rating: A-
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com…
Plot
Hearts and Minds is an anti-war documentary that explores the Vietnam War through interviews with military figures and shocking scenes of violence and brutality.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Sorry, there is no information about the cast in this section.
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