A group of working-class friends decide to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos -- not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven married his pregnant girlfriend -- and Michael and Nick were in love with the same woman. But all three are different men upon their return.
In trying to measure the devastating impact of Vietnam on the lives of three American soldiers, Cimino brings home the true horror of that senseless conflict in a way that the 6 O'Clock News never could.
– Kathleen Carroll,
New York Daily News,
18 Feb 2015
fresh:
Is it as good as its advance word and nine Academy Award nominations suggest? Yes.
– Gene Siskel,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Feb 2013
fresh:
The film is ambitious and it succeeds on a number of levels and it proves that Cimino is an important director who deserves to be watched carefully.
– Charles Schreger,
Variety,
20 Feb 2008
rotten:
A disgusting account of what the evil Vietnamese did to poor, innocent Americans stands at the center of this Oscar-laden weepie about macho buddies from a small industrial town.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
13 Dec 2006
fresh:
It is a heartbreakingly effective fictional machine that evokes the agony of the Vietnam time.