The 35 Best Vietnam War Movies Ever Made

The effects of the war loom large over this small-town drama from director Norman Jewison. While living with her traumatized uncle (Bruce Willis), a teenage girl (Emily Lloyd) learns about her father, who died in Vietnam. The film underperformed at the box office.

“Apocalypse Now” director Francis Ford Coppola revisited the Vietnam War from a more subdued perspective in this since-forgotten drama. James Caan plays frustrated veteran Sgt. Clell Hazard, who tries to prepare a young soldier (D.B. Sweeney) for the horrors and realities of combat.

A rare box office misfire for Kevin Costner at the height of his career, this coming-of-age drama stars the actor as Vietnam War veteran Stephen Simmons. Still haunted by his experiences, Simmons oversees a different kind of battle as his children square off against others over a treehouse.

Set after the war, this historical drama follows Vietnamese refugees to California’s Camp Pendleton for orientation. Various stories unfold against this desperate backdrop, as characters young and old undergo dramatic life changes.

Director Ted Kotcheff followed 1982’s “First Blood” – the initial “Rambo” movie, starring Sylvester Stallone as a troubled Vietnam vet – with another action-packed movie about a soldier who served in Vietnam. Convinced that his son is still being held as a POW, a retired U.S. Marine (Gene Hackman) enacts a dangerous rescue mission into the jungle of Laos.

After a traumatic tour of duty, a Black Vietnam veteran (Lorenz Tate) returns to the Bronx in this harrowing crime drama. He soon faces the harsh reality of American oppression and takes desperate measures as a result. Directors Albert and Allen Hughes create a link between two worlds to depict separate but equally tragic nightmares.

This period dramedy, which takes place in 1971, follows five college friends on a final road trip across the Mexican border. It gradually adopts a serious tone as each respective character contemplates his uncertain future, with the Vietnam War looming over the narrative.

Lt. Col. Hambleton (Gene Hackman) is trapped behind enemy lines and only one man (Danny Glover) can save him in this Vietnam War survival film. It’s based on a book by retired Air Force Colonel William Anderson, which tells the true story of a harrowing rescue mission.

Director and star Emilio Estevez plays Vietnam War veteran Jeremy Collier in this somber adaptation of a 1984 play. Upon his return home, Collier grapples with his violent past while exhibiting worrisome behavior. Kathy Bates and Martin Sheen co-star.

Director Spike Lee squeezes numerous ideas into this recent war drama, which sends four aging Black Vietnam vets back to Vietnam on the hunt for missing gold and the remains of their slain squad leader. It features a career-best performance from Delroy Lindo, whose character loses his grip on reality as the action unfolds.

The same year he released the proto-slasher “Black Christmas,” director Bob Clark delivered this horror gem with socio-political themes. Brought back from the dead, a Vietnam soldier returns home and goes searching for blood. “Bob Clark’s quiet masterpiece is still one of the most inspired anti-war genre pics out there,” wrote critic Brian Juergens for Bloody Disgusting.

This Aussie war film centers on The Battle of Long Tan, during which an infantry company of 108 men confronted thousands of enemy soldiers. It plays loose with the facts and doesn’t examine broader contextualism as much as it focuses on an explosive fight for survival.

This gritty drama follows rebellious draftee Roland Bozz (Colin Farrell) through Advanced Infantry Training at Louisiana’s Fort Polk aka Tiger Land. It opened to largely positive reviews but completely tanked at the worldwide box office, earning less than $150,000.

This violent war film dramatizes the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang, America’s first major engagement against the North Vietnamese army. It tackles the subject of sacrifice and bravery, exhibited by the soldiers who fight but also by their family members back home.

This multifaceted thriller tells the story of rogue General Lawrence Dell (Burt Lancaster) and touches down on prescient political themes. Upon taking control of a missile silo, Dell threatens to unleash WWIII unless the American government reveals the truth about the Vietnam War.

Director John Milius drew from his own passions and experiences when making this coming-of-age drama about three California surfers. It goes from innocence to experience as the Vietnam War injects harsh realities into an otherwise dreamy lifestyle.

The second film adaptation of Graham Greene’s 1955 novel examines the deadly love triangle between two men (Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser) and a Vietnamese woman. It takes place during the First Indochina War but also foreshadows America’s later involvement in Vietnam.

Director Brian De Palma followed the Oscar-winning crime drama “The Untouchables” with this long-gestating passion project. It adapts a New Yorker article about the incident on Hill 192, in which American soldiers raped and murdered a young Vietnamese woman. An extended version was released on DVD in 2006 with two previously cut scenes.

Terrence Malick (credited as Lingard Jervey) co-created the story for this American drama and also co-produced. Set in 1990, it trails a Vietnamese Amerasian boy to America as he searches for his biological father. Writing for the Detroit Free Press, critic Terry Lawson called it “a poignant and affecting portrait of the war’s lingering consequences.”

Adrian Lyne’s psychological thriller turns the stuff of PTSD into a literal nightmare. Following his return from Vietnam, postal clerk Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) begins to suffer from severe and disturbing hallucinations. The story ties back to an experimental government program and incorporates religious themes.

Vietnam veteran turned director Oliver Stone won an Academy Award for this adaptation of a 1976 autobiography. Tom Cruise plays real-life figure Ron Kovic, a staunch patriot who has a change of heart after experiencing the horrors of combat firsthand. It makes up the second part of Stone’s trilogy on Vietnam, bookended by “Platoon” (1986), the No. 6 film on this list, and “Heaven & Earth” (1993).

This graphic war film chronicles1969’s Battle of Hamburger Hill and unfolds through a series of violent engagements. It simultaneously examines the psychological toll of warfare and the racial friction between soldiers of different backgrounds.

This Werner Herzog drama adapts the director’s own 1997 documentary about POW Dieter Dengler. It stars Christian Bale as the U.S. fighter pilot, who endures mental and physical torture at the hands of the Viet Cong.

Viewers may find themselves pleasantly surprised by this overlooked period drama starring River Phoenix and Lili Taylor. On the night before they head to Vietnam, a group of young soldiers search for “ugly” dates as part of a mean-spirited game. But for one soldier (Phoenix), the game will have life-changing consequences.

Director Angelina Jolie presents the story of human rights activist Loung Ung (played by Sareum Srey Moch) in this tragic thriller. When the U.S. pulls out of Cambodia in 1975, it creates a power vacuum filled by the repressive Khmer Rouge. Under the new regime, Ung is pulled from her middle-class lifestyle and thrown into the heart of a nightmare.

Three years before appearing in Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” Matthew Modine played the title character in this period drama. Mentally scarred by the Vietnam War, Birdy undergoes extreme alienation and delusion upon his return home. It won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.

Hal Ashby’s humane drama won three Academy Awards in the categories of acting and writing. It stars Jane Fonda as a conservative housewife who’s torn between two men of differing opinions on the subject of war. Jon Voight and Bruce Dern co-star.

Actor Robin Williams kicked off a new chapter of his career with this blockbuster war dramedy, based on true events. He plays real-life radio personality Adrian Cronauer, who delivers galvanizing but controversial monologues while on assignment in Vietnam. New York Times critic Vincent Canby called it “one man’s tour de force.”

Before making it big in Hollywood, Chinese director John Woo helmed this Hong Kong action classic with a war-based backdrop. The story takes place in 1967 and follows three gang members to Saigon, where they face a brutal struggle to survive.

Director Oliver Stone drew upon his own experiences in Vietnam when crafting this intense war drama. Charlie Sheen plays fresh recruit Chris Taylor, who finds himself fighting enemies within his own platoon. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

This British historical drama culls from true events and takes place in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge’s genocidal campaign. Two journalists plunge themselves into the heart of a massacre and one is forced to live under the new regime. It won three Academy Awards.

Director Michael Cimino’s masterpiece opens with a portrait of small-town life before sending a group of close friends into combat. The harrowing experiences that follow change each character forever and not everyone makes it out alive. Featuring a top-notch ensemble cast, including Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Christopher Walken, the film won five Academy Awards.

This low-budget concert film stars actor Spalding Gray in an adaptation of his successful one-man play. Employing just a few basic props, Gray shares his experiences making the award-winning war drama “The Killing Fields” (No. 5 on this list).

Kubrick’s seminal war drama strips freshly recruited marines of their humanity before sending them into combat. Former drill instructor turned actor R. Lee Ermey delivers an iconic performance in the movie’s first half, drawing upon previous experience as he whips each character into shape.

Coppola’s hallucinatory adaptation of a Joseph Conrad novella reimagines the source material within a Vietnam War setting. Follow Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen) and a small boat crew as they snake through the Nung River on the trail of a rogue Colonel (Marlon Brando). Multiple versions exist, including a bootleg workprint cut that clocks in at 289 minutes.