Best Vietnam War Movies
AMC Movie List

Best Vietnam War Movies

No American conflict has been as big a gold mine for movies as Vietnam. But which is the greatest?

rank title points votes your vote
1 Platoon
Oliver Stone's first Vietnam movie is as gritty, realistic, and horrifying as you'd expect and features one of Charlie Sheen's greatest roles. 1903 4047
2 Full Metal Jacket
Essentially two distinct movies. The portions at boot camp are as tragic as the later tense combat showdowns. 1893 4059
3 Apocalypse Now
Martin Sheen's trip downriver is as trippy a descent into hell as you'll find, perfectly marrying the horror of war with Heart of Darkness. 1622 4198
4 The Deer Hunter
Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Cazale are brilliant as working-class buddies preparing go to war, with all its horrors. 1015 2891
5 Hamburger Hill
A terrific ensemble cast of soldiers trys to take a hill and suffers casualties, only to find out their efforts were pointless. 894 2548
6 Good Morning, Vietnam
Robin Williams's comic talents and dramatic chops are on display as an armed-forces radio D.J. who undergoes a moral awakening. 289 2489
7 The Boys in Company C
Among the first Vietnam War movies, this undersung flick, like Full Metal Jacket, is divided between basic training and combat. 5 1875
8 Casualties of War
Brian De Palma lets one episode stand as an object lesson in wartime morality: the kidnapping of a Vietnamese girl as a sex slave for GIs. -278 1980
9 Born on the Fourth of July
In one of Tom Cruise's best performances, he becomes Ron Kovic, the gung ho soldier turned antiwar activist. -287 2297
10 Rescue Dawn
Rescue Dawn is the rare uplifting Vietnam movie, as Christian Bale keeps hope alive as a tortured POW. -294 1846