A very realistic interpretation of one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.
A brutal and realistic war film focuses on the lives of a squad of 14 U.S. Army soldiers of B Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during the brutal 10 day (May 11-20, 1969) battle for Hill 937 in the A Shau Valley of Vietnam as they try again and again to take the fortified hill held by the North Vietnamese, and the faults and casualties they take every time in which the battle was later dubbed "Hamburger Hill" because enemy fire was so fierce that the fusillade of bullets turned assaulting troops into shredded hamburger meat.—matt-282
May 1969. The 3rd Battalion of the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division have been tasked with taking Hill 937 near the Laos border. The operation is a meat-grinder, as unit after unit is decimated in futile assaults. For this reason the hill is known by troops as Hamburger Hill. We follow a platoon in its efforts to take the hill.—grantss
On 10th May 1969, troops of the 101st Airborne division engaged the enemy at the base of hill 937 in the Ashau Valley. 10 days and 11 bloody assaults later, the surviving troops called it Hamburger Hill.
In 1969, a platoon of the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, receives five new recruits as replacements: Beletsky (Tim Quill) who constantly frets that he won't be able to remember everything he is taught; Languilli (Anthony Barrile), soon called Alphabet and who gets annoyed when people Mis-pronounce his name; Washburn (Don Cheadle), the only African-American of the replacements; Bienstock (Tommy Swerdlow); and Galvan (M.A. Nickles) the quietest but most promising of the new intake. At the same time, platoon Sergeant First Class Worcester (Steven Weber) is breaking in a new commander, Lieutenant Eden (Tegan West).
The five privates are assigned to 3rd Squad, under battle-weary squad leader, Sgt Frantz (Dylan McDermott). The recruits are taken through a crash-course in battlefield skills, everything from oral hygiene to a demonstration from a captured NVA soldier as to how skillfully enemy troops can penetrate perimeter defenses (by having a Viet Cong deserter silently penetrate a barbed wire barrier and aim a rocket launcher at them).
There are many unique things about combat in Vietnam. The soldiers put plastic covers on their rifle Firehole to protect it from water damage, the enemy is well entrenched in tunnels dug under the ground and no amount of aerial bombardment can dislodge it, most of the country is covered by a tropical jungle and there are no roads for easy transportation, soldiers fraternize with the local prostitutes for sex but this is dangerous as prostitutes don't use any protection, infection due to worms and bacteria is rampant and soldiers are specifically given induction training on personal hygiene.Even in the middle of the war, an army General flies in his camper trailer from the US and lugs it all over Vietnam for his personal comfort.
The platoon has a new commander, Lieutenant Eden who is going to need the skills and experience of both Frantz and platoon-Sgt Worcester.The platoon's specialist MG-team is composed of the burly Pvt Duffy (Harry O'Reilly) and his Mis-matched, bespectacled buddy Pvt Gaigan (Daniel O'Shea).
The three African-American veterans of the unit- Motown (Michael Patrick Boatman), 'Doc' Johnson (Courtney B. Vance) and Sgt McDaniel (Don James) (who has less than a month left on his tour)- all have first-hand knowledge of the racial discrimination still practiced in the army. McDaniel begs Frantz for a desk job at HQ for the remainder for his tour duration, but he knows that African American soldiers are not considered for such assignments.
The FNGs (The term "F**king new guy" (FNG) is a derogatory term, made popular within combatants, military chaplains, and combat medics of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, usually to refer to newcomers. Da Nang, Vietnam) get their first sudden taste of war when a quiet spell beside a river is interrupted by an enemy artillery barrage and Galvan is killed. The base comes under intermittent NVA fire to test their defenses. The stress on the troops is unimaginable.
The platoon enters the Ashau Valley and runs into an enemy patrol, sparking a firefight in which Sgt McDaniel is killed. This loss provokes considerable bitterness and tension as McDaniel was near the end of his tour and being African American, was denied any chance to score rear-line duties at headquarters. Doc blames Frantz for not getting the short-timer McDaniel a less dangerous assignment.
The platoon is part of the battalion's assault on Hill 937, which soon grows into the Battle of Hamburger Hill when unexpectedly determined resistance is encountered. With the NVA defending well-entrenched positions, the platoon attacks the hill repeatedly against stubborn opposition. Between assaults, US air-strikes steadily strip away all vegetation, leaving the hill a barren, scorched wasteland. In one assault, a battle-crazed and wounded Duffy, wielding an M60 machine gun, seems on the verge of carrying the day as enemy resistance begins to crumble. However, botched air support by helicopter gunships causes several friendly casualties, including Duffy.
In between attacks, the shrinking platoon tries to rest, chattering about social upheaval and unrest back home. Bienstock is devastated by a letter from his girlfriend, whose college friends have told her that it is immoral to remain with a soldier. Beletsky gets a cassette tape from his girlfriend, and Frantz is moved that she mentions his name. Worcester describes to his comrades the alienation and hostility from anti-war college students, and the breakdown of his marriage, on his return from a previous tour of duty. He tells of a good friend, whose son had been killed in Vietnam during the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang, who receives cruel phone calls gloating over his son's death.
On day seven, returning downhill from their ninth assault, Frantz has a confrontation with a TV reporter, telling him that he has more respect for the NVA on the hill than for the reporter.
The exhausted platoon continues the attempt to capture Hill 937. During the tenth assault, in torrential rain, Gaigin is killed while Beletsky and Doc are wounded. Doc tells Frantz and Motown to capture the hill so that they will at least have something to be proud of, then succumbs to his wounds moments before a Medevac helicopter lands. Beletsky, despite having received a "million dollar wound," decides to return to his unit.
The eleventh and final assault is mounted by the remaining troops, whose bitterness and exhaustion is overcome by desperation and unit pride. The final enemy positions are overrun but the cost is heavy. Lieutenant Eden loses his right arm, while Murphy, Worcester, Motown, Bienstock and Languilli are killed. Frantz, stunned by the loss of so many friends, is dazed and wounded by an enemy bayonet. Beletsky, also wounded but enraged, leads the final push to the summit. At the summit, the bleeding and exhausted Frantz, Washburn and Beletsky sit together in the dirt, as the battlefield finally goes silent.
