Did anyone else find the dialogue in this movie often increadably boring and inane? It doesnt help that the sound effects and background noise drown out alot of the dialogue. The rest of the film was well shot with a good look and feel to it and some great camera shots but my god alot of the dialogue was terrible. It cant just be me?
'We gotta get outa here before one of those things kills Guy'
I like the look of the action scenes but the dialogue may seem too preachy or contrived in between. When this film was released, I recall people expressing disappointment because they were expecting another Platoon. I didn't have that expectation, but still I think they could have gotten their message across in a less literal manner. Still, not-bad action and I always loved the opening of the film, incorporating the veterans' wall and the transition straight into the grass.
shareI had problems hearing what was being said. No matter how much I turned the TV up I could barely hear the dialogue at times.
shareWhich parts in particular? I thought it wasn't too bad.
I liked the speech by Sgt. Frantz about the NVA at the beginning and also his tirade toward the reporters near the end.
I also liked Sgt. Worcester's spiel about why he's there for some reason.
Other than that, the dialogue (especially the conversations) really isn't that great, but the guys who later became successful actors usually carried their parts well.
"The problem with Scotland... is that it's full of Scots!"
well, there is some preachiness in some of the dialogue, one of the highlights of this film is the constant use of GI slang. I myself did'nt know what the hell they were saying half the time for a few years until I had read enough books on Vietnam. From what I've heard and read,Vietnam veterans seem to usually give this movie very high marks for the way grunts look and talk in this film, even if the movie as a whole may not be quite on par with other Vietnam movies.
I also think some of the preachiness in the dialogue is simply a result of the director, writeres, etc. wanting to set this film apart from 'Platoon'. Plus, the focus of the dialogue seemed to be to highlight the obvious situation among combat soldiers in Vietnam, and all wars, in that even if you were there despite your oppostion to the war, once in combat you had more in common with your buddies, and even your enemies, than you do with protestors, media, and even your family thousands of miles away. I think the film nicely shows the developing 'us and them' mentality that developes among combat soldiers who view people who dont 'have their ass in the grass' with them as almost from another planet. You can read this same viewpoint in many Vietnam combat veteran's accounts, whether they supported the war or not.
Dialogue? Is there time for dialogue when you are assaulting a big-ass
mountain?
Did you expect Bienstock to stop and say some one-liner to Sgt. Franz?
"Hey sarge, just like John fuh(kin' Wayne!!"
What I like about this film is that it doesn't have too much dialogue, it is serious as hell, and if it did have more dialogue, then this awesome movie would have turned into another platoon, F.M.J.,apocalypse,etc....And those are great films in their own right. It's just that Hamburger Hill is telling the story of what happened during that operation-and that is what's important.I don't want to know why Duffy and Gaigan were good friends, I want to know what it was like for these heroes to assault hill 937!
The dialogue it did have was relevant and authentic. It showed what did happen while they were at war. Bienstock's girlfriend sends him a dear john letter. "Jody's" got his girl. Troops on leave or home for good were hated by their own countrymen(mostly hippie fags).etc.,etc.
The reason this movie is special to me, my next-door neighbor and I were playing "guns" one day, and during a break, he told me he rented this movie. His dad, a Vietvet in the 101stAbn,326 or 327btn.sat down and watched it with us.
We thought the opening credits with the wall and the Philip Glass score was awesome, and then we saw -A'shau Valley, 1969- on the screen. And his dad said something like, "hm, I was there." Hey, for a couple of young kids, it was a big deal that we knew someone a movie was based on(he was in A'shau, not the hill). I still get amped-up whenever I talk to someone about that movie.
And for the authentic G.I.jargon, we had a lot of questions for his dad. Like, "Mr Greider, what is a klick? What is a remf? An F.N.G? Sitrep? What do they mean by 'little people'?" We were both influenced by his dad and that movie.
Did he explain to you what FNG stands for, lol.
shareYou are nuts. The dialogue is the one thing that separates this film from all the other countless, "inane", war films out there.
peace.
A good line:
"You're getting paid to Fight a war, not discuss it!"
Triple Irons-"I could have easily have beaten you, if I had three swords"
This is undeniably one of the most poorly acted and written (in terms of dialogue) war films ever produced. Worcestor's speech towards the end of the film about the guy who gets harassed by university students after his son was killed represents perhaps the only source of inspiration in terms of dialogue or performance.
The action scenes are above average and I am not going to argue with anyone with high regard for the film's alleged realism, but those who mention this alongside the truly exceptional Vietnam films are having a laugh.
Terrorism is the war of the poor, war the terrorism of the rich - Peter Ustinov
Read John Del Vechio's book, "13th Valley" about 101 Airborne troopers in the A Shau circa 1969-1970 and you'll see just how realistic the speech patterns are.
shareLibertarian:
While I second your recommendation for Del Veccio's book '13th Valley', the date of the book is set in late 1970---about a fictional operation that took place AFTER the battle of Firebase Ripcord-which many historians consider to be the LAST big(brigade/division sized) battle fought by the US Army in Vietnam;
nm
nick,
Understood. My point was that Del Vechio's dialogue and that of the troopers in HH is very similar. I read the book in the early 80s and saw HH when it came out. I nstantly recognized the slang and speech patterns as being very believeable according to what Del Vechio reported in his book ("don't mean nuthin' - not a thing" and the daps routines by the brothers etc).
Sure the book is fiction, but, like many great works of fiction they can convey a very accurate feel for the time, place and people if well written (James Jones's novels...). Yes it is late 1970 and HH was late 68 (or was it 69?). Its still the 101 AB Div. It's still the A Shau and the events take place within a year or so to each other.
Therefore, at the risk of sylogism: Del Vechio's book is considered very accurate in capturing the feel for being a 101 trooper circa 1970 (particularly dialogue)...the dialogue in HH is similar to 13th Valley....therefore the dialogue in HH must be accurate..
libertarian:
No prob; I agree with you 100%; RE: the dialogue; in fact I read 13th Valley well before I saw HH too...I also sort of noticed how the speech & dialogue & heck even the details of the Op itself resembled each other...Del Vechio's eye for describing the terrain and environment of the A Shau Valley was MOST impressive;
NM
Grunts in the field didn't have a round table of writers coming up with cool lines for them to say. If it sounded inane it was because Vietnam was inane.
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