Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

ma-cortes In 1954 the French lost the war to keep their Indochina colonies and those colonies became North and South Vietnam . Then the North aided a rebellion in the South and the US sent in Military Advisers to help South Vietnam fight the communist . In 1964 the war in Vietnam was still a little one , confused and far away . There a tough veteran Major , But Lancaster , is ordered to establish a garrison at Muc Wa with a platoon of burned out soldiers and Vietnamese Mercenaries . But some soldiers start to wonder : What we are doing over there.Moving Vietnam war movie set in 1964 , it is a strong , provoking vision of the conflict . A tough view of the early Vietnam war that is provided in all terrible , bloody and violent detail . Blundering and a little boring war film , but politically interesting pre-dating the flood of the eighties , plenty of patriotic , jingoist , apologetic Vietnam pictures . As we watch the violent events , slaughters , crossfires and atrocities in Vietnam . The bloody ending reflects the bitterness and disillusion felt by most Americans . Based on Daniel Ford novel titled ¨Incident at Muc Wa¨ , it describes a pretty honest portrayal of America's early days in Vietnam . Including a realist and thought-provoking dialog and dealing with foreign intervention in Vietnam . Burt Lancaster gives nice interpretation as the hard-boiled Major who faces himself the combat . Remaining cast is pretty well , shining in adequate acting , such as : Craig Wasson , David Clennon , Jonathan Goldsmith , James Hong , and Mark Singer's film debut , among others . Atmospheric cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr , though a perfect remastering being necessary . Inappropriate setting , in fact , the film was not shot in Asia at all but filmed in California , USA with Vietnamese migrants to America portraying the Vietcong . The motion picture was compelling and professionally directed by Ted Post who directed to Clint Eastwood in ¨Magnum force¨ , ¨Hang'em high¨ and Chuck Norris in ¨Good guys wear black¨ . Post made all kinds of genres as SciFi : ¨Beneath of the planet of apes¨, ¨Harrard experiment¨ , as Thriller : ¨Nightkill¨, ¨The baby¨ and Western : ¨Yuma¨ , ¨Stagecoach¨.

bkoganbing In a recent biography of Burt Lancaster, Go Tell The Spartans is described as the best Vietnam war film that nobody ever saw. Hopefully with television and video products that will be corrected.I prefer to think of it as a prequel to Platoon. This film is set in 1964 when America's participation was limited to advisers by this time raised to about 20,000 of them by President Kennedy. Whether if Kennedy had lived and won a second term he would have increased our commitment to a half a million men as Lyndon Johnson did is open to much historical speculation.Major Burt Lancaster heads such an advisory team with his number two Captain Marc Singer. They get some replacements and a new assignment to build a fortress where the French tried years ago and failed.The replacements are a really mixed bag, a sergeant who Lancaster has served with before and respects highly in Jonathan Goldsmith, a very green and eager second lieutenant in Joe Unger, a demolitions man who is a draftee and at that time Vietnam service was a strictly volunteer thing in Craig Wasson, and a medic who is also a junkie in Dennis Howard. For one reason or another all of these get sent forward to build that outpost in a place that suddenly has acquired military significance. I said before this could be a prequel to Platoon. Platoon is set in the time a few years later when the USA was fully militarily committed in Vietnam. Platoon raises the same issues about the futility of that war, but I think Go Tell The Spartans does a much better job. Hard to bring your best effort into the fight since who and what you're fighting and fighting for seems to change weekly.Originally this project was for William Holden and I'm surprised Holden passed on it. Maybe for the better because Lancaster strikes just the right note as the professional soldier in what was a backwater assignment who politics has passed over for promotion. Knowing all that you will understand why Lancaster makes the final decision he does.Two others of note are Evan Kim who is the head of the South Vietnamese regulars and interpreter who Lancaster and company are training. He epitomizes the brutality of the struggle for us in a way that we can't appreciate from the other side because we never meet any of the Viet Cong by name. Dolph Sweet plays the general in charge of the American Vietnam commitment, a General Harnitz. He is closest to a real character because the general in charge their before Johnson raised the troop levels and put in William Westmoreland was Paul Harkins. Joe Unger is who I think gives the best performance as the shavetail lieutenant with all the conventional ideas of war and believes we have got to be with the good guys since we are Americans. He learns fast that you issue uniforms for a reason and wars against people who don't have them are the most difficult.I think one could get a deep understanding of just what America faced in 1964 in Vietnam by watching Go Tell The Spartans.

sol ***There are Spoilers*** Based on the 1967 Daniel Ford novel "Incident at Muc Wa" the movie "Go Tell the Spartans" shows how the US got slowly drawn into the disastrous Vietnam War in thinking it was both winnable and a noble cause when it fact, as history has shown us, it was anything but.The film starts in that fateful summer of 1964 when the US Military had only an advisory involvement in helping the South Vietnamese Government in its war against the insurgent Communist Vietcong, known as Charlie to the GI's, who were overrunning the country. Maj. Asa Barker, Burt Lancaster, who had served his country in two previous wars, WWII & Korea, is in charge of a South Vietnamese outpost in the Mekong River Delta that's surrounded by hundreds of Vietcong irregulars. The Major is desperately short of both men and ammunition to hold off the Vietcong who are trying cut off his supply lines and then overrun his weakly defended outpost.With the handful of men, both US GI's and local RVN troops, at his disposable Maj. Barker knows that it's only a matter of time before the determined and tenacious Vietcong will achieve their objective. The GI's at the outpost are either green recruits, one being a draftee, or burned out veterans who, despite their superiority in air and fire power, are in no way any match for the seasoned battle hardened Vietcong. The one thing that both Maj. Barker and his Vietnamese interpreter Cowboy, Even C. Kim, knows is that the fight is not only with the Vietcong but most of the Vietnamese population in that area who are not only sympathetic towards the enemy but are in fact the enemy-Vietcong-itself!***SPOILERS*** We get to see in the movie just how totally unprepared the US was in fighting the war for the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people in the persons of both high and ethically minded Lt. Hamilton, Joe Unger, and Cpl. Courcey, Craig Wesson. It was their high-mindedness, unlike Maj. Barker and Cowboys pragmatic common sense, that lead to the disastrous results that was to soon follow in the movie! One of the best Vietnam War films ever made and at the same time one of the most overlooked. The fact that "Go Tell the Spartans" was made-three years after the war ended-when the wounds of the Vietnam War were barley healed had the movie going Amercan public in no mood to go see it. Even though the film was about as accurate as a description of why and how we got involved in that disastrous war, against the sound advice of men like Maj, Barker, as any movie about the subject that's ever been released! Before and after the Vietnam War ended!Burt Lancaster loved the script so much that he contributed $150,000.00 out of his own pocket to finance "Go Tell the Spartans" when it's budget ran out with a couple days left to be filmed. Lancaster also disregarded a serious knee injury he suffered in order for him to star in the movie which had him limping all throughout the film!

Poseidon-3 This low-key, but thoughtful, examination of the early stages of The Vietnam War offers up a few clichés, but also does a nice job of presenting the conditions and experiences of the soldiers involved in it. Lancaster plays a rebellious Major, assigned to the disbursement of various soldiers in the field who are meant to aid and advise the South Vietnamese in their quest for democracy. Singer plays his cocky sidekick, a Captain with eyes on advancement. When they are instructed to set up a garrison at an abandoned site called Muc Wa, they send in a rag tag assortment of soldiers who don't always compliment each other. Wasson is an idealistic youth who tends to see only the good in people. Goldsmith is a grizzled veteran on the edge of burnout. Unger is placed in charge of the mission, but must overcome a troublesome physical reaction to the surroundings. Howard is a drug addict, assigned as medic. They are assisted by the hotheaded and brutal, but effective, native soldier Kim. Meanwhile, Lancaster is pestered by an efficiency expert-type (Clennon) who uses a computer to assess which areas of the conflict are most susceptible to attack. Other roles include Hong, as an elderly Vietnamese recruit and Kumagai, as a demure local girl who takes a shine to Wasson. Though the film is serious in it's approach to the material, it isn't without doses of humor, mostly coming from Lancaster and his offhand approach to the warmongering around him. He has a combative relationship with his no-nonsense superior Sweet and a flustered rapport with his ever-casual communications officer Hicks. Eventually, the events turn more toward the dramatic as it becomes clear that Muc Wa is going to be targeted by the Communist troops. Lancaster does a nice job in a role that suits his confident persona. The rest of the cast is solid as well with many of the actors enjoying lengthy TV and film careers afterwards. Goldsmith (best known as J.R.'s favorite private investigator on "Dallas") gets what is probably his best showcase ever here and rises to the occasion. Each of them, however, gets his chance to shine. A rather low budget gives the film a certain lack of polish, but also helps keep it rather grounded and prevents it from becoming an operatic, over the top epic as some war films have become.