Men at their Best. Action Drama Thriller War. Did you know Edit. Trivia Near the end of the film, there is a scene where a soldier, his face covered with bandages, is blindly reaching out to his comrades as they hurry past him.
This is taken from a famous picture taken at the real Hamburger Hill. Goofs A gravity bomb or napalm tank is moving at the speed of the plane when released, and only picks up downward velocity at So it drops 16 ft the first second, 48 ft the second second, and another 80 ft the third. So the F-4s dropped their loads about a second or over feet before you even see them. The film has it right. Quotes Sgt. Crazy credits The following poem is shown at the beginning of the credits: If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind. Connections Featured in Hollywood Vietnam User reviews Review.
Top review. Probably the most visually effective Vietnam movie. Many excellent Vietnam films, in an attempt to present their own interpretation of America's darkest hour, ask many political questions vital to the war: "What were we fighting for? Rather, it presents the viewer with the scenario-- a group of men trying to advance on a hill-- and allows him to come to his own conclusions. It is a wonderful display of characters from all walks of life, and how hard times brought them together.
Some want to be there, others don't, but they call all make the same statement: When it comes to their determination to get on top of that hill and advance upon the enemy, all of those political questions "don't mean nothin'. The actions sequences are raw and gory, and the locations are incredibly depressing-- setting the perfect stage for a war movie. Combined with excellent performances by everyone involved, this is certainly an underrated film that presents a clear picture of what the war truly might have been like.
Tin Man-5 Oct 2, FAQ 2. Why was the hill abandoned after so much effort to take it? What are the words of the poem in the titles and its' origin? Details Edit. Release date August 28, United States. United States. English French. Hamburger tepesi. RKO Pictures. Box office Edit. Technical specs Edit. Runtime 1 hour 50 minutes. Color Black and White. Dolby Stereo. Related news. The Hamburger Hill battle had run afoul of a fundamental war-fighting equation.
Master philosopher of war Karl von Clausewitz emphasized almost a century and a half earlier that because war is controlled by its political object, the value of this object must determine the sacrifices to be made for it both in magnitude and also in duration. He went on to say, Once the expenditure of effort exceeds the value of the political object, the object must be renounced.
The expenditure of effort at Hamburger Hill exceeded the value the American people attached to the war in Vietnam. The public had turned against the war a year and a half earlier, and it was their intense reaction to the cost of that battle in American lives, inflamed by sensationalist media reporting, that forced the Nixon administration to order the end of major tactical ground operations.
This was not the first time the American public had stopped supporting a war. Contrary to widespread belief, Vietnam is not the most unpopular war in American history. The Mexican War in was far more unpopular, as was the war in Korea. The majority of Americans supported the war in Vietnam from the landing of the Marines in Da Nang in March 64 percent supporting, 21 percent opposed after the first U. Those 30 months equaled the period of time the American people supported the ground war in Europe in World War II, from the landing of U.
Public opinion had turned—not on ideological grounds, as the anti-war movement would claim, but for pragmatic reasons. Either win the damn thing or get the hell out! American public opinion turned against the war in Korea after only five months, percentages of those in favor falling precipitously after Chinese intervention in the war in November The war became stalemated after the U. The last of those skirmishes was the battle for Pork Chop Hill between July 6 and 10, Officially Hill from its elevation in yards , it was dubbed Pork Chop Hill because of its geographic shape.
One of a series of outposted hills along the Iron Triangle in the western sector of the line of contact, it had long been contested by the enemy. Earlier, in November , the U. After some initial gains they were beaten back, only to resume the attack on April But it was artillery that made the difference, as the 7th Infantry Division massed the guns of nine artillery battalions and fired 77, rounds in support of the two-day battle.
This time they gained a foothold on a portion of the crest. After repeated attempts to dislodge them were repulsed, General Maxwell D.
Taylor, the Eighth U. Army commander, ordered the hill to be abandoned on July 11, Two weeks later, with the signing of the armistice agreement at Panmunjom on July 27, the hill became part of the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Ever the politician as he would prove to be again in the Vietnam War , General Taylor had made his decision based on his perception of American public and political reactions to the high numbers of U.
During the month of July alone, the United States and its allies along the line of contact, including Pork Chop Hill, had suffered 29, casualties both from enemy ground attacks and a record ,round CCF artillery barrage. Chinese and North Korean casualties were estimated at 72,, most from allied airstrikes and a 2-million-round artillery barrage. A body count confirmed that NVA soldiers had died in the battle, but as Samuel Zaffiri noted in his definitive history of the fight: There is no telling how many other NVA soldiers were killed and wounded and carried into Laos.
No telling how many were buried alive in bunkers and tunnels on the mountain or ended up in forgotten graves in the draws or along the many ridges. Final U. While these losses were high, Hamburger Hill was not the bloodiest fight of the war, even for the st Airborne Division.
Later, during the week of February , , in the midst of the Tet Offensive, Americans were killed in action and another 2, wounded without causing any outcry from the American public. The Hamburger Hill losses were much smaller, but they set off a firestorm of protest back home. The American people were growing more weary of the war. A February poll revealed that only 39 percent still supported the war, while 52 percent believed sending troops to fight in Vietnam had been a mistake.
Politicians were quick to seek advantage in those numbers. American boys are too valuable to be sacrificed to a false sense of military pride. Kennedy would escalate his attack on May 24 in a speech to the New Democratic Coalition in Washington, referring to the battle as nothing but cruelty and savagery, as well as saying that the Vietnam War was unjustified and immoral.
Lee attacked the Union forces at Chancellorsville from the rear and flanks simultaneously and routed them. Once the fighting was over, 72 Americans were dead some from friendly fire and more than were wounded. Estimates of North Vietnamese losses vary, but at least were killed. According to James Wright, emeritus professor of history at Dartmouth College and the author of Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and Its War , the four companies of the th that landed on that first day suffered casualty rates of 50 to 75 percent.
A wounded U. While American withdrawals of this nature were common during the war, Wright believes the decision to abandon Hamburger Hill may have been influenced by the nearby Battle of Khe Sanh in early That led to a day siege during which U. Marines struggled to hold on to a garrison under fierce attack by the North. On May 20, the day the hill was captured, Sen. Edward Kennedy , the Massachusetts Democrat, took to the Senate floor and denounced the battle.
Other politicians and activists joined a chorus of voices who believed American blood had been needlessly shed. This in itself was a turning point in the war. Previously, says Wright, critics had focused primarily on the geopolitical wisdom of fighting this war, or on the casualties and the cost of military engagement.
Increasingly, they decried civilian casualties, on the morality of the war. Some 30, G. But while some criticized what they considered a senseless loss of life, many who fought at Hamburger Hill had a different opinion.
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