We Were Soldiers

Infobox Film
name = We Were Soldiers


caption = "We Were Soldiers" movie poster
director = Randall Wallace
writer = Hal Moore
Joseph L. Galloway (book)
Randall Wallace (screenplay)
starring = Mel Gibson
Madeleine Stowe
Greg Kinnear
Don Duong
Sam Elliott
Chris Klein
Keri Russell
Barry Pepper
Dylan Walsh
producer = Arne L. Schmidt
Jim Lemley
Randall Wallace
distributor = Paramount Pictures (United States)
Icon Entertainment (International)
released = March 1, 2002 (United States)
runtime = 138 minutes
country = USA
language = English | budget = $75,000,000 USD(estimated)
imdb_id = 0277434|

"We Were Soldiers" is a 2002 American war film that dramatized the Battle of Ia Drang in November 1965, the first major engagement of American forces in the Vietnam War. The film was directed by Randall Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the book "We Were Soldiers Once… And Young" by Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L. Galloway, both of whom were at the battle.

Plot

A French Army unit is on patrol in Vietnam in 1954 during the First Indochina War. The captain of the patrol curses the land when they see nothing. Then, the unit is suddenly ambushed by Vietminh forces who kill the officers and, although the unit kills many Vietminh, it is eventually overrun. Nguyen Huu An, hypothesising that if they take no prisoners the French will eventually stop sending troops, orders the execution of all surviving French soldiers.

Eleven years later, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore (Mel Gibson), a dedicated U.S. soldier, is deeply committed to training his troops, who are preparing to be sent to Vietnam. The night before their departure, the unit's officers hold a party to celebrate. Moore learns from a superior officer that his unit will be known as the 1st Battalion / 7th cavalry regiment. He is disquieted because the 7th Cavalry regiment was the unit commanded by General George Custer in the 19th Century when he and his men were slaughtered at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Moore is also dismayed because President Lyndon B. Johnson has decreed that the war would be fought "on the cheap," without declaring it a national emergency. As a result, Moore believes he will be deprived of his oldest, best-trained soldiers (a formal declaration of war would have meant mobilization and extension of the terms of enlistment for volunteer soldiers) - about 25% of his battalion - just prior to shipping out for Vietnam. Before leaving for Vietnam, Moore delivers a poignant speech to his unit:

"Look around you. In the 7th Cavalry, we got a captain from the Ukraine, another from Puerto Rico. We got Japanese, Chinese, Blacks, Hispanics, Cherokee Indians, Jews and Gentiles—all American. Now here in the States, some men in this unit may experience discrimination because of race or creed, but for you and me now, all that is gone. We're moving into the valley of the shadow of death, where you will watch the back of the man next to you, as he will watch yours, and you won't care what color he is or by what name he calls God. Let us understand the situation. We're going into battle against a tough and determined enemy. I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive, but this I swear, before you and before almighty God: that when we go into battle, I will be the first one to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together. So help me God."

After arriving in Vietnam, he learns that an American base has been attacked, and is ordered to take his 400+ men after the enemy and eliminate them, despite the fact that intelligence has no idea of the number of enemy troops. He leads a newly created air cavalry unit into the Ia Drang Valley against over 4,000 well equipped enemy soldiers.

An emotional toll is taken back home, where Moore's wife Julie (Madeleine Stowe) and another soldier's wife take over the job of delivering telegrams that inform families (mainly wives like themselves) living at Fort Benning, Georgia, the unit's base of operation, of soldiers' deaths.

After landing in the "Valley of Death", the soldiers capture a Vietnamese lookout who informs them that the location they were sent to is actually the headquarters of an entire North Vietnamese division. An American platoon is isolated some distance from the battalion's main position, after 2nd Lt. Henry Herrick saw a scout, and ran after him, ordering his reluctant soldiers to follow. The scout led them into an ambush, resulting in the some of the platoon members' deaths, including Herrick's and several wounded. Sgt. Savage assumes command of the platoon by default, and by calling in artillery and using the cover of darkness, holds off the Vietnamese from their position. The story switches between the Vietnamese and American points of view several times. Despite being trapped near the landing zone, and desperately outnumbered, the main force manages to hold off the Vietnamese with artillery, close air support, and even calling a last resort Broken Arrow just before being overrun, killing some of their own soldiers but eliminating most of the Vietnamese offensive force. The American troop secure the area and shortly after the attack on the 2nd day, rescue Lt. Herrick's trapped platoon and on the 3rd day charge up the mountain where the Vietnamese division headquarters is located. The Vietnamese have set up heavy machine gun emplacements near the hidden entrance of the underground headquarters spoken of by the scout. Hal and his men charge right at them, into a seemingly impending massacre, but before the Vietnamese can fire, Major Bruce "Snakeshit" Crandall flies in with his helicopter and kills the Vietnamese guards with his side mounted machine guns. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese commander is alerted that the Americans have broken through the lines, and the headquarters has no troops between them and the Americans. He orders the headquarters evacuated. Moore, having completed his objective, returns to the L.Z. to be picked up, and, after all of his men, dead or alive, are removed from the battlefield, steps on to a helicopter and flies out of the valley. Strong visual emphasis is placed on Moore's being the last American to set foot off the field of battle. At the end of the movie it is revealed that Hal Moore returned home safely after 235 more days of fighting.

Notable musical elements

The mournful song heard during some of the battle sequences and the aftermath is called "Sgt. MacKenzie". An account of a Scottish soldier who fought in similar carnage, it was written by his descendant, Joseph Kilna MacKenzie. It was chosen for the film by Mel Gibson and Randall Wallace due to its haunting, desolate sound, of men prepared to stand their ground in battle for family and friends.

The U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment's nickname "Garry Owen" is mentioned several times in the film. The nickname was derived from Irish dance tune "Garryowen", the official Air of the 7th Cavalry Regiment during the 1800s. "Garry Owen" became the official nickname, a battle cry, a watchword, and a personal greeting in the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in modern times.

Cast

*Mel Gibson - Lt. Col. Hal Moore
*Madeleine Stowe - Julia Moore
*Greg Kinnear - Maj. Bruce "Snakeshit" Crandall
*Sam Elliott - Sgt. Maj. Basil L. Plumley
*Chris Klein - 2Lt. Jack Geoghegan
*Keri Russell - Barbara Geoghegan
*Barry Pepper - Joe Galloway
*Don Duong - Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu An
*Ryan Hurst - Sgt. Ernie Savage
*Robert Bagnell - 1Lt. Charlie Hastings
*Marc Blucas - 2Lt. Henry Herrick
*Josh Daugherty - Sp4. Robert Ouellette
*Jsu Garcia - Cpt. Tony Nadal
*Jon Hamm - Cpt. Matt Dillon
*Desmond Harrington - Sp4. Bill Beck
*Blake Heron - Sp4. Galen Bungum
*Clark Gregg - Cpt. Tom Metsker
*Erik MacArthur - Sp4. Russell Adams
*Dylan Walsh - Cpt. Robert Edwards
*Mark McCracken - Cpt. Ed "Too Tall" Freeman
*Edwin Morrow - Pfc. Willie Godboldt
*Brian Tee - Pfc. Jimmy Nakayama
*Sloane Momsen - Cecile Moore
*Bellamy Young - Catherine Metsker
*Simbi Khali - Alma Givens

ee also

* Battle of Ia Drang
* "We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young"
* Hal Moore
* Basil L. Plumley
* Jack Geoghegan
* 1st Cavalry Division

External links

*imdb title|id=0277434|title=We Were Soldiers