1)
... growing up in the 80s it seems that almost every movie has some connection to vietnam, the veteran, th ejungle, the flashback...
2)
...watched the first episode of MASH. I had to find out that it wasn't about vietnam,
3)
Apocalypse Now Redux (only saw that version)
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1)
Actually the Vietnam War was taboo for many years in the film industry. Hollywood wouldn't touch it. Who really wanted to think about such a divisive subject? During WWII there were hundreds of films made about the war...but during the Vietnam War? Only one really, the John Wayne jingoistic film THE GREEN BERETS.
You know what the first major film that dealt with Vietnam was? I remember when it came out and it was shocking because of its portrayal of a Vietnam vet. It was Scorsese's/DeNiro's TAXI DRIVER. And that film did soooo much to portray the Vietnam war vet in such a negative (psycho) light. All Vietnam films that followed used that film as a template. A nut, a loose cannon, a loner waiting to explode, that was how Hollywood portrayed the returning Vietnam vet. Go watch BLACK SUNDAY for a really wicked example of that (Viet vet Bruce Dern wants to fly the Goodyear blimp and do a 9/11 to the Super Bowl!). Even a vet who was on the side of right - John Rambo - was played as a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.
While WWII films portrayed those that fought as brave heroes, the majority of the Vietnam films portrayed those that fought as psychos. There are exceptions of course, but most Vietnam films always show a vet as a nut (Duvall in APOCALYPSE NOW, Berenger in PLATOON, Walken in DEER HUNTER...).
2)
If you thought the TV show MASH was about Vietnam, don't be ashamed. The makers of that show, and the original movie, intentionally set out to make it that way. They wanted the audience to see it as Vietnam. They wanted the audience to think about Vietnam while they were watching MASH. The original film came out right smack in the middle of the Vietnam War and it was a clever way to make a Vietnam war movie without actually making a Vietnam war movie.
3)
Dude, I feel bad that your first exposure to APOCALYPSE NOW was that ridiculous Redux version. Oh, was that a waste of everybody's time. The original version meanders and gets unfocussed a bit, but that REDUX version really meanders and gets unfocussed. Next time you watch that film, just stick with the way it originally came out.
