Review of Hamburger Hill (1987) by Robert H — 29 Jun 2008
I just caught the new DVD release of this sucker. I completely missed it at the time it came out. Instead of setting out to tell an epic war story on par with Apocalypse Now, it really just focuses on this bunch of guys in the 101 Airborne, specifically the third squad of the first platoon.
We follow them during the ten days that it took to secure Hill 937 in the Ashau Valley, which eventually became known as Hamburger Hill 'cause of the obscene amount of casualties Americans suffered during the assault (May 10-20, 1969).
Including this squad, about 600 troops attacked the Hill. Less than 200 survived. The cast is very strong, among them Courtney B. Vance as the medic, Dylan McDermott as the second in command, and Steven Weber especially.
He wasn't in it enough in my opinion. He was the guy in charge of this squad. You also get to see Don Cheadle before he was anybody. The direction and the photography are terrific. This is one of those gems that seems to have slipped through the cracks.
I hope the new DVD helps rectify that.
This review of Hamburger Hill (1987) was written by Robert H on 29 Jun 2008.
Hamburger Hill has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
