Mel Gibson stars in this Vietnam war movie, its setpiece is the battle of the La Drang Valley in 1965 which was the first real time that US forces had faced NVA forces en masse.

Personally I think this was an excellent underrated movie, the battle scenes at times were very confusing, but then again, this is the sort of things that would have happened.

I like the fact that the Segeant Major distrusts the 'new fangled' M-16, this now reliable weapon had a troubled history in the Vietnam conflict due in part to teething troubles typical in any new weapon and conscripts not maintaining it properly in the field.

I also like the fact that the movie shows, however briefly that the French troops were in what was then called French Indo China from where the whole situation spiralled out of control.

I'll put further comments in later.