COMBATSIM.COM: We Were Soldiers

We Were Soldiers

by Bernard Dy

Article Type: Movie Review
Article Date: April 05, 2002

Innocence Lost
Assuming there is such a thing, when did America lose its collective innocence? Filmmaker and actor Robert Redford theorized that America lost it in the 50’s. His film, Quiz Show, tells the story of how that powerful medium, television, captured viewers with a ruse and broke them when the truth came out. The theory is interesting, but an equally if not more compelling argument is that American national innocence is still lost in Vietnam, that far away place whose grounds soaked up American blood, ideologies, and broken promises, and where misconceptions and mysteries still live.

Gibson (left) and Elliott look remarkably similar to the characters they play.

The book We Were Soldiers Once…And Young, certainly seems to subscribe to the concept of the Vietnam conflict as a rite of passage. Even the title is poignant with remembrance. The book is about the time when America and its military were still confident from their past successes, when Korea was a minor aberration, and when its soldiers hailed the staples of God, family, and country. It chronicles the battle of the Ia Drang Valley in November of 1965 where the American Army’s 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, led by Lt. Col Harold G. Moore, clashed with the North Vietnamese troops led by Lt. General Nguyen Huu An. Director Randall Wallace and actor Mel Gibson have translated the story to the big screen with the abbreviated title, We Were Soldiers.

I admit I had concerns before watching the film. Gibson was a driving force behind two pictures, Braveheart and The Patriot that were about an idealistic hero leading an outnumbered band of warriors. Gibson looked to be on a familiar path. Reinforcing this thought is the use of Randall Wallace, who left military enthusiasts less enthused with his rendition of Pearl Harbor. Gibson and Wallace did well with Braveheart, but given the paths since taken, worries that We Were Soldiers would be another spiritual remake of Braveheart have some merit. The incredibly sappy trailers, filled with the kinds of quotes Rambo would utter, bolstered preconceptions. The final product, despite flaws, is fortunately better than the trailer would indicate.

We Were Soldiers looks at a time in the American Army's early material involvement in Vietnam. The battle is reportedly the first major battle of the conflict. As such, it was part of the introduction of new concepts to the battlefield, the most notable being the use of helicopter cavalry. The source book for the movie is also rare in some senses, as it's one of the few to highlight the times American troops engaged in a "set piece" battle of conventional troops. It also shows that the troops involved were not always the jaded ones commonly paraded in Hollywood's perception. The public has the misconception the Vietnam conflict was all about booby traps, guerillas, and drugged-out soldiers. Although it's accepted that the war was a defeat from political, social, and economic standpoint, there are arguments it was a military success. Perhaps it is more accurate to say the Americans held ground and achieved success in military terms, but at great expense, and were unwilling to keep bleeding as much as the Vietnamese, who fought for the heavier and more easily adopted stakes of defending a homeland.

We Were Soldiers ponders only briefly the philosophy of victory versus defeat. The bulk of the movie is more like Black Hawk Down, retelling the events of a battle. It this regard it is a less effective movie, because clearly there are several gaps in realism more serious than the ones Black Hawk Down makes. By Wallace's own admission, the picture only follows the book partially, condensing it to cover primarily the first half. There was additional action after the initial American troops were lifted out, omitted in the film except for parts of the conclusion. There are also several nits to pick: In the movie, Gibson, as Moore, refers to the M-16 as a "pretty good" rifle. The M-16 as we know it currently is indeed a capable weapon, but it flubbed miserably at its debut in Vietnam. Moore's leading non-commissioned officer, Sergeant Major Basil Plumley, balks at using one, which makes sense, though I don't recall such an argument made in the book. What's silly is that instead of doing something in character for a crusty old sergeant, like sticking with the M-14 rifle, Plumley chooses the Colt .45 semi-automatic pistol…for the entire battle.

Major Plumley (Sam Elliott) on the left eschews the M-16 rifle for his .45 Colt pistol.

Another gaffe in military realism comes when Gibson's character calls for an air strike on the enemy. Some critics accuse Wallace's battle scenes of ham-fisted direction, writing that they're not as well choreographed as action segments from, for example, Ridley Scott. I'm ambivalent about this assessment; Wallace's use of fast cuts from one scene to the next make it look like the aircraft are upon the scene mere seconds after calls for air support, which is rarely the real-world case. On the other hand, I can't fault Wallace for not taking time to make war look pretty; it's war, and it isn't pretty. If you want pretty combat, go watch The Matrix. The other problem with the air support is that the movie shows Moore waiting until the 7th Cavalry is in dire straits before posturing with quizzical facial expressions then muttering, "Broken Arrow" to call the air strikes. The movie is partially correct. Realistically, air support isn't a last resort, it's a resource that can be used anywhere there's a concentration of the enemy. The book notes several times that A-1 Skyraiders and armed helicopters participated in strikes throughout the battle. It also mentions the "Broken Arrow" code, but claims it wasn't to initiate the air strikes; it was a desperation signal that all available flights from all services were to assist the nearly overrun American force. Also, the declaration of "Broken Arrow" was made by not by Moore, but forward air controller Lt. Charlie Hastings, clearly a detail changed for dramatic effect.

There are other foibles in the film, such as the fact that Sergeant Major Plumley seems too invincible, never missing at any range with his .45 and running around at full height while everyone else is ducking bullets, but the film otherwise generally follows the key events in the book. This includes a look back at the families in the United States. The sappiness from the trailers doesn't materialize quite the same way you'd expect because the trailer crams the most cheesy lines of the movie into a few minutes, but the scenes from home make up for that. Most are just emotional setups. The movie spends most of its beginning showing us that the soldiers have families, complete with lots of newborns. This may indeed be the truth, but to dwell on it is to build the same sort of amateur cliché around the characters that surrounds the Goose character in Top Gun; you see their newborns and you know some of these guys are destined to be goners.

The homefront

Such scenes in We Were Soldiers, however, do have some redeeming points. A shocking revelation about how cruel the American government could be about notifying families of the deceased comes straight from the book. The film also scores for portraying the Vietnamese commander, Lt. General Nguyen Huu An, as an intelligent and contemplative leader with compassion for his men. There's also a scene where Moore writes to the family of a Vietnamese soldier whose journal is among the artifacts collected from the dead. I do not recall the journal owner from the book, but Moore did meet with An after the war. The use of the dead soldier's journal is a poor substitute for showing instead the peaceful meeting of the two leaders, but at least it's an effort to show enemies can ultimately coexist if not ally. It could have made more of an impact had the subplot of the Vietnamese journal owner been better developed.

Gibson does his usual credible job as an actor, and a solid cast joins him. Long-time Hollywood tough guy Sam Elliott gives Sergeant Major Plumley a fitting gruffness, and standing beside a similarly uniformed and helmeted Gibson, the pair looks surprisingly close to the real Hal Moore and Basil Plumley in the book photos. Barry Pepper steps in for an appearance as Joseph Galloway, the combat reporter who has to temporarily drop his camera for a rifle when the action gets too hot. Chris Klein plays a young officer, Jack Geoghegan, and symbolizes the innocence of the American soldier, and perhaps the American people, at this stage of the war. Although he's a capable actor, Greg Kinnear struck me as miscast as helicopter pilot Bruce Crandall. The uniforms and equipment in the film all appear authentic within reasonable limits and the only things I thought were missing were shorter haircuts and Dale Dye, the former Marine who's in so many war films. Viewers may wonder, with leaders as good as Moore, how could America lose in Vietnam? The answer is that there were guys like Moore on the other side, and not enough like him among the American politicians.

Berry Pepper portrays combat reporter Joseph Galloway. When the action gets too hot he drops his camera for a rifle.

Like Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers also pushes the theme of combat soldiers fighting as much for each other as for any cause. This is a valid point in most combat stories, though if Hollywood pushes it too much it will get old. With war movies being popular again, it may get old soon. In general, the film does its job depicting the battle and also serving as a counterpoint to several other Vietnam movies, even if it needs some nauseating clichés to do it. It also does a decent job with the passing innocence angle. Gibson's Moore is the hub of the film, and is like a father seeing his children grow and change. He mourns the tragedy of lost life, but the maturation of those who survive and persevere, such as the exhausted troopers that request permission to return to the front line, nearly moves him to tears.

Greg Kinnear as helicopter pilot Bruce Crandall

Reality Check
There’s another parallel to Black Hawk Down, one both glorious and somber. One of the soldiers from Black Hawk Down made the news by landing himself in prison. One of the We Were Soldiers participants made the news in a different way. Rick Rescorla is seen briefly in the movie taking a bugle from the Vietnamese as a war trophy. He left the Army and became a corporate security consultant for Morgan Stanley in New York. When terrorists flew an airliner into one of the World Trade Center towers the morning of September 11, 2001, Rescorla was in the adjacent WTC tower. Ignoring authorities' requests to stay put, Rescorla immediately ordered Morgan Stanley’s employees to evacuate, saving all but 6 of the 2700 who worked on the company’s floors. Even then, Rescorla refused to leave, and selflessly went to higher floors to continue helping others. You know the rest. Rick Rescorla: man, warrior, American; rest in peace.

Special thanks to COMBATSIM.COM's own Peter "Zhukov" Pawelek for identifying the site www.lzxray.com, a site dedicated to the memory of the battle.

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