Vietnam Veteran Film Series (FREE)

Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of all ground combat troops leaving Vietnam, the GARDEN with the support of Rolling Thunder Vermont Chapter 1 and The American Legion Orange Post 172 will dedicate every Thursday in August to showing four great films about the Vietnam Veteran's experience in combat. All films are completely FREE to the public. On August 4th the Garden opens the series with a show, We Were Soldiers (2002) (R) starring Mel Gibson as Lt. Col Hal Moore in the film based on his memoir. Also featuring stars like Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliot and Chris Klien, the film tells the story of how 400 Air Calvary soldiers were outnumbered ten to one in the Battle of la Drang, November 14, 1965. On August 11th the Garden will show Full Metal Jacket (1987) (R) directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio. Full Metal Jacket follows a platoon of Marine recruits from basic training through the Tet Offensive in Da Nang January, 30, 1968. The film won Best Director and Supporting Actor (Emery) in the Bostin Society of Film Critics' Awards. On August 18th the Garden will show The Deer Hunter (1978) (R) written and directed by Michael Cimino, stars Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep. The film follows a group of Pennsylvania steel workers who deploy to Vietnam, who become POWs and tortured by the Viet Cong, as well as issues of PTSD upon their return. The film was nominated for 11 and won 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Walken) and Best Director. In 1996 it was preserved in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry and it remains on the American Film Institute's list of the Top 100 films ever made. On August 25th the Garden concludes the series with Platoon (1986)(R) directed by Oliver Stone and staring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger and William Dafoe while featuring Johnny Depp, Kevin Dillon and Forrest Whitaker. Based on Stone's own experiences as an infantryman in Vietnam the film explores the conflict of an inexperienced officer torn between competing influences of two highly experienced noncommissioned officers, one idealistic and the other hardened and cynical. Like The Deer Hunter, Platoon was nominated for 11 and won 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. In 2019 it was preserved in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry and it remains on the American Film Institute's list of the Top 100 films ever made, though behind The Deer Hunter. On August 11, 1972, the Third Battalion, Twenty-First Infantry withdrew from their station guarding an airbase, these were the last of ground combat troops left Vietnam. While 43,000 advisors, support troops and airmen remained behind along with the 7th fleet in the South China Sea and Airforce personnel in Thailand and Guam this date marked the beginning of the end of the slow withdrawal of US forces in Vietnam. It would still take until April 29, 1975 for the last US personnel to leave Vietnam and for the war to effectively end.