Just watched this again after several years, and frankly, there isn't much I can add to the many reviews already posted except to agree: SOFG is one of the very best films produced on the Viet Nam war. It heads the very, very short list of films that I recommend to people who ask what's the best film about that war. (It joins WE WERE SOLDIERS and THE ODD ANGRY SHOT at the top.) I speak as a former Marine Tet Vet (got my own Purple Heart at Hill 34). The writing is (mostly) spot on and the production crew clearly paid attention when the military advisors spoke. Lee Ermey, bless him, delivers his usual almost-over-the-top performance without even acting. Hauser is almost as good, and manages to avoid the overacting so common among civilian actors doing war films. It almost seems petty to pick on the few technical errors: Ermey at one point refers to himself as being on a LRRP mission (the Army's recon team) when he's Marine Recon, and the magazines on the M-16 rifles seem to hold thousands of rounds...no one ever seems to need to reload. It's NOT being picky to point out two of the most glaring errors: The VC did NOT shoot their way into the US Embassy and start killing secretaries and staff; nineteen sappers broke into the embassy compound and all were killed outside on the grounds. And the Tet Offensive came as a complete surprise only to the news media. But SOFG does manage to stay away from the clichés and sermons that Hollywood seems determined to deliver in its films about the Viet Nam War, and that's what makes it so watchable. It's a just darned good action film.

This movie accomplished its mission; entertainment, character development, believability, and education.All the combat scenes were tense and unpredictable. You were always aware that they were surrounded by an overwhelming enemy, with no way out.There was a remarkable degree of character development within this well-written war movie. R. Lee Ermey was unimpeachable as the USMC Sergeant Major; his performance being so strong, that by contrast, it increased my interest in lesser characters that might have otherwise seemed inadequate. Wings Hauser's character permitted us a glimpse of the inner Sargeant Major. Ermey has given us the single greatest portrayal of a career military character in action on film.The minimal narration by Ermey contributed to the veracity, setting, and historical significance of the story. The power of the narrative, for which Director Brian Trenchard-Smith deserves credit, and the performances by the actors, especially Ermey and Hauser, secure an honored spot for this film in the Pantheon of war movies.

The action centers around the Tet offensive of 1968."The Siege of Firebase Gloria" explores the relationship between Sergeant Major Hafner (R. Lee Ermey)and his protégé Cpl. Di Nardo(Wings Hauser),two members of a Marine Recon squad.The movie opens with a visit to An Lap village,where all inhabitants have been killed and beheaded by the Vietcong.After some fighting the Recon team is transported by helicopter to "Firebase Gloria",which is completely unprepared for the siege of Vietcong that will follow."The Siege of Firebase Gloria" is a fairly realistic war movie with lots of shooting and some harrowing scenes of bloodshed.The acting is great,the characters are heroic and well-developed and the action almost never lets up.8 bullets out of 10.

I have seen this movie many times. There's a first rate presentation of a formula war movie: the stupid officer who in the updated version is so burnt out on drugs he forgets to get dressed, the tough sergeant and his pal, the female medical officer who in the updated version has been promoted from nurse to doctor, the crafty enlisted men and the barbaric enemy.Yet the movie does explain a little bit of the enemy point of view and the snatching of the orphaned Vietnamese child held within the American cantonment expresses poetically the cause slipping away.One could compare this to the French film Diên Biên Phu, sometimes shown as Jump into Hell(1955). Indeed didn't President De Gaulle say "Americans learn nothing from our {French} mistakes!"