Don Cheadle's Vietnam War Movie With 100% On Rotten Tomatoes Is Now Streaming On Paramount+
by Joe Roberts · /FilmBack in 1987, John Irvin made a movie about the real-life Battle of Hamburger Hill. But you'd be forgiven for not knowing about it, as "Hamburger Hill" has since been overshadowed by other war epics. Not only did the film feature Don Cheadle in one of his earliest and best roles, it was a big hit with critics. Luckily, you can catch up with "Hamburger Hill" over on Paramount+ right now.
Irvin's war movie earned itself the film equivalent of a Purple Heart when it racked up a 100% critic score based on 12 reviews over on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite that accomplishment, however, the film is often conspicuously absent from many lists of the greatest war films of all time and seems to have been overshadowed by the likes of "The Deer Hunter" and "Saving Private Ryan."
That's a shame because if you hadn't picked up on this already, "Hamburger Hill" is good! The film is based on the real story of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, which, back in May 1969, engaged enemy troops at the base of a hill known to the Army as Hill 937 in Vietnam's A Shau Valley. The battle raged for 10 days and comprised eleven assaults, becoming known as the Battle of Hamburger Hill. Irvin's epic follows the bloody conflict via the perspective of several new recruits to the 101st Airborne's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Division, including Cheadle's Private First Class Johnny Washburn in what remains one of Cheadle's best roles.
Hamburger Hill is based on a tragic real-life event
Like Clint Eastwood's underrated World War II movie "Letters from Iwo Jima" and the aforementioned "Saving Private Ryan," "Hamburger Hill" is one of the best war movies based on true stories. That story began on May 10, 1969, when U.S. troops descended on Hill 937 as part of Operation Apache Snow. Led by General Melvin Zais, the 101st Airborne Division paratroopers engaged the North Vietnamese Army in a battle that saw U.S. forces cut down en masse by machine gun fire. It was this grim reality that led journalists to give the hill and battle its similarly grim nickname: Hamburger Hill.
Though estimates vary, it's thought that around 630 North Vietnamese and 72 U.S. soldiers were killed in the conflict, with 372 American troops wounded. Those figures become even more tragic in light of the fact that the hill had no strategic value and was abandoned by U.S. forces soon after being captured. John Irvin's "Hamburger Hill" not only does an outstanding job of relaying the horror of the battle and the futility of it all, but also the experience of Black soldiers, who found themselves fighting for a country that couldn't even guarantee their own rights.
The film follows five new recruits to the 101st Airborne Division: Privates Joseph Beletsky (Tim Quill), Vincent Languilli (Anthony Barrile), Martin Bienstock (Tommy Swerdlow), Paul Galvan (M.A. Nickles), and medic Johnny Washburn (Don Cheadle). The new additions are assigned to Staff Sergeant Adam Frantz's (Dylan McDermott) squad, which also includes Black veterans Ray Motown (Michael Patrick Boatman), Abraham "Doc" Johnson (Courtney B. Vance), and Elliott McDaniel (Don James). As Washburn integrates into the crew, he learns that his fellow Black soldiers have experienced widespread racism and that plenty more horrors await.
Hamburger Hill brings you as close as possible to experiencing the realities of the Vietnam War
"Hamburger Hill" spends its first act at the Army camp before the soldiers are transported to the A Shau Valley. After that, as you might expect, things ratchet up as the bloodbath on Hill 937 plays out. John Irvin doesn't shy away from depicting the mayhem of the battle, but his movie isn't explicitly anti-war, as it doesn't contextualize the conflict within the wider socio-political climate. "Hamburger Hill" is a very successful attempt to give us a first-hand experience of what fighting in Vietnam was really like. The film often feels like a document of what happened rather than a staunchly anti or pro-war piece — unsurprising given John Irvin shot actual documentaries in Vietnam during the war.
We do, however, see aspects of the outside world intruding upon the soldiers' experience, such as when Tommy Swerdlow's Private Bienstock discovers his girlfriend is breaking up with him over the war because her "friends at college think it's immoral." There's also a moment involving a documentary crew and the aforementioned racial issues — all of which Don Cheadle's Johnny Washburn navigates with a remarkable equanimity. Cheadle does a fine job of balancing that level-headedness with an effective portrayal of the mental anguish his character endures.
But Cheadle isn't the only good thing about the movie, which the New York Times' Vincent Canby thought was most effective as a "physical re-creation of the sights and sounds of the battle of Hill 937." Elsewhere, Hal Hinson of the Washington Post called it a "deeply affecting, highly accomplished film." That makes "Hamburger Hill" a perfect war movie according to Rotten Tomatoes, and well worth checking out over on Paramount+.