The Vietnam war BBC4

[IanH755]

philwhite said:

As a side note, does anyone know whether the BBC are showing an edited version? Wikipedia lists the show as being 18 hours in total, yet the BBC are showing it in 10 hour long episodes?

The BBC have bought the "international" version which is only 10 hours longs while the original PBS version is the whole 18 hrs. You can buy the PBS version on Blu-Ray (I did from US Amazon, UK only gets DVD version) and, as I haven't watched the BBC version, I'm wondering how they've been able to chop out nearly 1/2 the footage yet still keep the series so good?

PS His "US Civil War" documentary from is just as good as this, fantastic material!

Edited by IanH755 on Tuesday 10th October 12:24

[Eric Mc]

BBC have a habit of chopping American documentaries, which is a pity. They chopped lumps out of the original 1980 series "Cosmos" as well.

I watched "Cosmos" on Irish TV at the time and they showed the full length American version.

[nicanary]

Eddie Strohacker said:

The quote from those two eps for me was the Marine saying Vietnam proved to him we're killing machines & the Army is just finishing school. That & the Huey pilot who didn't seem all there as a result of his experiences.

I just watched that. The chopper pilot was on another planet - really living on the edge, and you would fear for him.

Did anyone spot the Edsel in a Saigon traffic scene? So that's where the only one sold in Asia ended up .

[anonymous-user]

nicanary said:

I just watched that. The chopper pilot was on another planet - really living on the edge, and you would fear for him.

Flying helicopters in combat screws you up. One minute it's pizza and DVDs in an aircon tent, then fifteen minutes flying time away you're in the middle of a fire fight....tracer, explosions, heat, smell, noise.....it's fked up.
I did it in Afghanistan and Iraq and as I sit here typing it feels like it wasn't me, but someone I knew.

[smack]

Crossflow Kid said:

Flying helicopters in combat screws you up. One minute it's pizza and DVDs in an aircon tent, then fifteen minutes flying time away you're in the middle of a fire fight....tracer, explosions, heat, smell, noise.....it's fked up.
I did it in Afghanistan and Iraq and as I sit here typing it feels like it wasn't me, but someone I knew.

When I grew up, one of my childhood best friend's dad was a Huey Pilot in Vietnam. He had zero desire to fly after he left the military, even although there was loads of demand and money for experienced pilots at the time, and never stepped on board a helicopter since.
His marriage fell apart after serving in Vietnam, problems dealing post war psychological issues a big factor in that, I remember he was pretty messed up at the time. In the end he became a prison guard, when he found he could cope with life in the routine and structure of prison, and you could say with nature of that workplace, little personal responsibility, which in his case was good for him, and at least he was there for his son.

[stuartmmcfc]

“Chickenhawk” by Robert Mason about his helicopter flying experience in Vietnam is a brilliant read,

[wolfracesonic]

nicanary said:

I just watched that. The chopper pilot was on another planet - really living on the edge, and you would fear for him.

Did anyone spot the Edsel in a Saigon traffic scene? So that's where the only one sold in Asia ended up .

'He was wrapped too tight for Vietnam; probably wrapped too tight for New Orleans.' A bit disappointed to see the 'Now that's what I call Vietnam war music vol. 1' creeping in a bit more, accompanying every clip; the commentary and images are more than strong enough to hold up on their own.

[stuartmmcfc]

I think the soundtrack adds to the feeling of the time, I like it.

[Eric Mc]

There is a tendency to play current hits of a period as background music. It's not all that bad but it can become formulaic. In the end, you start associating the song with certain images. For instance, it's hard to hear "Paint it Black" without seeing Hueys approaching a paddy field. Or listen to The Doors "The End" without seeing slow motion footage of napalm canisters tumbling down to explode in the jungle canopy below.

[RicksAlfas]

Paint it Black was the theme tune to Tour of Duty.
Anyone remember that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Duty_(TV_ser...

[Dog Star]

That special forces guy - the one with the dark hair and beard wearing a suit - 50 years later he looks hard as fk!

[Eric Mc]

RicksAlfas said:

Paint it Black was the theme tune to Tour of Duty.
Anyone remember that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Duty_(TV_ser...

I remember it being on, but I never really watched it.

[deltaevo16]

stuartmmcfc said:

“Chickenhawk” by Robert Mason about his helicopter flying experience in Vietnam is a brilliant read,

A brilliant read, also recommend Dispatches, and A rumour of war, amongst the many I have read on the conflict.

This continues to be a brilliant portrayal of that whole era. The last episode covering the Tet offensive was horrifyingly brutal.

[RDMcG]

I have an older friend who flew F4s there and in in frames of the doc early on. He thinks the film is good and made an interesting comment to me,'"I felt sorry for the guys I was killing even then and sort of knew it was unwinnable".

[Johnnybee]

The helicopter pilot must have been the inspiration for The A Team's "Howling Mad" Murdock

[QuantumTokoloshi]

There is a history channel Vietnam documentary on youtube, includes many of the same interviewees. Well worth watching.

Vietnam in HD

[Eric Mc]

I'd watch that only the formatting looks a bit squashed.

[marcosgt]

Did I miss something? The hirsute helicopter man was a gunner, not a pilot, wasn't he?

Are people talking about someone else?

M

[marcosgt]

Eric Mc said:

RicksAlfas said:

Paint it Black was the theme tune to Tour of Duty.
Anyone remember that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Duty_(TV_ser...

I remember it being on, but I never really watched it.

I watched it now and then.

It was a fairly decent attempt to make a drama about the Vietnam War.

The Michael J Fox/Sean Penn film "Casualties of War" is obviously based on the incident mentioned in the recent episode (About the young woman raped and killed over a few days by US soldiers).

M

[IanH755]

Episode 8 is a very hard watch (not sure if BBC will show the full version), the colour images of the dead at the My Lai massacre (old, young, babies etc) and the Kent University attack (National Guard shot into the crowd) really got my anger building, and that emotional response shows just how well made this doc is!