These are the true events of November, 1965, the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam,
a place our country does not remember, in a war it does not understand.
Commanding the air cavalry unit, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore is a born leader committed to his troops who are getting ready for the first battle of the Vietnam War. The story line is how he leads his men into the La Drang Valley in Vietnam. The story also talks about the minor plot back at home where Moore's wife along with another wife take over the job of delivering telegrams informing relatives of soldiers deaths to relatives that live at Fort Benning, the units base of operation.
The night before their departure for Vietnam a sort of a party for the officers assigned to the mission is celebrated. In this passage LTC Moore learns from a superior officer that his unit will be known as the 1st Battalion / 7th cavalry regiment, he is disquieted because the 1st Battalion / 7th Cavalry regiment was the battalion commanded by General Custer when he and his unit was slaughtered at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and because Lyndon B. Johnson decreed that the war would be fought "on the cheap" without declaring it a national emergency, hence depriving Moore of his oldest, best-trained soldiers (a formal declaration of war would have meant mobilization and extension of the terms of enlistment for volunteer soldiers) -about 25% of his battalion- just prior to shipping for Vietnam.
The story then goes to the battle and switches between the Vietnamese and American forces view. In the movie, the Vietnamese troops were treated with respect (see below in Debates). At the end of the three days of fighting, the seemingly victorious G.I.'s leave. The movie puts a strong emphasis that Moore is the last one to set foot off the field of battle, once he's been assured that all his men dead or alive have been recovered from the battlefield.
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Movie Script
| Directed by | Randall Wallace |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Arne L.
Schmidt Jim Lemley Randall Wallace |
| Written by | Harold G.
Moore Joseph L. Galloway (book) Randall Wallace (screenplay) |
| Starring |
Mel Gibson Madeleine Stowe Greg Kinnear Don Duong Sam Elliott Chris Klein Keri Russell Barry Pepper Dylan Walsh |
| Music by | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 2002-03-01 |
| Running time | 138 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $75,000,000 |