sfdphd This film is interesting in comparison with Go Tell the Spartans, which came out 20 years earlier in 1978. The earlier film starred Burt Lancaster, who is less than gung-ho, unlike Paxton in Bright Shining Lie. What is similar in both films is the way both men begin to realize that what is really happening on the ground in Vietnam is quite different than what the administration is telling the public and the administration refuses to hear the truth from the soldiers on the ground, giving orders that actually get soldiers killed. Paxton's character just keeps upping the ante, refusing to back down, insisting that he can somehow win this war and work around the military leaders. Lancaster gives up on fighting the military leaders and just stays with his men in the field. In Court-martial of Billy Mitchell, Gary Cooper is another gung-ho soldier in an even earlier time period, the 1920's, just after World War I, when airplanes were new to the military. He wants to create an entire Air Force, which both the Army and Navy think is unnecessary. He somehow predicts a future when the USA's fleet at Pearl Harbor is attacked by bombs from Japanese airplanes (how did he guess that?) and foresees the need for a modern air force. He is willing to sacrifice his military career to get that message across. Again, a fascinating film in which the top military leaders refuse to listen to the soldiers in the field (this time in the air vs. on the ground) and these soldiers die because the leaders refuse to listen. These three films certainly show that the military is a pretty bad place for soldiers whose lives may be unnecessarily sacrificed by the commanders who refuse to listen to the people actually fighting the war.

Alex-372 This movie recounts the life and times of John Paul Vann, one of the movers and shakers of the US's non-military programs in the then South Vietnam. Although made in 1998, the movie has a very early to mid-1980s feel to it where production values are concerned and seems to be ignorant of and learned nothing from any movies and series made on the subject since (Tour Of Duty, Off Limits, 48 Charlie Mopic, even Hamburger Hill). The only really good effect was the artillery explosions when Vann apparently called in artillery on his own bunker.A much more interesting and exciting movie could have been made of another book on the non-purely military aspect of the Vietnam conflict (which was essentially economic and political in nature and solution) is Orrin DeForest's "Slow Burn", a book about the much neglected area of military and political intelligence. It has intrigue, suspense, intelligence, (real) romance and comradery that in this movie is only touched on.Anyway, because this movie is based on a book, it has a rather shallow feeling, because again (as usual) the director tries to put in too much, and doesn't connect the material and scenes in a way that is anything other than chronological. He should have picked the ones that could have blended together into a more interesting story.

CharltonBoy The first thing that i thought of after watching this film was who is the film critic for the New York post who described this film as"More powerfull than Apocolypse Now". Who ever he or she is she need to be shown the door. This film does cannot hold a light to Apocolypse Now. The story had potential but the script and the acting stank. Bill Paxton is so wooden he should be classed as a fire hazard and the diologue is abysmal. I can also pick fault in the director who made every scene short which made it confusing but more importantly ever scene had Paxton in it and his irritating southern drawl. You can tell this is a movie made for TV. 5 out of 10.

jkchou For a TV Movie, this film was good. The film didn't look amateurish and the overall quality was generally very good. One scene that especially stood out was when Bill Paxton rushed to the village only to see it get destroyed. However, this movie could have been much better. The most critical error of this movie is that it tries to cover too many elements and ultimately fails to fully address them to any satisfying extent. It lacked focus. There were a lot of good ideas, such as the hidden propaganda, the conflict of war strategy of various people, the familial problems, to the questionable moral and ethical values of the main character..., but most of them were dealt with not more than a dozen lines! In short, this movie needed to be more developed and needed another revision before it was released.