50 best movies about the Vietnam War
Nov. 1, 2024, marks the 69th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War, a moment that's been represented in various films and TV shows as a critical turning point in the world's history. The lasting effects of the Vietnam War are as potent a part of pop culture in 2024 as the unfolding war was itself in the late 1960s. Though the war has been over for nearly 50 years, its particularly poignant impact on film and television might have something to do with the fact that it was the first war to be fully televised. People from all over the world were able to tune in and not only see some of the shocking events taking place thousands of miles across the globe but also express their views about the war in new ways.
A litany of films was released in reaction to the Vietnam War both in the immediate years after it ended and while the war was still raging on—some films were even shot on location in close proximity to active battle zones. These films harbor differing sentiments toward the war itself, some choosing to focus more heavily on the honorable sacrifices made by brave men and women; others on the damaging mental and emotional effects of battle; or the inadequacy of the U.S. government response to assisting veterans and the damage done to the native Vietnamese people.
In 2020, the hurt inflicted upon many by involvement in the Vietnam War still lingers and colors the experiences of people who are still alive. Just because battle ended in 1975 does not mean the battle has ended for those still suffering from trauma and PTSD, in addition to the enduring influence on politics, social justice, human rights, and foreign policy. People still carry stories that demand to be told, and the war has successfully immortalized itself within pop culture because of this.
Stacker combed all war films on IMDb as of Dec. 10, 2020, sifted through to pick out those that dealt with Vietnam, and ranked the top 50 according to IMDb user rating with ties broken by vote count. Films that focused explicitly on aspects of the conflict were included, whether they took place before, during, or after the war. Counting down from 50, here are the best movies about the Vietnam War.
#50. Streamers (1983)
- Director: Robert Altman
- IMDb user rating: 6.5
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 118 minutes
Four young recruits wait anxiously to be deployed to their assignments during the Vietnam War and find tensions start to simmer as issues of race, class, and sexuality come to play during their period of purgatory. The film explores the unwieldy temperaments and innate prejudices harbored by the young men set to fight for their country.
#49. Bat*21 (1988)
- Director: Peter Markle
- IMDb user rating: 6.5
- Metascore: 58
- Runtime: 105 minutes
Based on real events, Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton is shot down in the jungles of Vietnam, and he and his aircraft end up in enemy territory in the final days of the war. His only means of communication is a radio transmission to one pilot who must help him devise an escape, and he is then forced to witness the horrors of war on his way out.
#48. Da 5 Bloods (2020)
- Director: Spike Lee
- IMDb user rating: 6.5
- Metascore: 82
- Runtime: 154 minutes
Four Black Vietnam vets head back to the South Asian country for a reunion of sorts, but one where they aim to retrieve the remains of their slain squad leader and recover the fortune they buried in the jungle together. The reconnaissance mission turns deadly as antipathy and traumas flare between the men. As each must reckon with the unique pain left to them by the unforgiving war, they are forced to confront the past and the present.
#47. Hamburger Hill (1987)
- Director: John Irvin
- IMDb user rating: 6.7
- Metascore: 64
- Runtime: 110 minutes
During the course of an infantry squad's attempt to overtake the titular hill, the group of men made up of seasoned soldiers and new recruits must also deal with the psychological stresses of the Vietnam War during these grueling 10 days. Based on the real Battle of Hamburger Hill, the men must all grapple with the acute toll of anti-war sentiment back home, and the racial prejudices between them.
#46. The Quiet American (1958)
- Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- IMDb user rating: 6.8
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 120 minutes
Based on the 1955 novel of the same name, the events depicted precede the Vietnam War itself, though they portray the American involvement in Vietnam which led to the war. In the film, a British journalist is stationed in the country to cover the increasing unrest and is simultaneously caught in a dangerous love triangle with a Vietnamese woman and an American economist.
#45. 84C MoPic (1989)
- Director: Patrick Sheane Duncan
- IMDb user rating: 6.8
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 95 minutes
In this mock-documentary film, a camera crew follows an Army unit in the Vietnamese jungle on a reconnaissance mission for a soldier named Charlie. On this dangerous, five-day trek, the cameramen interview the soldiers as the group of men descend deeper into an unforgiving warzone, the film taking place during the very height of the Vietnam War.
#44. Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
- Director: Robert Aldrich
- IMDb user rating: 6.8
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 146 minutes
After escaping from military prison, a rogue United States Air Force general overtakes an ICBM complex in Montana, threatening to start World War III if the government does not release the contents of a top-secret document. The document in question contains a shocking revelation: that the United States knew there was no hope in winning the Vietnam War, but kept fighting anyway to establish anti-communist sentiments towards the Soviet Union.
#43. Fandango (1985)
- Director: Kevin Reynolds
- IMDb user rating: 6.8
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 91 minutes
A group of young college buddies embarks on a post-graduate road trip across the American west towards the Rio Grande in this coming-of-age film. During their time together, the five men must grapple with the looming uncertainties of adulthood and the threat of being drafted into the Vietnam War.
#42. Danger Close (2019)
- Director: Kriv Stenders
- IMDb user rating: 6.8
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 118 minutes
Based on the real-life events surrounding The Battle of Long Tan, a group of outnumbered, inexperienced young soldiers from New Zealand and Australia find themselves up against 2,500 of the Viet Cong. As ammunition runs dry and bodies mount, the film tells the true story of finding courage in spite of immeasurable odds.
#41. The War (1994)
- Director: Jon Avnet
- IMDb user rating: 6.8
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 126 minutes
In the 1970s, A Vietnam vet returns home to rural Mississippi, where he struggles to adjust to normal life and endures lasting PTSD from his time in the war. After finding some semblance of peace in his new mining job, he continues to work through his trauma while helping his children deal with a neighborhood war of their own.
#40. Heaven & Earth (1993)
- Director: Oliver Stone
- IMDb user rating: 6.8
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 140 minutes
A native Vietnamese woman is caught within the violence of the Vietnam War, as her village is destroyed by the forces of the South Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong and she is forced to flee for survival. But things change when she meets a kind U.S. Marine, and the two begin to fall for one another—but the war has taken more of a toll on him than either of them realize.
#39. Dead Presidents (1995)
- Directors: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
- IMDb user rating: 6.9
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 119 minutes
After his harrowing tour of duty in Vietnam, soldier Anthony Curtis returns to his home in the Bronx, but the difficulties of adjusting to civilian life and finding work proves to be too much for Curtis and his veteran friends. He's forced to team up with some small-time crooks to pull off a bank heist that will allow them to provide for themselves should they succeed.
#38. Tigerland (2000)
- Director: Joel Schumacher
- IMDb user rating: 6.9
- Metascore: 55
- Runtime: 101 minutes
In their final stages of infantry training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, a platoon of young men preparing for combat each deals with the prospect of heading off to battle in their own way. However, one particularly defiant, anti-war draftee takes leadership of the squad and rouses all its members, helping some of them get sent home due to loopholes.
#37. The War at Home (1996)
- Director: Emilio Estevez
- IMDb user rating: 7.0
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 123 minutes
Haunted by the acts he committed during his time in the war, Vietnam veteran Jeremy returns home to live with his parents, but his family becomes mystified by his increasingly odd and erratic behavior. With Thanksgiving fast approaching and his family unable to understand his experiences, Jeremy's sister is the only one who recognizes that he desperately needs professional help.
#36. The Boys in Company C (1978)
- Director: Sidney J. Furie
- IMDb user rating: 7.0
- Metascore: 62
- Runtime: 125 minutes
Following five Marines from boot camp to active combat, the young men become disillusioned and disheartened by their experience in the war, witnessing corruption, incompetence, and coming to terms with the futility of their fight. A way out presents itself in the form of a soccer game against a South Vietnamese team, as they're told that they will be taken out of combat if they throw the match.
#35. The Sapphires (2012)
- Director: Wayne Blair
- IMDb user rating: 7.0
- Metascore: 67
- Runtime: 103 minutes
Based on the true story of the real-life girl group, in 1968, a group of four Yorta Yorta Indigenous Australian women travels to Vietnam to entertain American troops. Though they have immense promise and talent, tensions flare, and romance ignites all amidst the chaos of a deadly war.
#34. The Quiet American (2002)
- Director: Phillip Noyce
- IMDb user rating: 7.0
- Metascore: 84
- Runtime: 101 minutes
The second film adaptation of the 1955 novel of the same name takes place in Vietnam in 1952, during the French Indochina War, depicting America's growing involvement that led to the Vietnam War. There, a veteran British journalist becomes embroiled in a love triangle with an American CIA operative and a native Vietnamese woman. But passion is at odds with betrayal, drugs, and danger.
#33. Nixon (1995)
- Director: Oliver Stone
- IMDb user rating: 7.1
- Metascore: 66
- Runtime: 192 minutes
A look at the personal and professional life of America's controversial 37th president, this biographical drama explores Richard Nixon from his youth and college life to his tumultuous political years. Though his presidency ended U.S. involvement in Vietnam, his multiple triumphs in office ultimately still led him to his infamous Watergate Scandal.
#32. Casualties of War (1989)
- Director: Brian De Palma
- IMDb user rating: 7.1
- Metascore: 75
- Runtime: 113 minutes
Private Max Eriksson and Sergeant Tony Meserve clash in Vietnam when the cold-hearted sergeant demands the kidnapping of a Vietnamese woman to be used as his sex slave. When Eriksson refuses to take part in the abuse, he finds himself ostracized within his own unit as hostility mounts between the men and in the war itself.
#31. Eastern Condors (1987)
- Director: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 93 minutes
Set during the aftermath of the Vietnam War, a group of Asian POWs is given a chance at freedom, when they are offered a mission by the United States to destroy a secret missile warehouse left behind in Vietnam. The motley crew is hunted and eventually captured by Viet Cong soldiers, as they discover that one of them is a double agent.
#30. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
- Director: Oliver Stone
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Metascore: 75
- Runtime: 145 minutes
A patriotic teen enlists in the Marines in the 1960s, but a second tour in the Vietnam War forces him to radically change his perspective. After accidentally killing a fellow soldier and becoming paralyzed while on duty, he returns home to an uncaring government and anti-war sentiment from civilians. The true story of Ron Kovic follows the veteran's transformation to a staunch critic of the war and a pro-human rights activist.
#29. We Were Soldiers (2002)
- Director: Randall Wallace
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Metascore: 65
- Runtime: 138 minutes
Detailing the first major battle between the North Vietnamese and the United States, this film was based upon "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young" a book by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and journalist Joseph L. Galloway. Dramatizing the Battle of Ia Drang, the film depicts soldiers on both sides of the war and of the sacrifices made by those both home and abroad.
#28. Medium Cool (1969)
- Director: Haskell Wexler
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Metascore: 87
- Runtime: 111 minutes
A weather-worn TV news cameraman attempts to cover the increasing conflict in America over the Vietnam War while maintaining his neutrality, but all that changes when he covers the 1968 Democratic National Convention. When protests erupt over the war and the cameraman learns his network has been working with the FBI, he decides to join in on the fight against the powers-that-be.
#27. Music Within (2007)
- Director: Steven Sawalich
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Metascore: 53
- Runtime: 94 minutes
With his college dreams behind him, a young man decides to join the Army and is shipped off to Vietnam. After serving and losing most of his hearing, his original aspirations of going to college for public speaking reemerge, as his natural gift for motivational speaking allows him to advocate for other people with disabilities.
#26. Coming Home (1978)
- Director: Hal Ashby
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Metascore: 61
- Runtime: 127 minutes
While her husband serves in Vietnam, Sally Hyde decides to spend her time volunteering at a local veterans hospital. Forming a friendship with one of the vets there, a disillusioned man named Luke who uses a wheelchair, the friendship soon turns into a romance, and Sally becomes torn between two men with very different sentiments on the war.
#25. Birdy (1984)
- Director: Alan Parker
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Metascore: 71
- Runtime: 120 minutes
Two young veterans both uniquely affected by their difficult time in the Vietnam War struggle to adjust to life afterward. But one of them, so damaged by his experiences, shuts himself off from reality completely by devolving into psychosis, believing himself to be a bird. Confined to a mental hospital where doctors are unsure how to treat him, he is visited every day by his childhood best friend—also a veteran—who tries to help him.
#24. Easy Rider (1969)
- Director: Dennis Hopper
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Metascore: 85
- Runtime: 95 minutes
Though not specifically dealing with the Vietnam War, the classic Dennis Hopper film about two hippies traversing the United States on motorcycles acted as a staple of the strengthening counterculture that sought to end the war. Taking place during Vietnam-era America, the men's cross-country trip puts them at odds with the frequent prejudicial hatred of small-town life.
#23. Rescue Dawn (2006)
- Director: Werner Herzog
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Metascore: 77
- Runtime: 120 minutes
An American pilot is shot down over Laos and taken prisoner during the Vietnam War, where he is tortured and malnourished. The story details the real-life events surrounding Dieter Dengler's struggle for survival, as his plans to escape with two fellow prisoners are impaired by the unforgiving nature of the rainforest.
#22. Across the Universe (2007)
- Director: Julie Taymor
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Metascore: 56
- Runtime: 133 minutes
Set to the timeless melodies of the Beatles, this jukebox musical takes place during a period of great cultural change and strife in the 1960s. When a young British dockworker heads to America to find his father, he gets acquainted with a college student and his sister. But the friends become swept up in the growing political chaos of the world, some joining the anti-war movement, while others are drafted against their will.
#21. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
- Director: Barry Levinson
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Metascore: 67
- Runtime: 121 minutes
Airman Second Class Adrian Cronauer ships out to Vietnam to work as a radio jockey, using his humor to brighten up the lives of the soldiers there. However, he finds himself at odds with his superior officer, who disapproves of Cronauer's irreverent war commentary. As the sergeant attempts to censor him, Cronauer begins to pursue the affections of a Vietnamese woman.
#20. The Beautiful Country (2004)
- Director: Hans Petter Moland
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Metascore: 64
- Runtime: 125 minutes
After reuniting with his mother in Saigon and being accidentally involved in a crime, a Vietnamese boy named Binh escapes with his brother and heads for the United States. His six-month-long journey from his village takes him to Texas, where he looks to find his American father who met his mother during his time serving in the Vietnam War.
#19. Dogfight (1991)
- Director: Nancy Savoca
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 94 minutes
In 1963, 18-year-old Eddie Birdlace prepares to be deployed to Vietnam and spends one final night partying in San Francisco with his friends. In the blowout event, he and his friends join a "dogfight" contest at a bar: where Marines bring unattractive girls who are then judged based on their looks. However, Eddie begins falling for the shy girl he brings as his date.
#18. In the Year of the Pig (1968)
- Director: Emile de Antonio
- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 103 minutes
This condemning documentation of the Vietnam War examines the roots of the conflict, from French colonialists in the late 19th century to American involvement in Vietnam starting in the early 1950s. Using archival footage and his own interviews, director Emile de Antonio offers a scathing critique of the controversial war.
#17. Jacob's Ladder (1990)
- Director: Adrian Lyne
- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Metascore: 62
- Runtime: 113 minutes
A Vietnam veteran comes home to find his mind on the brink of insanity, as he is plagued by visions, hallucinations, and flashbacks to his agonizing time in the war. As the people in his life begin twisting and contorting into strange images, those closest to him fail to keep him from descending further into madness in this psychological horror film.
#16. Swimming to Cambodia (1987)
- Director: Jonathan Demme
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Metascore: 68
- Runtime: 85 minutes
Adapted from the successful, one-man show of the same name, lead performer and writer Spalding Gray sits behind a desk in front of the camera and recounts his time spent in a minor role in the film "The Killing Fields." The film details the civil war created within Cambodia, a direct result of the Vietnam War spilling over the Cambodian border.
#15. Last Days in Vietnam (2014)
- Director: Rory Kennedy
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Metascore: 86
- Runtime: 98 minutes
As the Vietnam War comes to a close, American soldiers are tasked with the difficult decision of whether to obey White House orders and evacuate only Americans, or help the South Vietnamese cornered by the North Vietnamese army in Saigon. This documentary recounts the events of this evacuation codenamed Operation Frequent Wind and features interviews with various American diplomats and government officials.
#14. Bullet in the Head (1990)
- Director: John Woo
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 136 minutes
Three close friends from Hong Kong escape the city to Saigon during Vietnam wartime, with the intent to begin their successful life of crime. However, they are captured by the Viet Cong and end up in a prison camp alongside American soldiers, where they endure a torturous experience that changes their friendship and the course of their lives.
#13. Hair (1979)
- Director: Milos Forman
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Metascore: 68
- Runtime: 121 minutes
Adapted from the 1968 Broadway musical, this comedy-drama musical follows a Vietnam War draftee named Claude, who meets and befriends a group of New York City hippies on his way to the army induction center from Oklahoma. But while in the city, he unexpectedly becomes romantically entangled with a young woman he meets there, and his friends try to keep them together.
#12. Running on Empty (1988)
- Director: Sidney Lumet
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Metascore: 67
- Runtime: 116 minutes
A family of four lives perpetually on the lam from United States authorities after setting fire to a government weapons lab in an attempt to stunt the Vietnam War campaign during the 1960s. But their eldest son, Danny, is on the cusp of adulthood and yearns for a normal life—though it could mean that he never sees his family again.
#11. First Blood (1982)
- Director: Ted Kotcheff
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Metascore: 61
- Runtime: 93 minutes
Damaged Vietnam veteran John Rambo searches for an old friend in a small Washington town but is needlessly harassed by the town's sheriff—until he reaches his breaking point. Rambo snaps, reverting to his mindset from the war and responding to the officer and his deputies in kind. With the dangerous Rambo now on the lam, he must use his survival tactics to get the cops off his tail.
#10. The Killing Fields (1984)
- Director: Roland Joffé
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Metascore: 76
- Runtime: 141 minutes
A New York Times journalist travels to Cambodia to cover the Cambodian Civil War during the Khmer Rouge takeover, a direct result of the Vietnam War. There, he and his interpreter form a close friendship, soon tested by the United States' decision to pull out its troops as the violence intensifies, and the journalist makes plans to flee. But his interpreter aims to stay and cover the story—which may cost him his life.
#9. American Gangster (2007)
- Director: Ridley Scott
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Metascore: 76
- Runtime: 157 minutes
Based on real-life drug lord Frank Lucas, this biodrama follows Lucas's rise to power during Vietnam War-era America in the 1970s, and the cop dedicated to bringing him to justice. Establishing himself as Harlem's number one heroin importer, he finds success buying directly from his source in Thailand and smuggling the drugs using returning servicemen from the war.
#8. Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)
- Director: Werner Herzog
- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 80 minutes
Thirty years after German-American pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos and imprisoned, this documentary follows Dengler and director Werner Herzog as they return to the place in Laos where Dengler was captured. Telling the story in great detail, Dengler describes what he endured in order to escape, with Herzog even having him recreate graphic moments.
#7. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
- Directors: Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper, Eleanor Coppola
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 96 minutes
A documentary of the fraught production of Francis Ford Coppola's seminal Vietnam War epic "Apocalypse Now," the film features archival footage, interviews, and hidden audio recordings made by Coppola's wife, Eleanor Coppola, to piece together the many difficulties. With poor weather, casting problems, actors' health issues, and war still raging near filming locations in the Philippines, the uniquely triumphant film endured a uniquely difficult filmmaking experience.
#6. The Deer Hunter (1978)
- Director: Michael Cimino
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Metascore: 86
- Runtime: 183 minutes
Three friends from rural Pennsylvania decide to enlist in the Vietnam War, following one final hunting trip and a joyous wedding. Though they set off with high hopes of honor and glory, these dreams are quite promptly dashed by the true inhumanities of war. When they return home to their loved ones, they are forever scarred by what they experienced and are different men than the ones who left for battle.
#5. Platoon (1986)
- Director: Oliver Stone
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Metascore: 92
- Runtime: 120 minutes
In 1967, college student Chris Taylor leaves his studies and voluntarily enlists in Vietnam combat duty, but his idealistic hopes for battle are soon dashed when he gets his boots on the ground. Infighting between Staff Sergeant Barnes and Sergeant Elias causes rifts between the soldiers under them, and Chris is soon faced with inhumanity, immense suffering, and the duality of man.
#4. Hearts and Minds (1974)
- Director: Peter Davis
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Metascore: 68
- Runtime: 112 minutes
With its title based on a quote by President Lyndon Johnson, this documentary juxtaposes shocking, revealing interviews with military figures with scenes of horrific violence and brutality in Vietnam. The film's use of Johnson's quote is meant to be ironic in the context of the anti-war film, Johnson having claimed that victory in Vietnam would depend on the "hearts and minds of the people who actually live out there."
#3. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Metascore: 76
- Runtime: 116 minutes
Class clown Private Davis and dim-witted Private Lawrence are inducted through basic training in preparation for being sent off to Vietnam, where they endure vitriol-spewing drill instructor Hartman. The dehumanization does not stop at boot camp, however, as Davis is sent to Vietnam as a journalist after graduating from the Marine Corps, where he covers the grueling Battle of Hué.
#2. Apocalypse Now (1979)
- Director: Francis Ford Coppola
- IMDb user rating: 8.4
- Metascore: 94
- Runtime: 147 minutes
Loosely based on Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness," the story centers on Captain Willard's task of finding an AWOL Army Special Forces officer who has gone reclusive within the Vietnamese jungle—and reportedly lost his mind. Willard's journey to find him forces him deep into the very thick of the Vietnam War, sliding him further away from humanity and closer to insanity.
#1. Forrest Gump (1994)
- Director: Robert Zemeckis
- IMDb user rating: 8.8
- Metascore: 82
- Runtime: 142 minutes
Slow-minded country boy Forrest Gump's epic life is told from childhood to adulthood, as he lives through and directly participates in many major historical events—including the Vietnam War. When he enlists in the U.S. Army after graduating college, he befriends fellow soldier Bubba, and in 1968 they ship out together to serve their country in active combat. Forrest's life is forever changed by their chance friendship.
