Hamburger Hill

"War at its worst fought by young men at their best"

1987 1h 50m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 531

WarActionDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill… up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell, but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was, the way it really was. It's a raw, gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst, men at their best.

“War at its worst fought by young men at their best”

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Cast

Dylan McDermott
Sgt. Adam Frantz
Steven Weber
Sfc. Dennis Worcester
Tim Quill
Pvt. Joe Beletsky
Michael Boatman
Spc Motown
Anthony Barrile
Pvt Vincent 'Alphabet' Languilli
Don Cheadle
Pvt. Washburn
Courtney B. Vance
Spc. Abraham 'Doc' Johnson
Tommy Swerdlow
Pvt. Martin Bienstock

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Irvin
Writers: James Carabatsos
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

39 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Irvin, shot by Peter MacDonald. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Philip Glass. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Peter Tanner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Dylan McDermott and Steven Weber and Tim Quill carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "War at its worst fought by young men at their best".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0093137 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Irvin directs. Peter MacDonald behind the camera. Philip Glass scores. Peter Tanner cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

139 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by John Irvin, shot by Peter MacDonald. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Philip Glass. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Peter Tanner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Dylan McDermott and Steven Weber and Tim Quill carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "War at its worst fought by young men at their best".
7IMDB entry: tt0093137 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 17 themes, including "vietnam war", "insanity", "gi", "u.s. air force".

The technical file

Cinematography: Peter MacDonald
Original score: Philip Glass
Editing: Peter Tanner
Production design: Austen Spriggs
Makeup / hair: Cecille Baun
Runtime: 110 min · 1h 50m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $13,839,404
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Hamburger Hill (1987)

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John Irvin

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-05-22
★ 9/10
The meat grinder effect. Unfairly forgotten and left in the slipstream of critical darlings Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill can proudly fly its own worthwhile flag. There's nothing preachy or political here, director John Irvin and writer James Carabatsos approach the subject with a refreshing humane honesty, making us viewers privy to the American soldiers mindset as they cope with life in Vietnam before an assault on some turd pile strategic hill, a battle that the survivors of that particular bloody conflict would call Hamburger Hill. No matter what one feels about the war, the politics of such etc, the fact that quite often Vietnam films zoom in on the misdemeanours and egotistical sides of the American presence in Vietnam, tends to detract from the bravery of men and boys who were doing the job their government decreed they should do. Hamburger Hill addresses this, proudly so. Pace is deliberate and literate, building up to the assault on Hill 937, with little slices of kinetic action inserted along the way to tantalise and torment in equal measure. Not all the acting is smart, there's a cast of up and coming thesps on show that features some who have gone on to be "name" actors, while others that were out of their depth subsequently found a level more befitting their abilities. Yet this is also a cunning tactic in the film's favour, no stars needed here, young adult actors without baggage or headlines kind of feels appropriate for this portrayal of soldiers in an alien world, many of whom would lay their shattered bodies down in the mud at Hamburger Hill. 8/10
GenerationofSwine2023-01-12
★ 10/10
Courtney B. Vance was kind of all over the place in this wasn't he? One moment he's an over-the-top make everything political racist, and the next moment he actually cares about everyone... and then it's back to nothing but race... and then he cares about people. He really needed to pick a direction and roll with it, because he came across as going too places at once. But otherwise this is the forgotten cousin of Platoon. It's not exactly as good as Platoon, but it is more solid start-to-finish than Full Metal Jacket was. The strength really comes from an attempt to depict the events without really making anything heroic, or action-hero dramatic. And, instead, they do their best to make it just a straight war movie. No great odyssey, no moral point, no real views on Vietnam as opposed to other wars. Just a straight war movie and nothing. It's not unlike Saving Private Ryan, in which the film is able to make both a pro-soldier statement while also being anti-war. It's a fine line to walk, but they do it with the skill needed to both show absolute brutality, and the humanity of soldiers that are put in that horrible situation.