Picture 59: Platoon (1986)

4 years into this blog and we visit the Vietnam War once again. Oliver Stone’s Platoon takes us to the height of the conflict in 1967. This year, we are introduced to Charlie Sheen, whose father Martin had starred in Apocalypse Now just 7 years earlier. It is considered one of the greatest war films ever made but is it still a hit in 2025?  

Director Oliver Stone, himself a Vietnam veteran, offers a no-holds-barred insight into the chaotic hell of this war. The soldier’s psyche is shaped by American social inequality and the moral conflicts of Vietnam. US human rights' abuses add an even darker layer to one of humanity’s bleakest modern chapters.

Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger give career-defining performances as sergeants who embody opposite extremes: compassion versus ruthlessness and nihilism. There’s no hero complex here – only the gritty truth that the enemy lies within as much as it does in the jungle and in the tunnels.

Beautifully photographed and deeply affecting with Barber’s Adagio for Strings for accompaniment, this is indeed one of the very best war movies and lands in the now-illustrious top 20.

Celebrity spotters should keep an eye out for Forest Whitaker, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley (from Scrubs) and a very young Johnny Depp.

Rating: 9/10

Oscar Best Picture Rankings:

1. The Godfather (1972)

2. Casablanca (1943)

3. The Apartment (1960)

4. Rebecca (1940)

5. The Godfather: Part II (1974)

6. The Sound of Music (1965)

7. Ordinary People (1980)

8. The Deer Hunter (1978)

9. A Man for All Seasons (1966)

10. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

11. Ben-Hur (1959)

12. Lost Weekend (1945)

13. Platoon (1986)

14. Gandhi (1982)

15. Rocky (1976)

16. Annie Hall (1977)

17. Amadeus (1984)

18. All About Eve (1950)

19. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

20. Hamlet (1948)

21. How Green Was My Valley (1941)

22. Out of Africa (1985)

23. Gone With the Wind (1939)

24. West Side Story (1961)

25. Mrs. Miniver (1942)

26. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

27. Wings (1928)

28. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

29. You can’t take it with you (1938)

30. Patton (1970)

31. Terms of Endearment (1983)

32. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

33. On the Waterfront (1954)

34. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

35. Midnight Cowboy (1969)

36. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

37. Marty (1955)

38. Oliver! (1968)

39. Cimarron (1931)

40. Grand Hotel (1932)

41. The French Connection (1971)

42. An American in Paris (1951)

43. From Here to Eternity (1953)

44. It Happened One Night (1934)

45. My Fair Lady (1964)

46. Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

47. Cavalcade (1933)

48. The Sting (1973)

49. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

50. Going My Way (1944)

51. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

52. Chariots of Fire (1981)

53. All the King’s Men (1949)

54. In the Heat of the Night (1967)

55. Gigi (1958)

56. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

57. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

58. The Broadway Melody (1929)

59. Tom Jones (1963)

Previous or current ranking leaders are in bold.

With credit and thanks to the patrons of the Best Picture Film Club:

Dr Sophie Bloomfield – Fashion Correspondent

Dr Caspar Briault – Head of Cynicism

Dr Conrad Charlton

Dr Sophie Clarke

Dr Kate Diomede

Dr Fionnuala Durrant

Dr Josh Fisher

Dr Joseph Gallaher – CEO and Founder

Dr Joseph Hamilton

Dr Adam Holland – Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Dr Sid Mohan - Divisional Lead for the 1980s

Dr Hannah Morrison

Dr Meera Radia