Was There a 1980s Boom in Vietnam-themed Films?

While writing and musing about the television Vietnam War-drama "China Beach" earlier this week, it occurred to me that there was a bit of a box-office boomlet in the late 1980s, after Oliver Stone's first of three Vietnam movies achieved critical and box-office success. I'd christen it the "Platoon"-boom, but the whole thing could've just as easily be said to have started with "Rambo: First Blood Part II" (1985).

Regardless, at the time, it seemed that America was not only finally ready to talk about Vietnam, but to watch it on TV and on the silver screen. For entertainment purposes.

I started collecting a list of movies and television shows about war—features and fictions, not documentaries—and could use some help fleshing it out. My hypothesis is that major theatrical releases peak approximately 10 years after the "end" of a given conflict.

Because they take so long to finance, shoot, and produce, of course, the start of the presumed trend could probably can be assumed to pre-date the release by a couple of years. There's also the question of how many of these works might have been based on books, which take their own times to produce.

Either in the comments section of this post, or our the Red Bull Rising Facebook page, please feel free to add your suggestions of other titles!

War-themed Movies and TV about U.S. Involvement in Vietnam:

• "The Boys in Company C" (1978)
• "Coming Home" (1978)
• "The Deer Hunter" (1978)
• "Go Tell the Spartans" (1978)
• "Apocalypse Now" (1979) - Director: Francis Ford Coppola
• "The Odd Angry Shot" (1979)

1980s

• "A Rumor of War" (1980) - TV movie / mini-series
• "First Blood" (1982)
• "Rambo: First Blood Part II" (1985)
• "Platoon" (1986)
• "Gardens of Stone" (1987)
• "Hamburger Hill" (1987)
• "Hanoi Hilton" (1987)
• "Tour of Duty" (1987)
• "Full Metal Jacket" (1987) - Director: Stanley Kubrick
• "BAT*21" (1988)
• "China Beach" (1988) - TV series
• "Platoon Leader" (1988)
• "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) - Director: Oliver Stone
• "Casualties of War" (1989) - Director: Brian De Palma
• "84 Charlie MoPic" (1989)
• "In Country" (1989)
• "Siege of Firebase Gloria" (1989)

1990s

• "Flight of the Intruder" (1991)
• "Heaven and Earth" (1993) Director: Oliver Stone
• "A Bright Shining Lie" (1998) - TV movie
• "Three Seasons" (1999)

2000s

• "Under Heavy Fire" aka "Going Back" (2001)
• "The Quiet American" (2002)
• "We Were Solders" (2002)
• "The Veteran" (2006) - TV movie
• "Rescue Dawn" (2006)

*****

I guess the next step would be to brainstorm similar lists of war-themed movies telling stories of U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. And maybe the Cold War. And the Global War on Terror. Here are starts on the first two:

War-themed Movies and TV about U.S. Involvement in Iraq:

1990s

• "Courage Under Fire" (1996)
• "Three Kings" (1999)

2000s

• "Rules of Engagement" (2000) (Story takes place in Yemen)
• "Jarhead" (2005)
• "The Messenger" (2005)
• "Over There" (2005) - TV series
• "Home of the Brave" (2006)
• "Grace is Gone" (2007)
• "In the Valley of Elah" (2007)
• "The Mark of Cain" (2007)
• "Redacted" (2007) - Director: Brian De Palma
• "Generation Kill" (2008)
• "The Hurt Locker" (2008)
• "Stop Loss" (2008)
• The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)
• "Taking Chance" (2009) - TV movie

2010s

• "Green Zone" (2010)
• "Memorial Day" (2011) - Movie production that involved 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division soldiers

*****

War-themed Movies and TV about U.S. Involvement in Afghanistan:

1980s

• "Spies Like Us" (1985)
• "Rambo III" (1988)

2000s

• "Charlie Wilson's War" (2007)
• "Lions for Lambs" (2007)

2010s

• "Fair Game" (2010)
• "Afghan Luke" (2011)
• "Combat Hospital" (2011)
• "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012)