We Were Soldiers [hd Dvd]

Drama, War, Action, History

Mel Gibson	Lt. Colonel Hal Moore
Madeleine Stowe	Julie Moore
Greg Kinnear	Major Bruce Crandall
Sam Elliott	Sergeant Major Basil Plumley
Chris Klein	2nd Lieutenant Jack Geoghegan
Keri Russell	Barbara Geoghegan
Barry Pepper	Joe Galloway
Robert Bagnell	1st Lieutenant Charlie Hastings
Don Duong	Lt. Colonel Nguyen Huu An
Ryan Hurst	Sergeant Ernie Savage
Duong Don	Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu An

Director	Randall Wallace
Producer	Randall Wallace; Bruce Davey; Stephen McEveety; Eveleen Bandy; Gary Fleder
Writer	Randall Wallace; Harold G. Moore; Joseph L. Galloway
Cinematography	Dean Semler
Musician	Nick Glennie-Smith

Based on the book by Lt. Col. Harold Moore (ret.) and journalist Joseph Galloway, We Were Soldiers offers a dignified reminder that the Vietnam War yielded its own crop of American heroes. Departing from Hollywood's typically cynical treatment of the war, writer-director Randall Wallace focuses on the first engagement of American soldiers with the North Vietnamese enemy in November 1965. Moore (played with colorful nuance by Mel Gibson) and nearly 400 inexperienced troopers from the U.S. Air Cavalry were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese Army soldiers, and the film re-creates this brutal firefight with graphic authenticity, while telling the parallel story of grieving army wives back home. While UPI reporter Galloway (Barry Pepper) risks his life to chronicle the battle, Wallace offers a balanced (though somewhat fictionalized) perspective while eliciting laudable performances from an excellent cast. Like the best World War II dramas of the 1940s, We Were Soldiers pays tribute to brave men while avoiding the pitfalls of propaganda. --Jeff Shannon