Hamburger Hill (1987) - Irvin's take on the futility of the US Vietnam War

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Conflicting notions of war and purity gas up this nauseating poster for John Irvin's Hamburger Hill

 

We follow a battalion of soldiers, who are sent back to the Vietnamese A Shau valley, where they spend about 10 days and countless lives on taking a fortified ridge known as 'Hamburger Hill.'

 

Hamburger Hill is written by James Carabatsos (Heroes (1977)) and directed by John Irvin (The Dogs of War (1980)), based on the actual 1969 Battle of Hamburger Hill during the American Vietnam War.

It is a very fine film, which is focused on the US soldiers, their bordello visits, partners at home; their conflicting emotions and experiences of support and the opposite from the foreigners around them. Debuting Dylan McDermott (Edison (2005)) and several others in the young cast act well.

The narrative is actually to the weak side, and the concluding epilogue poem is an inauspicious deciding note to end on. But Hamburger Hill lives well before these minor asides: As a story of how the war's excuses dwindle, as its madness is condensed and intensified around the taking of one single small mountain. It is a handsome and well-scored (by Philip Glass (The Lost Ones (1975))) production.

 

Related post:
 

John Irvin: The Dogs of War (1980) or, Mercenaries in Africa!

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 14 mil. $

Box office: 13.8 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain, but likely a big flop (projected return of 1.14 times its cost)

[Hamburger Hill premiered 28 August (USA) and runs 110 minutes. Irvin worked on several documentaries in Vietnam in 1969. Shooting took place from October - December 1986 in Washington DC and in the Philippines. The film opened #5, behind holdover hits The Stakeout, No Way Out, Dirty Dancing and fellow new release The Fourth Protocol, to a 3.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 13.8 mil. $. The international gross numbers are regrettably not public online. If the final gross was around 16 mil. $, which is not unlikely, the film would rank as a 'big flop' with a projected return of 1.14 times its cost. Irvin returned with Next of Kin (1989). McDermott returned in The Blue Iguana (1988). Hamburger Hill is fresh at 100 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hamburger Hill?

The Dogs of War (1980) or, Mercenaries in Africa!

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The tag-line that runs into the title for John Irvin's The Dogs of War here is actually a Shakespearean quote from Julius Caesar (1599)

QUICK REVIEW:

A group of mercenaries carry out a coup d'état in a brutally led, African dictatorship for economical gain ... or ?

Dogs of War is an uneven war drama with a young Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter (1978)) in a fairly uninteresting part as one of the mercenaries. I rarely think about it in his later work, but as a young man, (although he is actually 36 here, so not, in fact, so very young), Walken had a stunning, off-center beauty.
Most of the film concerns an international errand, where one dull weapons deal after the other is introduced and quickly forgotten again. Dogs of War's facets never quite make up for the fact that the film never seems to really deliver what its posters, blurbs and first, exciting scene promises: Action.
It is written by Gary DeVore (Raw Deal (1986)) and George Malko (Indian Killer (1974)), based on the 1974 novel of the same title by Frederick Forsyth (The Day of the Jackal (1971)), and directed by English director John Irvin (Hamburger Hill (1987)). Irvin is making a film entitled Mandela's Gun in South Africa right now for release later this year.

Watch a hokey TV spot for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 5.4 mil. $ (presumably US only)
= Uncertainty
[Dogs of War is an English production, shot in Miami, Florida, and in Belize, standing in for the fictitious African country Zangaro. The film was photographed by the great Jack Cardiff (The Red Shoes (1948)). Information about the film's budget and box office performance are not to be found online.]

What do you think of The Dogs of War?