Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, with special guest Joe Griffin, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.
This time, Oliver Stone’s Platoon.
In late 1967, Chris Taylor volunteers for service in Vietnam. Arriving in country, Taylor quickly discovers that the war is not what he expected. As the platoon descends into civil war, Taylor finds himself torn between the two sergeants: the monstrous Barnes and the philosophical Elias. Taylor discovers that he might not just be fighting for his life, but for his very soul.
At time of recording, it was ranked 222nd on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 19th August 2021.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- Platoon at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDB 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
- Follow Joe on Twitter.
- Advertisement for Platoon video game on the Nintendo Entertainment System, October 2012.
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- Tambay Obenson at IndieWire reflects on the legacy of The Colour Purple, April 2020.
- Tariq Khan at Gold Derby looks back on the awards season journey of The Silence of the Lambs, September 2021.
- Vernon Scott at UPI looks at the success of Platoon at the Academy Awards, February 1987.
- The Sun Sentinel looks at the Academy Award nominations, February 1987.
- Richard Corliss reviews Platoon for Time, January 1987.
- Dennis Hunt at The Los Angeles Times reports on the home media release of Platoon, January 1998.
- Barbara Saltzman at The Los Angeles Times reports on the premium laserdisc release of Platoon, September 1995.
- Tom Fordy at The Telegraph looks back on the legacy of Oliver Stone’s JFK, July 2021.
- Alex von Tunzelmann at The Guardian reflects on the historical inaccuracy of Oliver Stone’s JFK, April 2011.
- First Dog on the Moon looks back on how conspiracy theories used to be fun, April 2020.
- Ingoo Kang at Vulture reflects on how so much of the conspiracy theory media of the nineties has aged terribly, September 2013.
- Andreas Babiolakis at Films Fatale looks at Tim Burton as an introduction to auteur film theory, March 2019.
- Oliver Stone talks to The Guardian about his relationship with Vladimir Putin, July 2017.
- Karl Marlantes at Time reflects on the legacy of American wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, August 2021.
- Roja Fazaeli at The Irish Times reflects on the publicity war being waged by the Taliban, August 2021.
- Charles Bramesco at The Guardian reflects on the legacy of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers, August 2019.
- Rodney Dangerfield talks to The Los Angeles Times about working on Natural Born Killers, August 1994.
- Donald Clarke looks back on Salvador for The Irish Times, November 2013.
- Oliver Stone reflects on the legacy of Midnight Express with The Guardian, December 2004.
- Billy Hayes at Variety criticises Oliver Stone’s accounts of the making of Midnight Express, August 2020.
- Oliver Stone talks to The Irish Times about his life and career, July 2020.
- Oliver Stone talks to The Independent about writing Scarface, January 2017.
- Michael Norman profiles Oliver Stone for The New York Times, December 1986.
- Mike Fleming Jr. at Deadline reports on plans to adapt Oliver Stone’s autobiographic Child’s Night Dream for film, December 2016.
- Oliver Stone talks to Roger Ebert at The Chicago Sun Times about his “Vietnam Trilogy”, December 1993.
- Oliver Stone talks to DGA Quarterly about the making of Born on the 4th of July, Fall 2012.
- Desson Howe looks at Heaven and Earth for The Washington Post, December 1993.
- David Halberstam at The New York Times looks at how Platoon differed from previous portrayals of Vietnam on screen, March 1987.
- Vincent Canby at The New York Times looks at the power of Platoon as a rejection of cinematic myths of wartime valour, January 1987.
- Alex von Tunzelmann at The Guardian looks back at John Wayne’s Vietnam War propaganda film, The Green Berets, July 2014.
- Ray Hibbard at Edmond Life and Leisure reflects on the Battle of New Year’s Day, September 2017.
- Libby Denkmann at The LAist looks back on the military recruitment boom created by Top Gun, August 2020.
- Anthony Edwards talks to The Deseret News about his work on Top Gun, May 1995.
- David Kishiyama at The Los Angeles Times considers Platoon in contrast with the prior year’s Top Gun, January 1987.
- Richard Cohen at The Washington Post compares Platoon to Rambo, February 1987.
- Jay Sharbutt at The Los Angeles Times reflects on the controversial and divisive reception to Platoon, Ferbruary 1987.
- R. Emmet Tyrell at The Washington Post criticises Platoon‘s portrayal of the Vietnam War, April 1987.
- Mark Leepson at The Washington Post defends Platoon‘s portrayal of the Vietnam War, April 1987.
- Dylan Gray at The Daily Illi argues for Jaws as a metaphor for the Vietnam War, October 2020.
- Adam Barker discusses Predator as a Vietnam metaphor in Monthly Film Bulletin, January 1988.
- Darren Mooney at The Escapist positions Rambo in the canon of metaphorical Vietnam War movies, September 2019.
- Darren Mooney at The Escapist discusses Star Wars as an extended Vietnam metaphor, March 2020.
- David Willman at The Los Angeles Times looks at the contradiction of Orion Pictures’ economic collapse and awards success, April 1992.
- Oliver Stone reflects on the production of Platoon at GQ, August 2020.
- John C. McGinley talks to The A.V. Club about working on Platoon, April 2013.
- Dale Dye talks to The Atlantic about changing the way that Hollywood filmed war movies, August 2010.
- Tony Todd talks to The Guardian about his life and career, August 2020.
- Inram Siddiquee at Buzz Feed News reflects on the fetishisation of auteur directors, October 2017.
- Courtney Enlow at Gizmodi explores the fascination with the male auteur who tortures his stars, February 2021.
- Michael Schulman at Vanity Fair looks back at Meryl Streep’s performance in Kramer v. Kramer, March 2016.
- Lane P. at The Things looks back on Charlie Sheen’s supporting role in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, October 2020.
- Aljean Harmetz at The New York Times looks at how Platoon changed the sorts of movies that Hollywood was making, March 1987.
- Justin Stewart at Reverse Shot takes a look at Casualty of War, November 2006.
- The Los Angeles Times remembers Francesco Quinn, August 2008.
- Kevin Dillon talks to The New York Times about working on Platoon, January 1987.
- Mark Yarm at Rolling Stone looks at how Mark Wahlberg inspired Entourage, June 2015.
- Steve Rose at The Guardian looks at the military’s active relationship with Hollywood, July 2009.
- Courtney Garcia at NBC News reports on the Pentagon’s refusal to cooperate with The Avengers, May 2012.
- Lynn Stuart Parramore at NBC News discusses the strange decision to make a white CIA operative the hero in Black Panther, March 2018.
- Samuel Braslow at Los Angeles Magazine looks at Captain Marvel as military propaganda, March 2019.
- David Ayer talks to The Irish Times about making Fury, October 2014.
- Edward Davis at IndieWire reports on Shia LaBeouf’s method acting on Fury, October 2014.
- Angelica Jade Bastién at The Atlantic looks at how Hollywood has fetishised “method acting”, August 2016.
- Lucinda Syson at The Hollywood Reporter looks at why British actors are so sought in modern Hollywood, March 2015.
- Ben Stiller talks to The New York Times about how auditioning for Platoon indirectly inspired Tropic Thunder, August 2008.
- Anastasia Tsioulcas at NPR looks at the popularity and reputation of Adagio for Strings, February 2019.
- Roger Ebert reviews Platoon for The Chicago Sun Times, December 1986.
- Oliver Stone at LitHub how Platoon was inspired by The Odyssey, July 2020.
- Michael Wilmington at The Chicago Tribune looks back on Platoon, January 1998.
- Jack Anderson and Dale Van Atta at The Washington Post on the Pentagon’s objections to Platoon, August 1987.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: afghanistan, awards, dale dye, history, joe griffin, legacy, memory, Method Acting, oliver stone, Oscars, Platoon, podcast, propaganda, The 250, tom berenger, vietnam, Vietnam War, war, willem dafoe |
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