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One of my life long avocations is Cinema. Past couple years with woke mentality in films and astronomical prices at box office, I do my movies DVD & BluRay

I’ll probably breakdown and do MI at theater - maybe IMAX. I figure the cost to be well below my former yearly expenditures

This article caught my eye

When “Platoon” began pre-production in the early 1980s, Oliver Stone was no celebrated director he was a Vietnam veteran carrying a script no one in Hollywood wanted to touch. Studios passed on it for years. The realism Stone injected into the script based directly on his own harrowing experiences as an infantryman in Vietnam was seen as too bleak, too raw, too anti-heroic for audiences still accustomed to war films that glorified conflict. It took the success of “Salvador” in 1986, also directed by Stone, to finally convince producers to back “Platoon.” But even then, the budget was limited, and the project was considered a gamble.

Charlie Sheen, who would go on to deliver one of his most career-defining performances as Chris Taylor, was not Stone’s first choice. Stone initially wanted his first pick from a decade earlier: Martin Sheen, Charlie’s father. But by the time the film finally gained traction, Martin was too old to play the young, naive soldier. Instead, Stone saw the younger Sheen as a natural fit, not only because of the physical resemblance to his father who had played a similarly tormented role in “Apocalypse Now” but because of the emotional range Charlie could bring to the role. Even so, Sheen had to prove himself. He trained rigorously for the part, participating in the now-infamous “boot camp” that Stone required for the entire cast.

That boot camp wasn’t just for show. Stone flew the actors into the remote jungles of the Philippines, stripped them of contact with the outside world, and immersed them in near-combat conditions for two grueling weeks. They slept in dugouts, wore the same sweat-drenched uniforms for days, and received minimal food. Stone deliberately wore the men down to erase any sense of Hollywood glamour. Willem Dafoe, cast as the compassionate Sergeant Elias, later said the experience bonded the cast in a way that no acting workshop ever could. Tom Berenger, who played the hardened and brutal Sergeant Barnes, called it “controlled psychological warfare” that put them directly into the mental headspace of their characters.

Berenger’s transformation into Barnes shocked the crew. Usually known for more heroic roles, Berenger embraced the physical and emotional ugliness of Barnes scars carved into his face, a permanent snarl on his lips. His intensity during filming was so overwhelming that younger cast members, including Johnny Depp and Kevin Dillon, avoided him off-camera. Dafoe, by contrast, was warm and approachable, mirroring his character’s empathy. The contrast between the two actors translated directly to the tension on screen, particularly during the infamous scene where Elias is left to die in the jungle. That sequence, shot in the dense underbrush of Luzon, was physically punishing. Dafoe ran through thick mud as real military helicopters hovered overhead. There were no stunt doubles, no CGI tricks everything was filmed as raw and close to reality as possible.

Filming was interrupted multiple times by monsoon rains, logistical nightmares, and political unrest. Equipment was damaged, actors fell ill, and tempers flared. At one point, Charlie Sheen collapsed from heat exhaustion. Despite the chaos, Stone refused to compromise. He often shot scenes using natural light and handheld cameras, insisting on multiple takes until emotions broke through. Crew members began to crack under the pressure, but the footage coming in was unlike anything anyone had seen. Gritty, emotional, and terrifyingly authentic.

Even the final battle scene, one of the most memorable in the film, was chaotic both on screen and off. Pyrotechnics exploded around the actors, trees were blown apart, and there were moments when it became difficult to tell whether someone was acting or truly reacting. The intensity reached its peak when Sheen’s character wakes up in the aftermath of the firefight an emotional collapse that mirrored the exhaustion felt by the entire cast.

When “Platoon” premiered, audiences were stunned. The film didn’t present soldiers as invincible heroes it showed them as flawed, frightened, and deeply human. For many Vietnam veterans, it was the first time they saw something close to their reality portrayed on screen.

Stone didn’t make “Platoon” to entertain he made it to exorcise demons, and in doing so, created a war film that tore away the myths and laid bare the trauma. Each scene still feels like a wound that hasn’t fully healed.