STUDIO: Lionsgate
RELEASE DATE: June 3, 2008
STARRING: Dylan McDermott, Steven Weber, Courtney B. Vance, Don Cheadle, and Michael Boatman
WRITTEN BY: James Carabatsos
DIRECTED BY: John Irvin
FEATURES: Audio Commentary With Actors and Writer/Producer
Hamburger Hill: The Appearance Of Reality
Medics In Vietnam
Interactive Vietnam War Timeline

One of the more underrated and underappreciated Vietnam war films received a lavish DVD treatment this month from Lionsgate and we'd be remiss if we didn't give you a heads up. Coming around the same time as Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Casualties of War, very little attention was paid to John Irvin's Hamburger Hill, but seen 20 years later, the movie really holds up. Director John Irvin filmed a documentary in Vietnam in 1969, the year the action in the film takes place and it's that sense of realism and honesty that makes the film work. It doesn't pander to the audience or fall victim to the manipulation that often mars the genre. The large majority of Hamburger Hill takes place on that title location, Hill 937, where American soldiers fought for ten days and suffered 70% casualties. It was ugly and Irvin and writer Jim Carabatsos pull no punches, showing the horror of that battle the way that it really was and freed from a lot of the politics that surrounded Vietnam films in the late '80s. As the back of the DVD states, it was "War at its worst, men at their best."

Irvin sets up the titular nightmare with a first act made up of character introductions. We meet several of the men who would fight that day, including characters played by future stars Dylan McDermott, Steven Weber, Courtney B. Vance, and Don Cheadle. Those scenes present an interesting angle that's rarely seen in Vietnam films - segregation. Not only were the blacks separated from the whites but the newbies were often separated from the veterans. But on Hamburger Hill, a place so nicknamed because it turns men into ground meat, they're all the same, fighting for each other's lives. Despite the best intentions, many Vietnam films demonized the men over there. Free from the politics of the failed war, Hamburger Hill deserves credit for placing the emphasis on the fact that most of them were just like you and me, real people fighting for their lives. If you're a war movie fan and you've missed Hamburger Hill, as a lot of people have, you should really check out the 20th Anniversary Edition, not just for the movie itself but for a near-perfect video/audio transfer and an incisive collection of special features.

Much of the cast and major players behind-the-scenes return to look back at Hamburger Hill twenty years down the road and participate in interviews about the film. Carabatsos openly comments in the audio track that he was disappointed that most of the Vietnam films portrayed the soldiers of that war as villains or drug addicts. Carabatsos is joined on a scene-specific commentary by actors Anthony Barrile, Harry O'Reilly, and Daniel Shea. Even more interesting is "Hamburger Hill: The Appearance of Reality", a 17-minute retrospective featurette that includes interviews with nearly everyone involved in the making of the film. There's also a featurette on medics in Vietnam and a real timeline of the war. All of it works together to truly enhance a film that history has somewhat forgotten and will hopefully find a more extended life courtesy of this great Special Edition.