We Were Soldiers

Germany, United States

2002

138 Min

Color

2.35:1

French, Vietnamese, English

Currently 2.3/5 Stars.
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PROD Randall Wallace, Jim Lemley, Arne L. Schmidt

SCR Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway, Randall Wallace

CAST Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Sam Elliott, Greg Kinnear, Chris Klein, Barry Pepper, Keri Russell, Don Duong, Ryan Hurst, Robert Bagnell, Marc Blucas, Josh Daugherty, Jsu Garcia, Jon Hamm, Clark Gregg, Desmond Harrington, Blake Heron, Erik MacArthur, Dylan Walsh, Taylor Momsen

A French Army unit is on patrol in Vietnam in 1954 during the First Indochina War. The captain of the patrol curses the land when they see nothing. Then, the unit is suddenly ambushed by Vietminh forces who kill the officers and, although the unit kills many Vietminh, it is eventually overrun. Nguyen Huu An, hypothesising that if they take no prisoners the French will eventually stop sending troops, orders the execution of all surviving French soldiers.
Eleven years later, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore (Mel Gibson), a dedicated U.S. soldier, is deeply committed to training his troops, who are preparing to be sent to Vietnam. The night before their departure, the unit’s officers hold a party to celebrate. Moore learns from a superior officer that his unit will be known as the 1st Battalion / 7th cavalry regiment. He is disquieted because the 7th Cavalry regiment was the unit commanded by General George Custer in the 19th Century when he and his men were slaughtered at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Moore is also dismayed because President Lyndon B. Johnson has decreed that the war would be fought “on the cheap,” without declaring it a national emergency.

Director

Randall Wallace

Randall Wallace (born July 28, 1949) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and songwriter who came to prominence by writing the screenplay for the 1995 film Braveheart. His work on the film earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a Writers Guild of America award for Best Screenplay Adapted Directly for the Screen. He directed The Man in the Iron Mask, We Were Soldiers, and Secretariat.

Early life

Born in Jackson, Tennessee, Wallace began writing stories at the age of seven. Wallace graduated from E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, Virginia. He attended Duke University, where he studied Russian, religion, and literature and was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He put himself through a graduate year of seminary by teaching martial arts. Wallace holds a black belt in karate.

Career

After managing an animal show at Nashville’s Opryland, Wallace moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in singing and songwriting. He began… read more

Early life

Career

After managing an animal show at Nashville’s Opryland, Wallace moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in singing and songwriting. He began writing short stories, novels and scripts for movies. Wallace was taken under the wing of leading television producer Stephen J. Cannell and spent several years writing for television in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

He gained recognition and commercial success by penning the screenplay for Braveheart (1995), which was inspired by a trip to Scotland to learn more about his Scottish roots. While there, he discovered the legend of the medieval Scottish patriot William Wallace. Braveheart became Wallace’s first screenplay to be produced after it drew the interest of director and star, Mel Gibson. It ended up as one of the most successful films of 1995, earning the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director as well as garnering other Oscar, Golden Globe, and Writers Guild Award for Best Screenplay nominations.

Wallace made his directorial debut with his own screenplay in The Man in the Iron Mask, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, John Malkovich, Gabriel Byrne, Jeremy Irons and Gérard Depardieu. Shortly after, he wrote the screenplay for Pearl Harbor (2001), directed by Michael Bay and starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale.

This was followed by Wallace’s second film as director We Were Soldiers. Moved by its starkly honest account of a singular battle in the Vietnam War, Mel Gibson re-teamed with Wallace to star in the film. Wallace trained with career soldiers at U.S. Army Ranger School in order to understand the motivation of his characters.

In 2010, Wallace directed Disney’s Secretariat, the true story of the racehorse that won the Triple Crown in 1973. The film chronicled the struggles and courage of owner Penny Chenery-Tweedy, portrayed by Academy Award-nominated actress Diane Lane. Wallace also wrote the end title song, It’s Who You Are, which was released with the Secretariat soundtrack.

He is currently writing the sequel to Homefront for Crytek.

Wallace has been developing a movie about the Vikings with Mel Gibson.

Other work

Wallace is also the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels and the lyricist of the acclaimed hymn “Mansions of the Lord”, performed as the closing music for President Ronald Reagan’s national funeral.

In 2008, Wallace wrote several songs with singer/songwriter Richard Marx. One of those songs, “Flame In Your Fire”, appears on Marx’s album Emotional Remains.

In interviews he has acknowledged a deep commitment to Christianity, which he credits as an influence on his approach to filmmaking.

He appeared in the seventh season of HBO’s hit comedy series Entourage as himself.

In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Wallace is the founder of Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity and the father of two sons. In 1999, he formed his own company, Wheelhouse Entertainment, which is focused on creating entertainment for worldwide audiences based on the classic values of love, courage and honor.

Wallace was the speaker at the Fellowship Foundation National Prayer Breakfast on 3 February 2011.

Wallace also served as the commencement speaker at the Liberty University graduation ceremony on May 14, 2011. —Wikipedia

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BrianFromConcentrate

8Sep12

I couldn't finish the film. It was slow moving and I really had a hard time buying in to Mel Gibson in his role. I don't really know how to articulate the reasons I dislike this film, but I just know that I wouldn't recommend watching it. You may stumble upon the movie on late night TV and keep watching it for a while, but I can almost guarantee that you will change the channel before it's over...and good for you.