The alternate ending is actually what really happened. Three years later, Barnes and Taylor would be reunited as fellow teammates on the Cleveland Indians baseball team.
YES! Love King. Would have been a huge bummer if he didn't make it. I'm curious what analysis is out there about his character. I think he represents hope. "Remember, there ain't such thing as a coward out here..."
Still one of the best war movies ever made. You can feel the emotional suspense of every character. Kings escape just before that last battle, was an extraordinary release. You can practically feel the fortune of that dude. It felt like justice...
I watched that scene fully expecting him to die. A gregarious, well intentioned, decent fella like him, I really wanted him to get home. So it stood to reason, to my cynical mind, that he'd die.
The 'Love Hate'scene should have been included. It shows Taylor's friendship with Elias' half of the platoon strengthening - he's becoming accepted. Also, interesting back story on Barnes and Elias who are both enigma's in their own way. Oliver Stone said Barnes and Elias characters are based on people he knew in Vietnam which makes the scene even more intriguing.
Actually I wasn't too crazy about that scene. I think Rhah adds too much exposition when the audience can already make the inference that Barnes and Elias are almost polar opposites.
Thats because too much backstory can hurt the movie as well. In original, Barnes and Elias have no background. They're less like normal humans and more like symbols (case in example - joker from dark knight). And symbols have a posibiliy of becoming supernatural.
I agree that the Love & Hate scene should have stayed in. It showed how Barnes and Elias actually had a lot in common. Rhah was just showing the insanity of it all. The flap dialogue should have stayed in too, that was just too freaking funny!!
and he was part of one of the greatest onscreen fistfights (vs Roddy Piper in They Live) and he voices one of the most beloved characters in the HALO video game series (the Arbiter)
Almost like that scene in True Detective season 3, when the detective getting dementia sees all the enemy faceless, standing around him, all speechless.
@@samuelfreeman3768 Apocalypse Now was not trying for realism, but surrealism. It's a movie, not a documentary -- Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" set in Vietnam instead of colonial Congo. The idea is to probe the larger 'Truths' of human nature in the bizarre setting that is a war-torn jungle...
@@AndrewAMartin I understand the difference between a movie and a documentary. I also understand the difference between surrealism and realism. Apocalypse Now has some meritorious features. One of the best was its use and treatment of African American soldiers. That probably is the best part of the movie. Unfortunately, that is offset by the Asian racism of the film. Okay, we had invaded an Asian nation, and it is difficult to show the "enemy" as being good, decent human beings. If they were, why be fighting them? And how can that be depicted in a war movie. Still, I would argue the racism could have been minimized. There was one immensely realistic combat scene. The details of it are escaping me now, and I apologize for that. But my body tensed and tightened up because it was so similar to some of my experiences in Viet Nam (2 words, not 1). That scene clearly demonstrates a movie can be surrealistic and also true to events at the same time. That was/is my complaint. Also, the movie was hyped as showing viewers what the war really was like. Yes, in part, it did that. The previously referred to combat scene, and the USO show in the middle of a combat zone. That kind of surrealistic presentation does give viewers and understanding of what Viet Nam was like In many, many ways, the war was a surreal experience. The movie could and should have done both. It didn't; and it that respect it failed.
@@samuelfreeman3768 Platoon is more of a Vietnam DocuDrama with some movie theatrics thrown in. Apocalypse Now is a movie with aspects of the war thrown in. Apocalypse Now is based off a book about the Congolese occupation. As dark as the Vietnam war was, it is just not dark and undeveloped enough to portray the story. Congo had some dozen high school graduates out of a population of millions, and tribal villages thought white people were ghosts or demons. And while the Vietnam war was fought by kids who didn't know what they were there for, the Congolese occupation was the bloodiest genocide to ever exist fought by fully grown adults who understood why they were there and what they were doing. AN was more focused on theatrics than actual events. The same director made the godfather where he basically threw a dozen crime stories together and threw in over the top scenarios. Even then, Coppala was born to Italian parents and definitely cared more about the accuracy of his Italian stories than he did about a war he never fought. Of course a story about Belgium-Congo conflict in the 1800's won't carry over well to a story about America-Vietnam conflict In the 1960s. The fact that he thought the Vietnam War was fitting for the original story shows his cognitive dissonance. To date, Congo has less roads built than Vietnam had in the '60s.
Usually deleted scenes are deleted for a good reason, they suck. Whoever, ALL of these could have easily been left in to make a great movie even better. It even makes more sense when he refers to the 'battle for his soul' in the final narrative scene! Wonder why they cut them? Kieth David is fantastic! THANKS FOR POSTING!
bradlbe like 3% of them. Are u kidding man? The majority of these scenes suck man. Platoon would be a friggin B movie if these were left. Like too childish scenes bro
Occasionally, deleted scenes can make a movie better. You have to have slightly different tastes to get the point. Alternate versions of the same movie should "be a thing". lol.
The sound of rain & the figures only visible with the flashes of lightening; brilliant! One moving closer with their head down would of been the perfect time to wake just as they pass Taylor & spot a VC patrol in the direction the "dream solider" walked off. I should of been a director guys. Damn, I should be a director.
+Rom 3636 It was as much Francesco Quinn's scene as it was his. Quinn really gave a deeply underrated performance as Rhah. A drug addict who was also a devoted spiritualist. A man who refused to stick his neck out, but when push came to shove, he looked after his people as best he could. Not to mention he had one of the most memorable scenes in the film when he said his final goodbye to Taylor.
"Am gonna send you some Tapes. Jimi Hendrix that New guy!" There's loads more Johnny Depp in these rushes. Just watched this tonight. First time in years. Only Found out Francesco Quinn died. What a shame. Great film. Has as much relevance today as it did back then. Maybe more so.
I agree. Berenger as "Sgt. Barnes" is the best performance by an actor in any war film, that I have seen at least. However that is just my opinion. There are several other performances in this genre that come to mind; One of which happens to be Charlie Sheen's father. Martin Sheen as 'Captain Benjamin Willard' in "Apocalypse Now" was spectacular. Tom Hanks as 'Captain John Miller' in "Saving Private Ryan" is a good one too. I also liked Mel Gibson as 'William Wallace' in Braveheart. Those are all starring roles by world class actors. There are some overlooked performances in supporting roles too. One that comes to mind is Tom Sizemore as 'Sergeant Horvath' in "Saving Private Ryan". He seems so natural, playing a mentally tough, experienced veteran of the Second World War. Anyway.. What really struck me in Tom Berenger's part as Sgt. Barnes was one scene in particular; The part where 'Manny' goes missing from the patrol shortly after the platoon stop at the dugout/bunker and tunnel system. When the platoon moves on to look for him (Manny) they find him strung up on a tree by his neck, with a note left on his body from the Viet-Cong. In that brief scene, the camera pans across the platoon formation, showing each soldier's facial expression as they looked at Manny's hanging corpse. On all of the faces of the men, you kind of get a sense of hopelessness and despair, then the camera moves on to Sgt. Barnes' face. The look in his eyes is unforgettable. If there was a perfect example of what pure hatred looks like in a facial expression, Tom Berenger nailed it.. "Those motherfuckers!" Short but powerful. You can just feel Sergeant Barnes' wrath, and this was the scene right before the platoon moves into the village where Barnes ends up murdering that Vietnamese woman in cold blood.
NowKillYourself King, Bunny and Ra were also exceptionally played roles by their actors. It's too bad Barnes and Elias couldn't get along, they were both excellent soldiers. Despite Barnes' criminal acts, you couldn't help but feel for the guy (at least for me); he just wanted to fight the war without constraints and win decisively.
Its a good anti-war film, but there is also a lot of stuff in there that wasn't true, the biggest one being the patrols. It wasn't like in platoon where they would spend the night in a base somewhere, they would actually go out for 40 days or so just patrolling and sleeping anywhere they could find. The only way the go back to the base is by either surviving the 40 days to get 3 days off in some foreign area, or by getting flown away in a medivac. (Source: Vietnam in hd)
I don't know about anybody else but I kinda warmed to Barnes when he corners the potheads and laughs "So you smoke this shit to get away from reality?...I am reality." The question is left there to linger, is he right to see reality 'in' himself?
watched an interview with Tom Berringer. He said, " a few times, they would shoot a scene, Oliver would say 'Cut', then him & Dale Dye (both Vietnam vets) would disappear for a while". He asked one of the crew "what was going on ?", " Flashbacks Tom, flashbacks..". I can't even begin to think of the atrocities these guys saw !
What they meant was after being gone for awhile, they told Tom/the casts what actually happened in the real thing and see if there is anything they could improvise in the next take, is that what they meant?
Matthew Rosemier: I'm a hardcore Platoon fan also, and I reenacted Vietnam for 8 years. This movie should've been set in about the 1970-71 time period, the hair, the beads, helmet grafitti, fragging, etc...was more indicative of the later years. Back in late 67-and 68 there was still a remnant of the "good" Army, they were still "Strac" to a degreee, something that you don't see as much by 70-71, when you study LOTS of photos, etc...also I think the unit portrayed should've been the Americal Division, not the 25th. The 25th had a pretty good record over there, the Americal had the dark clouds hanging over it that you see portryaed here in the movie, i.e. My Lai in 1968 and Firebase MaryAnn in 1971... So if I could re-do this film I would set it in 1970-71 and the unit would be the Americal Division. Dale Dye was wearing LC-1 LBE suspenders in that scene during the last battle-technically wrong-those didn't come out till about 1974, but all in all this is the best Nam film ever made, to me!!
Interesting. I hear the difference between the early and the later troops was that they started giving convicts the option to serve instead of doing jail time
They should have left the scene about "Love/Hate" in the movie, because in the end Chris says: "Fighting with Barnes for what Rah called possession of my soul" which would give it a totally new meaning.
I cry when I hear CCR, love them.. love music. But limited. Stay away from 60/70,s sound too deep. I freeze up. Puts me back as though it was , 3 weeks ago. The smell, sounds, taste of the food we ate. The smell of their sweat from the food they ate, piss shit liimbs . Took me years before I went into a forest preserve. Alone. like a little boy my wife would take me. And all for what. I remember approaching wounded much lose of blood but I still had to stuff a rag in his mouth, became too excited I knived his throat. then sounds of voices, I pulled my lead rope to retrieve. I would have been lost without that line The boys flipped me up like opening a can of sofa. Am I safe now? Guilty.
@@sammiedog4 You did what you had to do man, there's no way mercy could be shown by either side, especially underground like that I think. Thanks for sharing brother. You have some cool video listings too btw.
If you get a chance you should read the documentary on how these actors got chosen for the parts. It was sure interesting. This movie gives me chills every time,
This story was based loosely on Oliver Stone's own experience in Vietnam. Oliver Stone was in LRRP ... Deep Long Range Patrols behind enemy lines for weeks. LRRP later merged with Rangers !!! They were very hard core guys !!! That first ambush scene where Junior falls asleep and the platoon almost gets zapped by the NVA ...Oliver says that it was actually happened to him and it was him who fell asleep while on sentry and they also got all killed by NVA !!!
Tom Berenger was so good in this movie, that I've known two people who refused to watch him in anything else the rest of his career because of how much they hated Sgt. Barnes.
He was good in “Gettysburg.” But you could tell they were trying to recreate some of the Barnes magic, and it just didn’t quite happen. He wasn’t evil enough.
Both Barnes and Elias had deleted scenes where other people talk about them or they talk about themselves explicitly. These scenes were were cut, because their acting did all the talking. Amazing performances by both.
juantenoriojr69 It's funny that you should mention Quinn and Dafoe. They had an infamous fight while filming Platoon over the use of a monkey in one scene.
:-( Yeah it's on Wikipedia, dead at 48 (!), heart attack. A real 'man's man' who loved adventure and sport. Anthony Quinn's son, I did not know that. Every single actor in this film made it what it was. There was no 'star'. Can you see here what an astounding actor Forrest Whitaker is? I said then, "he's gonna get an oscar one day" and everyone was like "what? That was a nothing part". LOLOL As it is written, there are no small parts, just small actors. Quinn et al = giants.
I wish the camera quality was better, too. That was pretty much the entire platoon in one huge shot and would've been interesting to recognize everyone.
babsi787 I'd say they took it out because when it comes down to it, everyone would be confused and it would put focus on an Elias resurrection theory which clearly isnt a target of attention
If you cut that into the movie, isn't that moment right before the ambush kicks off in the distance? Very fitting foreshadowing that all Hell is about to break loose. Though I can totally see why it would be cut. It's a little too on-the-nose supernatural.
I've been a fan of this movie since I was a kid and I've never seen these deleted scenes until now. It shines a little more light on the characters and their backgrounds. Thanks for posting.
Saw the film in the theater and it’s been in my top five ever since. Your comment is 11 years old and I just now saw these scenes for the first time. Crazy
I saw this movie in the theater when it came out. the theater had just gotten some kind of new surround sound at the time & I remember I could hear the helicopters in the film coming in from y left then behind me then to my right. great film.
Same here. Opening week of Apocalypse Now, August 1979 Cinerama Dome, Hollywoodland USA. 6 Track Dolby sound. Unbelievable. The helicopters sounded like they were in the room as they "flew" from channel to channel.
When Platoon first came out for rental, I rented a VHS copy from a nearby mom and pop store. During the gambling scene when Sgt. O'Neill asks Lt. Wolfe "What are you saving up to be, Jewish?", in the copy that I had, Lt. Wolfe leaves them and goes to a bathroom where he takes his shirt off and looks in the mirror. In his reflection in the mirror, he is wearing a Star of David necklace. I have searched ALL OVER (including this video) for that scene and have not been able to find it or even read about it. Does anyone else remember that scene? Wish I would of kept that VHS copy instead of returning it lol.
The deleted scene 'later' with DaFoe, or a look alike, deserved not to be on the cutting room floor. So well acted and filmed. The devil saying, "I'll be back for your soul...later". Maybe it was too powerful?
They cut this scene out but if you remember the next transition is Chris looks up and it's Barnes smiling at him. Now go back to the possession of the soul clip that was cut out, the two men who kept Chris sane was Elias and King who are both gone. Chris is all alone now with Barnes
@@keithharper1470 when did Barnes smiled at Taylor? But if rly that later Willem is so called as the devil portrayal, it would be creepy, he could also be interpreted as like the angel of death... Taking the deaths of the soldiers day by day... But that would be a sudden scene, out for nowhere to have an actor portraying another character in the same movie.. What's more, Elias was a good character and then having to portray another character but a bad one would be mindblown idk😝
Should have kept the scene of the 'ghost' of Elias asking Taylor to light his smoke. Stone's original idea for Elias' character was that he was a sort of Native Indian super warrior that couldn't be killed. Elias took over Taylor when he fragged Barnes.
Barnes should have lived. Being indestructible like certain personalities were then is both a saving grace and a sin. To him that would have just been another battle he survived and a fresh platoon to break in with that fucking asshole Red O Neill...
Keith David is such an exceptional actor. He is easily the best actor in the scene where they are talking about where Barnes and Elias are from. He goes toe to toe with Depp and Sheen (who was in his prime before the drugs took over)
The later is really good because there is a theory in which Elias is portrayed as a holy figure so seeing him coming back to life like Jesus to say goodbye is really interesting
This version i I think is better than the original it shows how defeated Barnes is and shows how much Taylor has evolved into good human being looking at him knowing he isn't like him and isn't even worth killing
So true. Licensed music and such make for good scenes from time to time, but ultimately, just the sound of war makes war movies so excellent and atmospheric
I wish they left these in. every time I watch platoon I feel like every single minor character needs about five times as much screen time. Especially depp and whittaker, in hindsight.
The dream sequence looks exceptional, and Elias coming back as Death was spooky. Those 2 scenes added, to the story and should've been kept in. Even if Stone prefered Elias' ' resurrection' to look like something more positive. I think it sends the message that war and brutal death can ugly-up even a beautiful Christ like figure as Elias. 3:27-4:26 is powerful, but a little preachy. And this film is an all-time great because Stone is reserved in his judgment, and lets his characters speak to us in the audience in CHARACTER, and very little showy political stance talk, that writers, especially Hollywood libs LOVE to smack us over the head with ad-infinitum. The dream, and Elias. Those 2. The others were not needed, and were correctly cut out.
"You seen too many movies Ra. You think you're the good guy while you do the killing, lying, cheating and stealing everything, you're fuct up man!" That's my own scene.
I loved Tom Berringer's portrayal of SSGT. Barnes he was bad ass as Hell, but there is no way Chris could have let that snake live..Barnes would have murdered him at the first opportunity that came up in a fire fight..he knew too much.
But since they were wounded the war was finished for them. Both would have been sent back to the States. I prefer this deleted ending. Being so close to Elias meant that Chris belonged to the “Team Good”. There’s a substantial difference between him and people like Barnes. He should have spared his life, would have been more coherent.
I really enjoyed this movie, I saw it in the theatres when I was in ninth grade. I wasn’t mature enough to understand all of the things going on in the movie. I will definitely have to watch it again. All of the actors did their roles very well. Keith David especially. I wonder why he didn’t go on to do bigger projects? Great movie, thanks for posting.
I watch this movie in the theater join the army not too long after later on I wore the fourth brigade 25th ID patch it was quite a moment for me this movie really shaped my life
"...Later" I heard that was supposed to be the actual spirit of death, hanging around for the big battle, because of how many people were going to die. He looked like Elias to drive the point home of who he was, and that he was watching Taylor.
Keith David, what an actor, what a man! The guy totally steals the movie! If I ever, God-forbid, have to go to war, he's the type of man I want at my side.
This actually makes a lot more sense especially to the relationship between Chris and Lerner, I always wondered in the normal cut why Chris is running to save Lerner when he gets shot and why Lerner says to Chris that he should stay with him.
Of course it is. You had two survivors of Vietnam, Dale Dye and Ollie Stone on scene. Shit doesnt get any realer than that. He and stone mention in a docu that sometimes they were overwhelmed at the reality of what they were re-creating, had to step back and say "whoa..... that's fucked up..."
USMC in Gulf ‘91 burning the shit cans was the worst. The kero smelled like Chanel #5 compared to the shit. And everyone had some kind of stomach issues (in every war since the beginning of time) so it added to the fragrance. And of course it was 110 degrees in that fckn desert. Fond memories semper Fi.
"Too busy fighting for possession of my soul" I guess that's what the last speech Charlie Sheen makes at the end of the movie is about. Makes much more sense with that scene in. Johnny depp surprisingly had a lot of air time in these scenes too.