Veterans React to Vietnam War Movies, ft. Mat Best 

Did we miss any quintessential Vietnam War movies?

My grandfather was a marine in Vietnam. He said that fastest he ever saw anyone run wasn’t from gunfire or explosions. It was from the hornets that were there

My dad was in Nam; enlisted at 17, and his dad was happy to sign the paperwork. He was 101st Airborne Ranger, tunnel rat, and led a small group through the jungles terrorizing anything and everything they came across. He was shot up, spent 18 months in Japan, and another 6 months at The Presidio. When he had flashbacks, it was some of the absolute scariest times. There wasn’t a pattern to what would trigger one. The worst one he had next to me was when two Chinooks and five Huey’s flew over us when we were working outside. He had a 24oz framing hammer in his hand and stopped mid swing. He grabbed me and threw me to the ground before covering me until the helicopters were gone. Once he realized what he was doing, he got up, puked, and went back to work. He never said anything about it, and I never brought it up.

I remember my high school brought 3 Vietnam vets to talk about the war. All of them had drastically different opinions on everything, except they all agreed Forest Gump was the most accurate portrayal of the war.

I was assigned to work with a Vietnam tunnel rat at my first duty station. I've never been so afraid of such a small man in my life. Nicest guy to everyone, but everyone knew to try and stay on his good side.

One of my patients was a marine tunnel rat and he told me the movies have it all wrong. He always went down with his knife drawn. He was like you never shoot first because you let everyone in the tinsel know where you were. Then he said “everyone I killed was with my knife.” Total bad ass!

Fun fact: If you listen to the commentary track for tropic thunder Robert Downey stays in charecter as Osiris until the credits roll just like he said in the film, and THEN drops it to Kirk Lazarus and only for the last tiny bit speaks out of charecter as R.D.J.. That level of dedication to a bit is the greatest damn thing evar...

Gary Sinise is hands down one of my favorite actors for what he really has done for military veterans

The reason why the battle scenes in the Vietnam Sequence looks so well done in Forest Gump is because not only Captain Dale Dye was the Military Advisor, but because Tom Hanks and the director did not want to do some cheesy World War II stlye film on the back lot of an MGM Studio as well as something like the movie The Green Berets . They wanted to do something that would be more true to life and more respectful to the experience and the men that went through in Vietnam.

My dad was a tunnel rat with the Marines. He is one bad brother, I hope to one day be the man he is. It's a lofty goal.

I remember meeting a tunnel rat years ago, back when I was a kid still thinking war was GI:Joe and just glory. The stories he told me really made a 10 year old kid rethink everything he knew about war. I won’t say I grew up hearing stories about how there war was to be won and war was a man’s ultimate proving ground like generations before, but I grew up thinking that combat was this thing that you did in the military and once you were done it was all stories and glory after. Hearing him talk about how at 18 years old he had his life flash before his eyes and basically reconciled with god as he fought for his life against a VC in a tunnel, desperately trying to grab a rock to bash the guys head in with. Looking back, he didn’t tell me those stories because he wanted to scare me, but because he wanted to give me the wake up call that he wished he got from someone before he went to war.

My dad, who served in Vietnam with the 173rd airborne, has always maintained that Forrest Gump is the most accurate depiction of the war he’s seen.

My uncle fought in Vietnam. All he ever says was her wore the ranger patch. He said he had to walk out of apocalypse now. It brought back to much.

Tropic Thunder is still one of the best comedies ever haha 😂

Probably the worst part of Vietnam was has having to listen to "Fortunate Son" every time you rode in a Huey. I don't know how those helicopter guys did it. I still can't get that song out of my head.

Apparently the part with Martin Sheen in the opening act of Apocalypse Now is him having a mental breakdown. The production and shooting of Apocalypse Now was a fucking nightmare... Like, people almost died, several became drug addicts for a period of time, others lost unhealthy amounts of weight, money was STOLEN for further production, they were filming during the Filipino Civil War in the late 70's, because the US Army wouldn't help due to the nature of the film. Martin Sheen had multiple heat strokes and even a heart attack. Marlon Brando gained an excessive amount of weight and could no longer play the part he needed to play save in limited amounts with immense camera angle play. Apocalypse Now does amazingly well, but only at the cost of serious issues that, by all rights, should've killed significant portions of the cast and filming crew.

My favorite cousin died from MS which is prevalent from the napalm used in Vietnam. Cpl. Don Newland, 🇺🇸 USMC, 🇺🇸 R.I.P.

The scene in Apocalypse Now where we are introduced to roach really stuck with me. Especially when captain Willard asks him, "do you know whos in charge here?" And Roach just goes, "...yeah."

We were out doing squad movement about 17-18 years ago, knee deep grass, and apparently the guard still had hueys. It was pretty surreal with them flying overhead.

I was looking for a reason to take a break from work. Can't think of anything better! Keep up the great work, guys!!

the Lt. Dan band is awesome! saw them while I was a Cadet at The Citadel.

Spoilers this is the most I've ever seen of forest Gump also matt fighting a snapping turtle will buy 200 in coffee to see that

I’m a teenager and you guys are some of my heroes thanks you guys for your service

The movie Dead Presidents has a pretty awesome Vietnam war scene in it! Its awesome how it fades from him running away from getting caught hooking up with his girl, to him running in the jungle in Vietnam with the war radios fading in from the background as it transitions! Its flippin awesome! Do it I dares ya! Lol ;)

Best part about "Roach" scene in Apocalypse Now is that its atcually real stuff. Michael Herr in his "Dispatches" brings up a story that his colleague witnessed in Khe Sanh, and its basically it.

Those were t38 trainer aircraft, developed from the F5 tiger from Northrop corporation. Fun fact, the United States never used t38 or F5 in a combat role, it was developed as a cheap option for more impoverished allies such as south Vietnam.

I could literally watch Mat and Eli react to anything, they’re hilarious.

My uncle was a “spook” for the military during the Vietnam war, and wore mostly civilian cloths while on duty. He said the scariest thing was not carrying anything around to defend himself, except his wits. He was the smartest, most charismatic guy I’ve ever met-a regular James Bond. He had night terrors later on in his life. The movie Hamburger Hill he said was too realistic. I remember him burning the VHS in the front lawn, back in the mid 90’s, from the first 10 minutes of the movie. Only much later did I find out it was the orphan kids crying on the side of the road, left to die because their parents were either dead themselves or fighting in the war, that affected him so. He was tough as nails, but he was still haunted his past. I wish I had more time with him.

Oliver Stone, the director of Platoon, actually requested combat duty in Vietnam. He was awarded a Bronze Star with V device and a Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.

It wasnt that Martin Sheen got drunk for that scene but that he was already hammered and going through a drunk fit, and they decided to roll film anyway. The punching of the mirror and the blood from his cut open hand was all real along with his drunken craze.

Those fighters that dropped the napalm were F5-As or Es. You can still find them in service with some air forces. The soviets got one for evaluation, their pilots loved it. On mock dog fights it would beat Mig 21s and 23s no matter how hey stacked the deck against it. The pilots that flew it called her the foreigner. Like militaries every where the Soviet promptly forgot every lesson they learned from the evaluation.

Only 25% of the forces in country during Vietnam were draftees. For reference, 66% were draftees during WWII.

I can't agree more with Mat about the tunnel rats... There's a movie called Tunnel Rats, and I'm not claustrophobic either but damn that movie... So much respect for those men.

My grandfather in the 173rd airborne during Vietnam was a tunnel rat like what mattbest was saying

Also R Lee Emery's first appearance in a vietnam war movie....he did 4!

I'm a Veteran of Vietnam (70-71) and Iraq ( 04-05) Wars . I was a door gunner UH-1 helicopter in Nam with the 118th AHC .... And in Iraq worked on AH-64A Apache attack helicopter for the 1/151Aviation Regiment ....A lot of these movies are crap....Only one that was good would be ... We Were Soldiers Once and Young: Ia Drang - the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam.

Fun fact when the velociraptor walked in the kitchen the sound it made was turtles doing the DEVILS TANGO

You guys should get Recon Marines or Marines in general to react to Generation kill. Guys like Rudy Reyes and Jason Lilley

Apocalypse Now was a fuck of an accomplishment. FFC had a bunch of ex-pat "MIA" Vietnam vets just walking onto the production and telling how to make the movie more accurate. Sheen had a heart attack during filming. There's a lot of reasons that went into it being such a masterpiece.

The gelling of liquid fuels in both flamethrowers and napalm bombs is not for the "sticking" factor, although that is a benefit, it is to keep the mixture from aerosol-ing too quickly. It works to extend the effective range of the weapon.

Anyone heard of Little Dieter Needs to Fly? About a German who fled Germany during WWII, migrated to the US, became a pilot and fought in Vietnam. Excellent documentary. Would be worth a reaction from these guys.

Eerie. I work at a library and had a conversation with a patron this past week who is one of our regulars, a retired teacher and a Vietnam vet. He donated a book about helicopter rescues in Vietnam. The author, Phil Marshall, writes a series of these, and this fellow has been in several...due to the fact that he got shot down 3 times while he was over there. I can't even imagine what he went through.

I was born in 1971 and grew up in a small town in Kansas so almost every man in the community had been in Vietnam. I had multiple sets of Tiger Stripes and ODs. There were a few former Special Forces guys and one guy who was a tunnel rat. What great generation of brave men.

Forest Gump put films on a whole different level. You guys are checking off the boxes with Saving private Ryan, Jurassic Park, etc... There is something very special about practical effects. (How about doing OG Ghostbusters and the new one Afterlife?)

Fun fact, the company forest gump was in was actually my grandpas company in Vietnam

FYI, they filmed the Gump 'Nam scenes in Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina. One of my biggest regrets was turning down an invite to be one of the platoon for that part of the film. I heard Tom Hanks so I thought, "Vietnam, the comedy" as he was known for screwball comedies and I didn't wanna part of anything like that. Then I saw the movie and realized how awesome it'd been for me to have been there. It still bugs me to this day. I was also later asked to be a Marine Platoon leader for "Windtalkers" but I'm glad I turned THAT down because I was an active duty Army LT at the time and couldn't get leave to take part...

Thanks for what you guys do for not only the veteran community and the regular community. I’m rocking my AK espresso shirt today!

not only did he get drunk that was a real mirror he broke, the making of documentary Hearts of darkness is just as good as the movie

The use of lighting in apocalypse now during the Brando rants is spectacular you could teach a whole class on it in film technique and philosophy

Martin Sheen actually did cut his hand in that scene where he punched the mirror, but just kept on going. I think the scene was pretty much completely improvised. Later on he had a heart attack on set (due to the intensity of his acting) and the film was delayed while he recovered.

I used to run Theatres in the 90’s and I won a promotion for the Forrest Gump movie and I have a signed poster with the poster being signed by Robert Zimeckus and Gary Sinise. I have still this day on my wall!

"Apocalypse Now" was filmed in the Philippines. ALL the helicopters were on loan from the Philippine military. Once filming for the day had ended using helicopters for whatever scene, they then would be loaded up with live ammo and then flown against whatever insurgents that the Philippine government were fighting at the time, probably better explained by other persons in the comments. Then, next day, the helicopters would return to the movie set for the next day's scenes. In todays "movie world" everything would be CGI with maybe a few actual helicopters sprinkled in for good measure.

You have to do Full Metal Jacket when there flying in and the door gunner is opening up on the vc "if they run there VC if they stand still there well disaplined VC" 🤣

Some of my favorite war movies were listed. And I ❤Tropic Thunder, especially Robert Downy Jr's part. "Don't go full re*trd!!"

16:34 Vince Vargas did that exact scene in our barracks during basic training. Oscar worthy

5:27 I love how Matt was pointing out, the nasty sh!tty war was in a nasty sh!tty place, when Eli brings up the draft like, "...So, you were with some real shit bags too."😂😂😂 Like for every foot we took, morale was straight up struggling😁

Danger close is a brilliant Vietnam film.

"I wonder how they did those lighting effects on Apocalypse now-Do Lung Bridge scene" Well. i have an answer for you! other than the obvious pyro and fireworks being used in the background. the Flare effect, which has been used in many other vietnam films, Platoon being one of which if im not mistaken? is, they used bamboo poles/sticks. and equipped flares to the end of them, while various individuals waved them back and forth in a slow/ down drifting effect of vietnam era pop parachute flares, and m79 /40mm flares. which is something that was used in many films throughout the years to create that effect.

My grandpa is a Vietnam veteran he has closterphobia from going in those holes

You should do Veterans react to the High gas prices & out of control inflation.

Winning hearts and minds all over the place.

The only thing that bothered me with the apocalypse now was the zero recoil when he fired the 40mm out of the m79😂

please do one on movies based on real stories and how accurately Hollywood can portray them (12 strong, american sniper, Blackhawk Down, 13 hours, zero dark thirty, etc.)

Fury and 1917 are one of my fav intense war movies Fury for being up close and personal 1917 for being psychological

You guys need to react to the shootout scenes in Wind River and I'd suggest Hot Shot part Deux for fun

fun point about Mat bemoaning the swamps and his comment "living with bacteria everywhere" at 5:37...he speaks from first-hand experience, he got a bad skin infection during Ranger School's "Florida Phase", almost having to be medically discharged and having to redo the phase because of it, so, yeah, his pain is real

damn so cool Eli was able to watch movies of a war he was in

I’m in my 70’s. I like your coffee. I was in that hellhole when I was 19. I feed cats now, am a retired cop, and I don’t like talking or thinking about that shit. But I do like your videos. I’ll probably have a cup of your coffee in my hands when I crap out.

You might've seen tunnel rats with guns that were equipped with what looks like a suppressor. But that is actually a flash hider. When they went into the tunnels they didn't want to get blinded by the muzzle flash.

Commonality among Veteran’s. No matter how much sh!t they’ve been through, the first thing they’ll mention is how f@cked up the weather was. Dad what was Korea like? Cold. Dad what was Vietnam like? Hot……& wet.

I flew Scouts in an OH6-A door gunner/ crew chief. Btrp 1/9 1st Cav. 70-71. I don't care for any of the Vietnam movies except "We were Soldiers" and the Cav scene from a couple of lips now. Being a Army Scout I do love your twisted humor and feel right at home watching these little vignettes.😁🙃😉

Thank for what you guys do to keep us motivated

I've met Gary Sinise. He was really nice. Band was actually really good too

Yes, Martin Sheen back then had a severe drinking problem. And when you are bored out of your mind in a foreign country waiting for the rain to stop so you can start filming, then yes, you are going to get hammered, and yes, FFC filmed MS drunk as a skunk as a scene. Sheen punching the mirror was totally unscripted and, yes, Sheen cut his hand.

And thats why Tom Hanks is and will always be America's Dad! Being born in 1984 I grew up with Tom Hanks films. I remember when Apollo 13 came out and that was not just a big deal for that week it was a big deal the whole summer! Hardee's had kids meals where they would give you a portion of the Apollo 13 rocket so after 4:00 or 5:00 kids meals you could put together this 3 ft tall Apollo 13 model!

Martin Sheen was tripping on Acid during this scene. He talked about it in an interview when Apocalypse Now Redux was released.

My favorite war movies are “we were soldiers” and “saving private Ryan”.

Eli just subtly drops the therapy in. 💯 💯

The road they patrol in the Vietnam scene was directly across from Forrest’s childhood home.

For anyone who is a fan of apocalypse now I highly recommend the redux version. It gets more in depth with the story and character development.

Hamburger hill is by far the best Nam Era war film ever made. Change my mind

They’re called tunnel rats. My stepdad was one. He couldn’t wait for the next new guy. Then he got the job.

Movies with flight deck activities, reacted to by veterans that were part of the airwing and worked up there everyday... I'll volunteer 😉

Love y’all!!!!

The first time I saw Thunder I came in late and didn't see the setup with RDJ playing black face. So for the next hour I didn't get the jokes about that. With the reveal at the end, that was the best way to watch the movie.

I went through tunnel rat school when went through RECONDO school. Absolutely suxed. Thank the lord I didn't go to Vietnam. BUT 2 long tours on the DMZ guaranteed frost bite.

Gotta do we were soldiers. My personal all time favorite Vietnam movie.

7:24 - Knowing my Great Uncle was at Dog One, I didn't make it through the opening sequence the first 3 times I tried. The first time, a worker found me sitting in the hall and thought I'd had a panic attack, when I told him, he said he'd give me a raincheck until I could do it. That movie was extremely accurate to what my Great Uncle told me.

Sheen was hammered when he did this scene

Hamburger Hill, Full metal jacket...the jolly green giant scene is epic.

Enjoyed that🤣🤣👍

In the Apocalypse Now, the Martin Sheen scene in the barracks room ... that could have been Evan Hafer, the little guys

I had to watch this because of Apocalypse Now. Thanks for the upload !

Had a sergeant in the 2/23 inf who got out and came back in. He was a small guy and a tunnel rat in Vietnam. He was a good NCO and had some awesome stories.

Who used to watch Platoon followed by Clear and Present Danger and imagine that Elias survived, assumed the name Jack Clark, and relocated to Latin American?

This was really good! 👊😂

Kennedys tie going from white to black is hilarious, all he did was turn 90 degrers

At 4:34 the term Mat was looking for was tunnel rats. And balls of steel is an understatement.

If you guys thought Martin Sheen was a trip drunk off his rocker (he was battling a pretty heavy drinking problem in the 70s, he also later had a heart attack and the scene where the PBR is under attack by the arrows, is actually his brother acting as a stand-in), ole Sam Bottoms, the dude playing Lance the surfer, dropped acid to do the Do Lung Bridge scene like his character does in the movie. Also, Dennis Hopper got a 14 year old Laurence Fishburn and Sheen's son Emilio Estevez on I think cocaine during filming. The 70s man.

Thank you for another badass video. Much respect ✌🏻