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Best Vietnam veteran Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of vietnam veteran cinema — measured across 1,129 indexed frames from 18 films, against a 408,752-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Vietnam veteran films over-index on rifle, cowboy hat and military uniform — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    The Deer Hunter (1978)

    Michael CiminoDP Vilmos ZsigmondIMDb 8.1TMDB 8.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    Michael, Steven, and Nick are three best friends who enjoy going deer hunting quite often. They get enlisted to head to Vietnam to fight for their country and celebrate with a farewell party, as well as Steven marrying a pregnant woman named Angela. After the horrors during the war and edge-grabbing games of Russian Roulette that they are forced to play, Michael returns home and realizes that his deer hunting outings aren't the same as they used to be, because of the war and he eventually finds out that Steven is handicapped and Nick hasn't returned from Vietnam, and in response, he heads back there to rescue him.

  2. 2

    Forrest Gump (1994)

    Robert ZemeckisDP Don BurgessIMDb 8.8TMDB 8.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    Forrest Gump is a simple man with a low I.Q. but good intentions. He is running through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. His 'mama' teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny. Forrest joins the army for service in Vietnam, finding new friends called Dan and Bubba, he wins medals, creates a famous shrimp fishing fleet, inspires people to jog, starts a ping-pong craze, creates the smiley, writes bumper stickers and songs, donates to people and meets the president several times. However, this is all irrelevant to Forrest who can only think of his childhood sweetheart Jenny Curran, who has messed up her life. Although in the end all he wants to prove is that anyone can love anyone.

  3. 3

    First Blood (1982)

    Ted KotcheffDP Andrew LaszloIMDb 7.7TMDB 7.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    John J. Rambo is a former United States Special Forces soldier who fought in Vietnam and won the Congressional Medal of Honor, but his time in Vietnam still haunts him. As he came to Hope, Washington to visit a friend, he was guided out of town by the Sheriff William Teasel who insults Rambo, but what Teasel does not know that his insult angered Rambo to the point where Rambo became violent and was arrested. As he was at the county jail being cleaned, he escapes and goes on a rampage through the forest to try to escape from the sheriffs who want to kill him. Then, as Rambo's commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Trautman tries to save both the Sheriff's department and Rambo before the situation gets out of hand.

  4. 4

    No Country For Old Men

    Joel Coen, Ethan CoenDP Roger DeakinsIMDb 8.2TMDB 7.9See in full on FrameThrower →

    In rural Texas, welder and hunter Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) discovers the remains of several drug runners who have all killed each other in an exchange gone violently wrong. Rather than report the discovery to the police, Moss decides to simply take the two million dollars present for himself. This puts the psychopathic killer, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), on his trail as he dispassionately murders nearly every rival, bystander and even employer in his pursuit of his quarry and the money. As Moss desperately attempts to keep one step ahead, the blood from this hunt begins to flow behind him with relentlessly growing intensity as Chigurh closes in. Meanwhile, the laconic Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) blithely oversees the investigation even as he struggles to face the sheer enormity of the crimes he is attempting to thwart.

  5. 5

    Born On The Fourth of July (1989)

    Oliver StoneDP Robert RichardsonIMDb 7.2TMDB 7.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.

  6. 6

    Da 5 Bloods (2020)

    Spike LeeDP Newton Thomas SigelIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    From Academy Award® Winner Spike Lee comes a new joint: the story of four African American Vets - Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) - who return to Vietnam. Searching for the remains of their fallen Squad Leader (Chadwick Boseman) and the promise of buried treasure, our heroes, joined by Paul's concerned son (Jonathan Majors), battle forces of Man and Nature - while confronted by the lasting ravages of The Immorality of The Vietnam War.

  7. 7

    Kong: Skull Island (2017)

    Jordan Vogt-RobertsDP Larry FongIMDb 6.7TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    A washed up monster chaser convinces the U.S. Government to fund a trip to an unexplored island in the South Pacific. Under the guise of geological research, the team travels to "Skull Island". Upon arrival, the group discover that their mission may be complicated by the wildlife which inhabits the island. The beautiful vistas and deadly creatures create a visually stunning experience that is sure to keep your attention.

  8. 8

    Vanishing Point (1971)

    Richard C. SarafianDP John A. AlonzoIMDb 7.2TMDB 7.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    Kowalski works for a car delivery service. He takes delivery of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to take from Colorado to San Francisco, California. Shortly after pickup, he takes a bet to get the car there in less than 15 hours. After a few run-ins with motorcycle cops and highway patrol they start a chase to bring him into custody. Along the way, Kowalski is guided by Supersoul - a blind DJ with a police radio scanner. Throw in lots of chase scenes, gay hitchhikers, a naked woman riding a motorbike, lots of Mopar and you've got a great cult hit from the early 70's.

  9. 9

    Taxi Driver (1976)

    Martin ScorseseDP Michael ChapmanIMDb 8.2TMDB 8.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    Travis Bickle is an ex-Marine and Vietnam War veteran living in New York City. As he suffers from insomnia, he spends his time working as a taxi driver at night, watching porn movies at seedy cinemas during the day, or thinking about how the world, New York in particular, has deteriorated into a cesspool. He's a loner who has strong opinions about what is right and wrong with mankind. For him, the one bright spot in humanity is Betsy, a worker on the presidential nomination campaign of Senator Charles Palantine. After an incident, he believes he has to do whatever he needs to make the world a better place.

  10. 10

    The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

    Tobe HooperDP Richard KoorisIMDb 5.6TMDB 5.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    A radio host is victimised by the notorious cannibal family while a former Texas Marshal hunts them.

What vietnam veteran films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a vietnam veteran frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — rifle is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • rifle5.0×
  • cowboy hat4.8×
  • military uniform4.0×
  • soldier3.5×
  • neon sign3.3×
  • asphalt2.5×
  • car2.3×
  • plaid shirt2.2×

How vietnam veteran films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate vietnam veteran from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 27%widevs 20% baseline

What breaks the pattern

Honey Boy (2019) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 1,129 frames from 18 films carrying the vietnam veteran label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (408,752 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/vietnam-veteran

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These are real movie frames, shown at reduced resolution. All rights remain with their respective owners; they appear here for study, commentary and education under fair-use principles. How these are meant to be used