Casualties of War (1989)

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers (WGA):

Daniel Lang (book)
David Rabe (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 August 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | War

Tagline:

Even in war... murder is murder.

Plot:

During the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.

Plot Keywords:

War | Wartime Rape | Death | Bare Butt | Vietnam War

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Michael J. Fox	...	PFC. Eriksson
Sean Penn	...	Sgt. Tony Meserve
Don Harvey	...	Cpl. Thomas E. Clark
John C. Reilly	...	PFC. Herbert Hatcher
John Leguizamo	...	PFC. Antonio Diaz
Thuy Thu Le	...	Tran Thi Oanh / Girl on Train
Erik King	...	Cpl. Brown
Jack Gwaltney	...	PFC. Rowan
Ving Rhames	...	Lt. Reilly
Dan Martin	...	Hawthorne
Dale Dye	...	Capt. Hill
Steve Larson	...	Agent #1
John Linton	...	Agent #2
Vyto Ruginis	...	Prosecutor
Al Shannon	...	Wilkins

Also Known As:

Verdammten des Krieges, Die (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
A Háború áldozatai (Hungary) [hu]
Apoleies polemou (Greece) [el]
Corações de Aço (Portugal) [pt]
Corazones de hierro (Spain) [es]
Obeti války (Czechoslovakia) [cs]
Ofiary wojny (Poland) [pl]
Ororile razboiului (Romania) [ro]
Outrages (France) [fr]
Pecados de Guerra (Brazil) [pt]
Pecados de guerra (Colombia) (cable TV title) [es]
Sodan arvet (Finland) [fi]
Uppgörelsen (Sweden) [sv]
Victimes du Vietnam (Canada: French title) [fr]
Vittime di guerra (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

113 min | USA:121 min (extended version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Australia:MA (extended version) | Brazil:18 | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Philippines:PG-13 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

According to John Leguizamo in his autobiography, the scene in which Meserve smacks Diaz took 14 takes and Sean Penn really smacked him every time.

Goofs:

Continuity: When a soldier steps on a landmine, other soldiers takes a picture of his corpse. Erikkson and one soldier goes to look that corpse which now lies on an opposite side of the road.

Quotes:

Meserve: You like the army, Eriksson?
Eriksson: This is not the army, sir.

Movie Connections:

Version of O.K. (1970)

Soundtrack:

Hello, I Love You

Blistering assault on the degrading effects of warfare

CASUALTIES OF WAR

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)

Sound format: 6-track Dolby Stereo

(35mm and 70mm release prints)

During a routine field trip at the height of the Vietnam War, a young soldier (Michael J. Fox) rebels against his commanding officer (Sean Penn) and other members of his patrol when they kidnap a defenceless Vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Le) and subject her to a terrifying physical ordeal.

Unfairly overshadowed by the simultaneous theatrical release of Oliver Stone's pompous - but still impressive - BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989), Brian DePalma's CASUALTIES OF WAR recreates a harrowing incident from the Vietnam conflict - first reported in 'New Yorker' magazine in 1969 - in which a group of otherwise decent men succumbed to their own worst impulses and committed a terrible crime. Filmed with typical cinematic bravado by master craftsman DePalma, the movie uses every inch of the scope frame to convey both the duality of the landscape (vast swathes of breathtaking countryside, where sudden death lurks around every corner) and the moral vacuum which stretches the two central characters (Fox and Penn) to breaking point. Crafted with blistering simplicity by screenwriter David Rabe (himself a Vietnam veteran and author of the acclaimed stageplay 'Streamers'), the soldiers are depicted as brave individuals whose principles are shattered by their traumatic combat experiences, leaving Fox to essay the role of peacemaker in a world where all the rules have been turned upside down. Thuy - a model with no prior acting experience - is truly heartbreaking as the soldiers' terrified prisoner, and her ultimate fate is so horrific (arguably the most disturbing set-piece of this director's entire career), many viewers will be too appalled to see the film through to its inevitable conclusion. All in all, this uncompromising drama emerges as one of DePalma's strongest films to date.