Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1987)

A documentary featuring letters written by U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines during the Vietnam War to their families and friends back home. Archive footage of the war and news ... See full summary »

Director:

Bill Couturié (as Bill Couturie)

Writers:

Richard Dewhurst (screenplay), Bill Couturié (screenplay) (as Bill Couturie)

Stars:

Tom Berenger, Ellen Burstyn, J. Kenneth Campbell

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 5 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Berenger	...	(voice)
Ellen Burstyn	...	Mrs. Stocks (voice)
J. Kenneth Campbell	...	(voice)
Richard Chaves	...	(voice)
Josh Cruze	...	(voice)
Willem Dafoe	...	Elephant Grass (voice)
Robert De Niro	...	Great Sewer (voice)
Brian Dennehy	...	(voice)
Kevin Dillon	...	Jack (voice)
Matt Dillon	...	Mike (voice) (unconfirmed)
Robert Downey Jr.	...	(voice)
Michael J. Fox	...	Pfc. Raymond Griffiths (voice)
Mark Harmon	...	(voice)
John Heard	...	Johnny Boy (voice) (unconfirmed)
Fred Hirz	...	(voice)

Storyline

A documentary featuring letters written by U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines during the Vietnam War to their families and friends back home. Archive footage of the war and news coverage thereof, augment the first-person "narrative" by men and women who were in the war, some of whom did not survive it.

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Plot Keywords:

letter | vietnam war | vietnam | reenactment | voice over letter | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History | War

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dear America

Company Credits

Production Co:

Couturie Company,Dear America,GBA

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The documentary cast includes five Oscar winners: Ellen Burstyn, Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Robin Williams and John Lennon; and ten Oscar nominees: Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, Matt Dillon, Robert Downey Jr., Randy Quaid, Harvey Keitel, Howard E. Rollins Jr., Elizabeth McGovern, Kathleen Turner and Eric Roberts.

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Quotes

Mrs. Stocks: [In a letter to her KIA son, left at the Vietnam Memorial] Dear Bill, I came to this black wall again, to see and touch your name. William R. Stocks. And as I do, I wonder if anyone ever stops to realize that next to your name, on this black wall, is your mother's heart. A heart broken fifteen years ago today, when you lost your life in Vietnam. And as I look at your name, I think of how many, many times I used to wonder how scared and homesick you must have been, in that strange country called ...

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Connections

Referenced in Will & Grace: Something Borrowed, Someone's Due (2002)

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Soundtracks

Wipe-Out
Written by Robert Berryhill, Patrick Connolly, Jim Fuller and Ronald Wilson
Performed by The Surfaris (as The Safaris)

User Reviews

Interesting Documentary, Powerful At Times

Letters and film footage from actual soldiers and nurses who fought in Vietnam are read aloud and shown in this "documentary." The letters are read by famous actors and actresses.

It turns out to be a sometimes-powerful moving saga of Vietnam through the eyes of those who were there but, remember, it's the filmmakers deciding what letters are read. That means you get an anti-Vietnam War bias, but it's not as blatant as one might think.

There is some good footage of bombings and nothing really gross, injury-wise, to view, most likely because this was made-for-TV.

The most moving part of the show was the last letter, from a mom to her son who had died 15 years earlier in Vietnam. That letter is a real tear-jerker. Overall, an excellent documentary, one of the better ones of its era.