Casualties of War (1989)

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

Director:

Brian De Palma (as Brian DePalma)

Writers:

Daniel Lang (book), David Rabe (screenplay)

Stars:

Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, Don Harvey

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael J. Fox	...	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	...	Oanh
Erik King	...	Brown
Jack Gwaltney	...	Rowan
Ving Rhames	...	Lt. Reilly
Dan Martin	...	Sgt. Hawthorne
Dale Dye	...	Capt. Hill
Steve Larson	...	Agent #1
John Linton	...	Agent #2
Vyto Ruginis	...	Prosecutor
Al Shannon	...	Wilkins

Storyline

During the Vietnam war, a girl is taken from her village by five American soldiers. Four of the soldiers rape her, but the fifth refuses. The young girl is killed. The fifth soldier is determined that justice will be done. The film is more about the realities of war, rather than this single event.

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Plot Keywords:

vietnam war | water buffalo | scarf | railroad trestle | beer drinking | 

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Taglines:

Even in war... murder is murder.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | War

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Vietnamese

Release Date:

18 August 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pecados de guerra

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$22,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,201,261, 20 August 1989, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$18,671,317

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min 119 min (Extended Cut)

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Finland this movie is called "Sodan arvet", which means "Scars of War" in English.

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Goofs

When the soldiers are shooting the girl on the bridge, she is positioned in a crossfire between three soldiers on one side of her and one soldier on the other side of her. With the number of shots fired, they would all have been shot, if not killed.

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Quotes

Lt. Reilly: So what was I doing in jail? What I was doing, let me advise you, was fixin' to shoot some mothafucka's working in that hospital, that's what I was doing.

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Alternate Versions

The Extended Cut is 6 minutes longer than the original and contains 2 extra scenes.

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood Vietnam (2005)

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Soundtracks

Time Has Come Today
Written by Joseph Chambers & Willie Chambers (as William Chambers)
Performed by The Chambers Brothers
Courtesy of CBS Records

User Reviews

Innocence Lost

Brian De Palma directed this powerful story that stars Michael J. Fox as Eriksson, one of a five-man unit during the Vietnam war that sees events turn sour, since his unit sees much action, in which he believes civilians were wrongfully killed, but later things take an even more evil turn when the group's "leader" Sgt. Meserve(played by Sean Penn) orders the abduction of a young Vietnamese girl for a group rape. Absolutely appalled, Eriksson refuses to participate, though the only thing he could of done to stop it was shoot them, something he found himself unable to do. After the girl dies, Eriksson reports the incident to the authorities, who eventually charge the men, but Eriksson still finds himself an outcast. Heartbreaking film with excellent performances, though is certainly not easy to watch.

Eriksson sums up the situation perfectly when he says "We're supposed to be helping these people..."