252 PLATOON
crew members to use Philippine military equipment and cast local Viet nam ese ref-
ugees. Scenes were shot in Mount Makiling (for the forest scenes), Cavite (for the
river and village scenes), and Villamor Air Base near Manila. Stone put himself in
the picture, making a cameo as a battalion commander in the last battle scene,
which was based on the New Year’s Day Battle of 1968. Stone had served during
the real battle while he was with the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam.Plot Summary
In 1967, U.S. Army volunteer Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) arrives in Vietnam and
is posted with a U.S. Army unit near the border of Cambodia. The troops are com-
manded by an inept Lt. Wolfe (Mark Moses), but the platoon members take their
cues from their better- qualified subordinates: the battle- worn and brash Sgt. Rob-
ert “Bob” Barnes (Tom Berenger) and the more temperate and humane Sgt. Elias
(Willem Dafoe). Taylor’s first assignment is to join Barnes, Elias, and veteran sol-
diers on a surprise attack on a North Viet nam ese Army (NVA) unit. After Gardner
(Bob Orwig), another new recruit, falls asleep on night watch, NVA soldiers are
able to sneak up on the slumbering U.S. unit in advance of a firefight. Gardner
perishes in the exchange of bullets, and Taylor sustains injuries. After a brief trip
to the field hospital, Taylor returns and gets close with Sgt. Elias and his relaxedChris (Charlie Sheen, left) and Rhah (Francesco Quinn) assist Crawford (Chris
Pedersen), a wounded comrade, in Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War epic, Platoon (1986).
(Orion Pictures Corporation/Photofest)