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A period of history · War · about Military · Part of the Cold War

Films & Shows Set during the Vietnam War

Runs from1955197520 years wide

Shelfmark Liber LXXI

Contemporary Era

6
titles
6 films
3.9/5
average rating
across 6 rated titles
24%
of the span is tagged
6 of 25 titles set inside it

See the Vietnam War on the timelineEvery year from 1955 to 1975 the archive holds, and what is set in them

Compare the titles of the Vietnam War in the CanonsWhat every title on it shares, what two or three share, and what is proper to one

The Chronicle

The events and themes the archive follows through the Vietnam War, in the order they happened, each with the titles that depict it. Press a name to read about it in the threads below.

  1. 1965
    Battle of la DrangMilitary
  2. 1968
    Battle of HuếMilitary
  3. 1968
    Tet OffensiveMilitary

    A massive surprise attack from North Vietnamese forces (both army and Viet Cong) on the day of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year in 1968.

  4. 1970
    Cambodian IncursionMilitary

    The expansion of the Vietnam War into neighboring Cambodia following Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong usage of Cambodian territory as refuge from American counterattack and the Tet…

Cinematic Introduction

Every title set during the Vietnam War, by the decade it came out. A series is placed on the chart by its first season and counts as one title entity.

First on screen
Apocalypse Now1979
Most recent
Rescue Dawn2007

FilmsSeriesAt the archive’s paceeach bar is the titles released that decade

The median title about the Vietnam War came out in 1987; the median across the rest of the archive, in 2004, so this period’s titles run 17 years earlier. Most over-told: the 1980s, with 3 titles where about 0.4 would be expected.

The gold dashes are how many of this period’s 6 titles each decade would hold if they had been released at the same pace as the other 285 dated titles in the archive. That measures the archive’s own collecting, not the world’s film output, and at these sizes one title moves a bar by a whole step.

Cast of Characters

The historical people the archive’s titles put on screen in this period, grouped by what they are known for. The number is how many titles set here they appear in.

Military4

Historical Threads

A thread follows one event or historical theme across the archive, wherever and whenever it appears. Pick a tab to read one; they are in the order they are filed on the timeline. Pulling a thread opens up a narrowed timeline view filtered to every year that thread touches.

Tet Offensivepull it on the timeline

Event

A massive surprise attack from North Vietnamese forces (both army and Viet Cong) on the day of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year in 1968. Though the campaign did not have the desired effect of sparking mass insurrection within South Vietnam, it did instigate massive dissent on the American homefront by very clearly demonstrating that the United States was not winning the war as decisively as it otherwise claimed.

filed under 1968

Its parts, pulled with it:

Cambodian Incursionpull it on the timeline

Event

The expansion of the Vietnam War into neighboring Cambodia following Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong usage of Cambodian territory as refuge from American counterattack and the Tet Offensive in 1969. American President Nixon would then authorize a covert bombing campaign and later action by ground forces.

filed under 1970

Places Connected to this Period

Every place the archive’s titles set in this period name, with each one nested under the larger place it sits inside where that place is here too. The number is how many titles set here name it.

Saltiness Across the Period

No title set here has been given a saltiness score yet. That is unrated, which is not the same as accurate.

Archive Density

24%6 of the 25 titles the archive sets between 1955 and 1975 carry the Vietnam War tag.

This measure can help illustrate cinematic hotspots within a time period by comparing which years of the overarching, actual historical time period are backed up by a cinematic release.

  1. 19550 of 3
  2. 19560 of 3
  3. 19570 of 2
  4. 1958nothing set here
  5. 19590 of 2
  6. 19600 of 2
  7. 19610 of 3
  8. 19620 of 3
  9. 19630 of 1
  10. 19640 of 1
  11. 19652 of 3
  12. 19661 of 1
  13. 19672 of 3
  14. 19681 of 2
  15. 19691 of 4
  16. 19700 of 3
  17. 19710 of 1
  18. 19720 of 1
  19. 19730 of 3
  20. 19740 of 1
  21. 19750 of 1

21 years on the timeline fall inside the boundaries, 1 of them with nothing set there yet. The filled part of each bar is the share carrying this period.

Share of the 16 genre taggings across 6 titles set in this period. A title filed under three genres is in three of these slices, so this is a share of taggings rather than of titles.

Credits

Directors

1Barry Levinson1 title3.7/5unsalted2Francis Ford Coppola1 title4.4/5unsalted3Oliver Stone1 title4.0/5unsalted4Randall Wallace1 title3.5/5unsalted5Stanley Kubrick1 title4.2/5unsalted6Werner Herzog1 title3.6/5unsalted

Films only. Co-directors are counted individually, so a director’s solo work and their collaborations are grouped together. Average saltiness ignores any title still unsalted.

Also on the Timeline

Part of and part of it are declared by the archive: one period counted as belonging to another, whatever their dates. Periods overlap freely so concurrent means the two spans share years, and the shared stretch is named. Bounded means it lies wholly inside this one, beginning and ending more than 10 years within its boundaries. Before and after are the nearest periods lying outside this one, with the gap in years shown instead. A shared thread is what the two have in common besides the calendar, and a period lying wholly outside this one can still share one.

RelationPeriodRunsShared yearsShared threadsTitles
Part ofCold War1946–19911955–1975none shared32
BeforeFrench Indochina War1946–19541 year earlierBattle of la Drang2
ConcurrentAlgerian War1954–19621955–1962none shared2
ConcurrentAmerican Civil Rights Movement1954–19681955–1968none shared3
ConcurrentApartheid1948–19941955–1975none shared1
ConcurrentInformation Age1947–present1955–1975none shared1
ConcurrentSpace Race1955–19751955–1975none shared4
ConcurrentYears of Lead1968–19741968–1974none shared1
ConcurrentColombian Drug War1970–19931970–1975none shared1
ConcurrentAbertura1974–19851974–1975none shared1
AfterIran-Iraq War1980–19885 years laternone shared1