V is for Vietnam

Now I know what you're thinking - Vietnam wasn't in the 80s and you're right the Vietnam war officially finished in 1975, but the 80s saw the rise of the Vietnam war movies. From the Oscar winning Platoon to the (put on your best Robin Williams voice for this one) Good Morning Vietnam movie. Missing in Action and Full Metal Jacket were also released during the 80s, it seemed that film makers had found that the Vietnam War provided great fodder for an action film.

There were also the feelings of shame that people felt in the USA over how they had treated their Vietnam Vets, there were no ticker tape parades like there was for the WWI and WWII vets and this was reflected in movies and songs. In particular there was the Stallone classic - Rambo (and it's sequels). The biggest song that I can think of which criticized the way the vets were treated was Born in the USA.

There were other songs of course, in fact it's because of eighties music that I know the average age of the combat soldier in Vietnam was 19.   I'm talking about Paul Hardcastles - 19.

What was your favorite Vietnam action movie of the 80s?   "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" - if you can't pick a favorite or you were more a John Hughes movie fan than an action film fan then tell me which movie that famous quote came from.