Danger Close, la batalla de Long Tan (Non USA Format)

Few people would know, much less understand, the United States had allied combat support during the Vietnam War. Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea contributed ground infantry troops to support the Americans and South Vietnamese. Other nations contributed logistical support like Thailand allowing the USAF to station B-52 bombers and fighter aircraft on its territory. Everyone contributed sterling support and none were found wanting. If there's any one glaring inaccuracy it's the beginning statement this was a civil war in Vietnam. But that is not true. Unlike the English Civil War and the American Civil War where opposing armed sides declared war on each other and attacked each other's occupied territory, South Vietnam never invaded North Vietnam. It was North Vietnam who from day one attacked the South with the NVA and Viet Cong, striving to reunite Vietnam, under communist rule. South Vietnam remained on the defensive from circa 1960 to its final defeat in 1975 and absorption into North Vietnam. But that is all history now. Vietnam is following the path of "forgotten wars" in the United States, like the, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Korean War. For the United States, the Vietnam War ended in 1973, a long 48 years ago, to most young Americans today, ancient history in the realm of World War Two. Except there's still a lot of Vietnam veterans alive today, albeit in their seventies and eighties. The youngest would be just 68 years old. They keep the memory alive, for now. The participation and sacrifice of America's allies is forgotten but never unappreciated. In their home countries these nations prefer to forget Vietnam altogether as well. It seemed a lost cause to begin with. SPOILERS: During mid-April 1966, an ANZAC forward field base located near Long Tan comes under nighttime mortar attack from NVA or Viet Cong located at the abandoned Long Tan rubber plantation. In hindsight this proves a serious tactical mistake. The NVA have tipped their hand that they are nearby in force and planning some significant military operation soon. The assumption at the time is that this is more of a nuisance attack and one aimed at determining ANZAC strength and response. In retrospect, the NVA and Viet Cong should have retained the element of surprise. The Australian base commander, a brigadier and his immediate subordinate, a lieutenant-colonel, being the professionals they are, of course immediately suspect the enemy is up to something. In the morning an Australian Army patrol moves out to investigate Long Tan but finds nothing. To their credit, the brigadier and lieutenant-colonel are not going to leave it at just one patrol. A second, follow-up patrol by Delta Company, led by its commander, Major Smith (Vikings Ragnar Rothbrock, Travis Fimmel) continue the investigation. This underscores the military professionalism and combat experience of the Australian Army. For those who served in the military, this movie expertly depicted the accurate and aggressive use of patrols and patrolling. The purpose of aggressive patrolling is reconnaissance and screening and interdiction. Without regular patrols, a main force body is left in the dark without information of the enemy's whereabouts and intentions. Delta Company accomplishes the first and third. Splitting up its three platoons, the forward platoon makes quick contact with the NVA and Viet Cong and then quickly pinned down by heavy infantry assault rifle and machine gun fire by what clearly becomes apparent as a superior enemy force. Throughout the unfolding battle at Long Tan it becomes apparent that Delta Company has run into a NVA regiment-sized force, augmented by Viet Cong irregulars, massing for a likely attack on the ANZAC forward field base. Delta Company has interrupted their assault plans before the NVA could complete its attack organization. But as the old saying goes, Delta Company stepped into a hornet's nest. The rest of the movie is a gallant and desperate fight for survival, 108 ANZAC soldiers against 2000 plus NVA and Viet Cong. The rest of the battle should be watched on the movie. It would take too long here to describe it. Suffice to say, Delta Company survives to fight another day when the cavalry (M113 Armored Personnel Carriers) literally arrives in the nick of time as Delta Company is out of ammunition and seconds away from being overrun. The ultimate survival of Delta Company is due to its experienced, hard-driving company commander, Major Smith, who came from the ranks of the Australian commandos. Smith would train his Delta Company of conscripts, National Servicemen, and regulars along commando standards of high performance. While Smith trains his company harder and longer than other local company commanders, he is not a martinet and is apparently respected by his men. The ultimate survival of Delta Company attests to their hard, tough training, professionalism of its NCOs, some good lieutenants, and the tough, gritty, leadership of Major Smith. It is still pointed out that ultimately Delta Company was saved by the arrival of the M113 APCs armed with a single, deadly, M2 Browning, 0.50 caliber heavy machine gun. But that begs the point. Without its tough, commando-style training, leadership, and small unit esprit de corps, Delta Company would not have survived long enough to be rescued by the M113s. DANGER CLOSE is still relatively unknown in the U.S. and thus an underrated war movie. Yet it belongs in the pantheon of great war movies, a welcome foreign movie not produced by Hollywood, but ranks alongside other great foreign war movies in the international list, with other foreign war movies such as, DAS BOOT, THE WINTER WAR, BATTLE FOR ALGIERS, THE BRIDGE, STALINGRAD, et al.

In the tradition of great War movies like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, The Thin Red Line, and Hamburger Hill comes the true story of Danger Close, this film brings you to the front lines of Vietnam with no support, little cover, and no ammo against insurmountable odds. This is more a TRUE STORY docu-drama more so than a typical war movie, as it pits you on the front line with Major Harry Smith's Delta Company, 6 RAR, during the Battle of Long Tan in 1966. This is one of the best war dramas in the caliber of others mentioned herein, a must see for anyone who loves nail biter war dramas. The acting is superb, with strong character development. The FX are as realistic as being there yourself. The direction and cinematography is spot on. You really get a feel that this movie was emotional for the actors and the film crew to produce, to get it right and exact as possible to share the story and honor the soldiers and hero's on both sides of the battlefield. 5 Stars*****. My only gripe is that it's an insult it took the Australian Government 45 years to honor these heroes who fought along side US Forces in Vietnam. Shame... The people of Australia should never have allowed that to happen.

Nothing really offensive in this movie and ultimately it was quite moving given the underlying facts. The film drew upon some 'Nam movie cliches and at other times was a bit flat when including details of artillery strikes and other procedural aspects of the concflict. While there was a good bit of Aussie culture referenced it seemed like an American movie imitation and lacked a real point of view other than that Anzacs did the fighting and dying in this one. Probably this is because the viet nam war had a massive cultural impact in America which was likely not the case in Australia given their lesser involvement politically and numerically. So how do you convey that in the movie? Actually it's mentioned somewhere that they really didn't want to get political but rather just wanted to relay this relatively unknown story of Anzac heroism and sacrifice. The effects and so forth were pretty good. I thought they filmed in some replanted forest which seemed a bit rediculous until I realized it was a rubber tree plantation similar to or the same as where the conflict actually took place. Looked like 20mms on the apcs rather than 50s. So it's a good film that made me care and successfully created tension but used boiler plate character development when a deeper view of the actual australian/new zealand psychology of the time might have been possible.

I'm sorry, this is my second time trying to watch this movie and I can't do it. They have continuous moments of silence in an attempt to emphasize the importance of the decisions being made. It's a Vietnam movie. All the decision are important! The stop everything and the ranks are deliberating while the soldiers on the ground are getting heavy fire. It's ridiculous. This isn't game of thrones. It's Vietnam. You don't deliberate for 5 minutes. You act now. I just can't do it. I know that's not how it went down. Training exists to eliminate the deliberation process. Could be a good movie, but too much English drama for me.

For the most part it was a typical war movie, fun to watch and told a great story. Great flow, didn't drag on too long and was captivating to watch. No complaints whatsoever The most amazing part of it for me was seeing how much work they put into getting the weapons right. Genuine Type 56's, original M16/M16a1's, reciprocating bolts and rounds actually in the magazines. The explosions were mostly realistic, not the giant fireballs of Michael Bay. The gore and injuries were for the most part realistic, simulating gunshot wounds are fairly difficult to do properly, especially on faces, but they did a decent job of it. I did notice how on occasion an SLR would fire from an open bolt, or the M16 would have forward assist teeth on the bolt despite lacking the forward assist itself, but even then that could be chalked up to replacement parts so no issues with that either, definitely nothing worth complaining about. The only thing that I think could have propelled it into a Dunkirk level of authenticity would be to make the gunfire incredibly loud.

I am a simple man; I see Travis Fimmel, I watch! Also being a big fan of war movies, especially those about WW2, and Vietnam - I had to give it a watch, even though I had never honestly heard of it. -I was absolutely amazed by what I got. Danger Close is easily one of the best war movies of the decade. Similar to movies like We were Soldiers, Dunkirk, or Letters from Iwo Jima; Danger Close delivers depictions of intensely brutal combat, high emotion, and really shows why war should be avoided at all possible costs. This is not an action adventure. This is a very intense, and tragic yet wonderful story about the Battle of Long Tan in 1966, where a relatively small number of Australian Soldiers held off against forces several orders larger than their own... but not without extreme loss of human life on both sides of the conflict. -Easy 5 stars

Really enjoyed this show and I highly recommend it. Have seen it numerous times. It is a compelling story of the early days of that conflict. It highlights how desperate the fighting was and yet how unsupportive the public was till recently. While there are some corny sections, the characters are engaging and the action sequences are engrossing.

An excellent portrayal of the Australian forces in Vietnam during that fine fiasco. I was in the 2/2 (mech. inf.) and the 2/18th Infantry of the Big Red One (1st Infantry Division). There are many movies / films about Vietnam and the roles countries played. There are movies about the 'events' that occurred as seen through the eyes of the director / screenplay writer (Platoon, Born of the Fourth of July, Apocalypse Now). Some are just depiction of stories, others are filmed critiques of the insanity of war. As a 4.2" mortar gunner and an 81mm mortar gunner I can attest to the conflict of emotion and split morality when a unit calls for artillery to be 'walked in' to their position. We also worked the Iron Triangle which is well known for the Michelin rubber tree plantations.I found this to be a very well written, scripted and portrayed movie about the actions of the 6th RAR against smothering odds. Very worthwhile viewing if one is interested in the historical aspect or the human aspect (confronting moral issues, trusting in your fellow soldiers, learning there is no 'I' in 'we' or 'us.' Having to dig deeper into the very core of survival when one comes face-to-face with what most all people state they would never do, but as humans we are all capable. This is what makes war so insane.