User reviews

This is one of my favorite movies. The film has a good storyline. Actor, Stan Shaw did an excellent job in his role as Tyrone Washington. He went on to perform another great acting job in "The Great Santini". The boot camp scenes where spot on authentic with the Drill Instructors. Reminded me of my bootcamp when I entered the Air Force. R Lee Emery does a great job in his first movie but my favorite drill instructor in the film is the Puerto Rican Gunney that rips the new recruits a new one. Amazingly, a lot of people don't know about this film. In my view, it's one of the most entertaining military/Viet Nam movies that have ever been made. Great movie!

An interesting war film that is mostly overlooked by Full Metal Jacket fans. Stan Shaw gives a good performance that when I which makes me wonder we he hasn't had a bigger career.

This movie shares the soccer connection with the Caine/Stallone movie "Victory" (1981/I). I actually think the soccer scenes were better done in Company C.

Nonetheless this movie is an interesting choice which any war movie buff should not miss...

Some time ago, I read a review of Vietnam War movies by a journalist who had served as an infantryman in Vietnam. He had a simple criterion by which to judge the authenticity of the films, "If you weren't there, did it make you glad you weren't?"

He found that many Vietnam War movies actually made the experience seem exciting. "Apocalypse Now", "The Deerhunter" and "Full Metal Jacket" failed his test; "Platoon" was the one he felt caught the feeling best.

Sidney J. Furie's "The Boys in Company C" seems to fall somewhere else.

The story follows a group of marines from boot camp to combat in Vietnam, although it is often compared to "Full Metal Jacket", it also reminds me of "M*A*S*H" and "Catch 22". Although "Boys" has a realistic enough look, the irony knob is turned up so high that it almost becomes satire.

It was made at a time when just about any bizarre thing about the war in Vietnam would be believed. Mel Gibson's "We were Soldiers", a straightforward film about a real battle with few side-trips into the surreal, wasn't made until 2002.

The interesting thing about comparing "The Boys in Company C", with "Full Metal Jacket" is in the cinematic technique; Furie against Kubrick. "Full Metal Jacket" had to be masterclass for Sidney. Kubrick's film has a beautifully choreographed rhythm and flow compared to "Boys", which seemed to cram in as much chaos as it could.

"The Boys in Company C", released in 1978, was not the inspiration for Kubrick's 1987 film. "Full Metal Jacket" was based on "The Short-Timers", Gustav Hasford's 1979 novel based on his experience in the marines - the film follows the book fairly closely.

Even though Kubrick shot "Jacket" in England and didn't have a real paddy field to play in, his style makes Furie's film seem a more pedestrian effort. The difference in R. Lee Ermey's performances between the two films pretty much says it all.

I find "The Boys in Company C" interesting but frustrating. However as a social document, it's a film that represents the disillusionment and mistrust of institutions that followed the end of a war that is still disturbing.

As one of the actors in Boys in Company C , I can say the reality of war was not completely there. However, It did touch on some realistic moments.. Truly Full Metal Jacket was more the real thing, especially Boot camp..I went through Parris Island in 1966 and it was even more brutal I think..Example... When Pyle was eating the jelly donut and all the others were paying for it. In the boot camp I went through, every time anyone screwed up , we all paid for it. R Lee Ermey a long ago friend was the real thing.. Bye the way , Pyle would never have had that full metal jacket because all the brass was collected after the firing line to make sure no one would shoot the DI.. LOL Stan Johns ,Boys in Company C.....

The picture opens In 1967 with the arrival of various draftees in the Marine Corps instruction center. There five young men undergo boot camp training before being shipped out to Vietnam. They quickly develope an agreeable friendship as well as a hellish nightmare and the young men attempt to find a possible way out of the war. Once they get there, the experience proves worse than they could have imagined. To keep their sanity in an insane war, they had to be crazy. You may want to forget the war. But you'll never forget... The Boys in Company C.

A decent Wartime movie with impressive scenes and comes close , at times , to be the powerful subject of the Vietnam war suggests . The picture shot in Luzon, Manila, Philippines contains spectacular combat scenes that are highly effective and the deaths of soldiers are gory without being overdone . Focuses on various issuses such as demoralization of the Marines being appalled by the corruption of their South Vietnamese ally , the stupidity of military brass and soldiers eventually endangered by the incompetence of their own company commander resulting they're disheartened by futile battles . The film is rated R for its violence , profanity , gore and blood . Here stands out Stan Shaw as the brave soldier who whips a group of green Marine recruits into shape for Vietnam. Stars some newcomer actors as vaiiant soldiers who will need to work together to survive in combat , and some of them to be continued notable cinematic careers , such as : Stan Shaw , Andrew Stevens , James Canning , Michael Lembeck , Craig Wasson , Scott Hylands , James Whitmore Jr. And other illustrous veterans as Noble Willingham , Vic Diaz , and R. Lee Ermey.

This frank and provoking motion picture was professionally directed by Sidney J. Furie , a veteran and prolific director , still today making films . British Furie has directed all kind of genres , though mostly action . In 1999, Sidney J. Furie's espionage thriller "The Ipcress File" (1965) was included at number 59 on the BFI's list of the 100 greatest British films of the 20th century. Stanley Kubrick was a big fan of this "The Boys in Company C" (1978) and cited Sidney J. Furie's war movie as the direct inspiration for "Full Metal Jacket" (1987) that's why Kubrick hired R Lee Ermey as Drill Instructor again in a similar role . In 2009, director Martin Scorsese placed Sidney J. Furie's "The Entity" (1982) on his list of the 11 Scariest Horror Films of All Time. He also directed "Superman IV: quest of peace" (1987) , originally had a budget of $36 million dollars , just before filming was to begin, Cannon Pictures, which was starting to suffer financial problems, slashed the budget and was a flop . ¨The Boys in Company C (1978)¨ resulted to be an acceptable Warlike movie that had success enough at the box office . Rating : 6.5/10 , notable . The picture will appeal to Warfare buffs .

The Boys in Company C is a very uneven movie, which makes for a mixed experience. R. Lee Ermey does his iconic drill instructor role 9 years before Full Metal Jacket which in itself makes this movie a must watch!

Stan Shaw is perfect for the Lead Role as Tyrone (and as a side note: My God can the man sing!) and the other main characters are good for their roles.

Sadly the script is underwhelming and a bit unbelievable at times with countless insubordinations and dangerous acts which would make for court martial 10 times over for each of the main characters. The acting is not good for the emotional scenes and although the setting and scenery is well done, other aspects like explosions and fighting falls very short. The story never really evolves and comparing to later Vietnam war movies it's not anywhere close.

Still, there are some shining moments: The beginning is good, boot camp is great and R. Lee Ermey is awesome, the initial scenes in Vietnam are good and Stan Shaw is almost too good for this movie, but again, the movie sadly never lifts.

Yes, the body count insanity is shown in a good way which I like, but this drowns on the otherwise inconsistent script.

I'm impressed with a movie like this coming out just 5 years after USA left Vietnam, and that they casted an African American as the Main Lead, and I'm sure it was a good movie at the time it came out.

Watch it if you're a fan of Vietnam War movies, but don't expect another Full Metal Jacket or Platoon.

An early entry in what became quite a wave of Vietnam War films in the following decade or so, some of which were okay, and some of which were stunningly (if disturbingly) brilliant. "The Boys in Company C" slots in closer to the former, missing any real stars to make a bigger impact.

The film is very formulaic, right down to the stereotypical wartime experiences. It starts with a group of enlistees from all over America turning up to USMC basic training near San Diego. There, they are put through the ringer by a few hard drill instructors (including R. Lee Ermey, a few years before his iconic and scary performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in "Full Metal Jacket") before shipping off to Vietnam, where the film follows the company through various experiences, including serving under a commander who believes America would be doing better in the war if they understood the game of soccer better.

Having been in the military, this was one of the most true to life movies of military boot camp and life in Vietnam. Mr. Ermey, although I had never known him personally, portrayed the D.I. splendidly and must have been an outstanding D.I. in real life for the Marines.

The Boys in Company C (1978) was a movie that follows the recruits from Company C. Golden Harvest known for their Bruce Lee films and Jackie Chan productions made several films that were targeted for a world wide audience. One of them was this film. A very good film about the war in Viet-Nam that's is sadly over looked by other films such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. Shot in the Phillipines and filled with many minor stars (with the exception of the great R. Lee Ermey) this one has an aura of realism (i.e the real Drill Instructors and boot camp scenes).

I liked this movie very much. Too bad it has never been restored to it's original wide screen aspect for maximum entertainment. If this were available on D.V.D. I would call this one a keeper.

Highly recommended.

I think this movie never received the credit it deserved, mainly because it was poorly promoted. I was a motion picture projectionist when this film made its debut, and the theater posters depicted this movie as some kind of wacky McHale's Navy-turned-Army flick. Though it has some humorous parts, this movie is more serious. It follows a group of young men -- most who are drafted -- through an insane time in history. It depicts the war and the problems with drugs, sex, human relationships, fear, hatred, blackmail, government corruption and more. This movie really moved me. Forget Platoon!

This is absolutely the worst, most distorted movie on Vietnam. The script had no relevance to reality in terms of training or Vietnam combat. I know--I was an Army infantryman in that war in 1967-68. This is an insult to my brother Marine infantrymen, and the producers, director and actors in this movie owe them an apology. Stan Shaw, as the "guy who will get the others home alive", but is primarily interested in shipping heroin home in the bodies of our honorable dead, is but one despicable character in this soap opera. There was obviously no military background among those that should have advised the scriptwriters and director. The drill instructor, Ermy, is actually a much decorated, multi-tour Vietnam Marine veteran and I am amazed he was even associated with this dismal affair. All the laudatory comments by other reviewers have to be based on either no combat experience of their own, and thus a dependence on the tripe that Hollywood continually hands out on this and most wars. You want even a taste of reality, see "Hamburger Hill" or "Saving Private Ryan".

This movie would be just a regular by the numbers movie about war, weather the Vietnam War or World War II. You have a bunch of stereotypical screw ups who get thrown into Marine boot camp during the Vietnam War. The film follows them thru boot camp to the hell of 'nam. These boys become men and it doesn't end happily for one of them. The scenes in boot camp are funny and also very realistic. This was the first film appearance of Lee Ermey as their drill instructor. His first words on screen are "I'm Sergeant Loyce I'm your drill instructor for the next two f@&%ing months maggots". He is really funny and theres a good scene where him and Stan Shaw have a blazing argument (although in real life you would be in the brig for talking to your DI like that). Thirty years ago drill instructors were allowed to be a lot rougher with privates then today and my favorite part is where this one DI grabs a daydreaming recruit by the....well watch it and see. Actually the DI Lee plays in this film is almost a nice guy compared to the one that he played in Full Metal Jacket. The scenes in Vietnam are handled as well, especially the ones showing the horrors of combat. They talk about the drug smuggling that went on and the film is unflinching in how it shows the machinations of the politicians who sent our men out into the field with one hand tied behind their backs. No one we suffered such a humiliating defeat. This film is gritty, vulgar and unsentimental but it is a true story we must not forget about a terrible war that ripped our country apart like the Cival War. Like I said though, Lee Ermey makes this film. I love him on Mail Call. I think my favorite part of the show is the one where he talked about the paratroopers at D-Day. Someone wrote him an e-mail and asked if it was true that they really said Geronimo when they jumped. Lee said that wasn't true at all and what they probably said was "OH S#$T!!!!!!!"

"The Boys in Company C" is like two movies in one. The first part is a structured boot camp, run by Drill Seargent R. Lee Ermey. It's all about preparing a nice assortment of somewhat stereotyped raw recruits for battle in Vietnam. The second part of the film is a tale of almost total chaos, with special emphasis on inept officers. Body bag counts seem to somehow have value, and that specter follows the privates throughout the remainder of the film. The acting is good, the action sparse, and we are certainly presented a unique, though unsatisfying view of the War. For what it is, "The Boys in Company C" is entertaining, but an uneasiness prevails throughout, as this seems to be a movie on a collision course with itself. - MERK

What can you say about a war that Franz Kafka might have arranged? It's said in The Boys In Company C. The story is based on the journal of a GI played by James Canning and his four buddies who went through basic training and served as Marines. The other four are Stan Shaw, Andrew Stevens, Craig Wasson, and Michael Lembeck. The five all come from completely different backgrounds and those backgrounds play into how they come to feel as they feel about our military intervention. Not so surprising eventually they all arrive at the same conclusions.

Vietnam was a whole lot like how we dealt with China except that we weren't dumb enough to get into a land war there on behalf of Chiang Kai-shek. No we went in by increments and by 1967-68 when the action of this film takes place we had no clear military objective. Our allies whom we fought for were as corrupt a bunch as you could have. Stan Shaw from the Chicago ghetto thought he was street smart and cynical and thought he'd make some crooked drug money while there. The corruption played out with a scene with South Vietnamese general leaves him appalled.

There were sure enough real casualties among civilians in Vietnam. But I remember the obsession and reporting of body counts in the news back in the day. This was how we measured success and those on the ground gave them what they asked for. Scott Hylands has a great part as a captain who has really bought into the hype about that.

Hylands has another obsession, soccer. He sees a soccer game as a metaphor for war and pretty soon his men pretend to buy into it including our five protagonists. But we even have corruption there as the five soon discover.

All five meet different fates in the end and as the postscript explains. Not as well known as Casualties Of War or Platoon. Still The Boys In Company C can certainly lay claim to being THE Vietnam War film.

Even though the low budget of this film shows through at times, it still manages to be a compelling and intense portrayal of the whole experience of being sent to Vietnam, right from boot camp up to fighting. It really feels like one is there is at times, and it is fascinating to watch the changes that characters undergo in the course of the film. The symbolic soccer themes and ideas do not always work, but they still retain some power. The camera-work and editing suits the project fine, and the film also has an excellent, haunting song, "Here I Am", to go with the material. It is quite similar in many ways to 'Full Metal Jacket', and even though the technical side and acting might be inferior here, this is still one hell of a fine movie depicting the experiences of being involved in war from a recruit's point of view.

I have seen comments that this movie doesn't show the Vietnam war the way it was. I strongly disagree -- I think this movie tells it like it was: A war of politics, greed, drug abuse, and general mayhem. My only gripe regarding this movie is the short sightedness of the company that owns the rights not to release it on DVD, and a special remastered DTS/Dolby Digital version at that.

Never had there been a film that captured so well the bonds of men in war. The relationships that develop seem completely natural and in no way forced by writing.

This movie accurately depicts the struggles that face all men in grave situations, with and without friends at their sides.

Anyone who thinks this flick accurately represents the Marine Corps just shows he knows nothing about the Marines.

The guy who compared the boot camp scenes to his Air Force boot camp simply confirms that. Marine boot camp is to Air Force boot camp what the Green Bay Packers are to peewee league football. (Yes, I'm a Marine, so I know what I'm talking about.)

This movie SUCKS and is fake beyond belief. The Marines portrayed are confused, sniveling cowards. Their leaders can't lead and have no idea what they're doing once under fire.

This movie is an insult to everyone who ever wore the Marine uniform.

I loved it, and guess having been a soldier, I got the humor of it. Everyone compares it to "Full Metal Jacket" but "Three Kings" reminded me more of it.

I have to have this one in my DVD collection. I was told that it was done and released as a very limited number.