The Vietnam War has been the subject of many films. One of the first major films based on the Vietnam War was John Wayne's The Green Berets (1968). Further cinematic representations were released during the 1970s and 1980s, including Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978), Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979), Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986), based on his service in the U.S. Military during the Vietnam War, and Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987), among others.
Other films in this genre include films that deal more with the issues veterans face at home after returning from the war. Films of this type include Heroes (the first postwar film to be released), Combat Shock (1986), First Blood (1982), The War at Home (1979), Taxi Driver (1976) Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Dead Presidents (1995), and Music Within (2007).
Post-war films
After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, there was an increase in films that were more "raw", containing actual battle footage. A FilmReference.com article noted that filmmakers "appeared more confident to put Vietnam combat on screen for the first time" during that era.
These post-war film representations have generally been more realistic and
gritty, such as
The Deer Hunter (1978) and
Apocalypse Now (1979).
The musical Miss Saigon focuses on the end of the war and its aftermath. In cinema, noted films that have shaped the popular conception of the war include Apocalypse Now, Platoon, The Deer Hunter, Hamburger Hill, Forrest Gump, Full Metal Jacket, Good Morning, Vietnam, Born on the Fourth of July, and the Rambo films. It was represented on television by the series Tour of Duty.
List of Vietnam War Movies
| Year | Country | Title | Director | Events depicted |
| 1958 |  USA | The Quiet American | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | First Indochina War |
| 1959 |  North Vietnam | Chung một dòng sông | Nguyễn Hồng Nghi, Phạm Hiếu Dân | About the partition of Vietnam following the Geneva Conference |
| 1964 | USA | A Yank in Viet-Nam | Marshall Thompson | A USMC pilot is shot down, but meets a female guerrilla |
| 1965 |  France
 Spain | The 317th Platoon | Pierre Schoendoerffer | First Indochina War |
| 1965 | USA | Motorpsycho | Russ Meyer | A US motorcycle gang is led by a disturbed vet |
| 1966 | USA | To the Shores of Hell | Will Zens |
|
| 1968 | USA | The Green Berets | John Wayne,
Ray Kellogg |
|
| 1971 |  South Vietnam | Người tình không chân dung | Hoàng Vĩnh Lộc |
|
| 1972 | North Vietnam | Vĩ tuyến 17 ngày và đêm | Hải Ninh |
|
| 1974 | North Vietnam | Em bé Hà Nội | Hải Ninh | Operation Linebacker II |
| 1977 | USA | Heroes | Jeremy Kagan | Veteran |
| 1977 |  Hong Kong
USA | The Boys in Company C | Sidney J. Furie |
|
| 1978 | USA | Coming Home | Hal Ashby | Disabled veteran |
| 1978 | USA
 UK | The Deer Hunter | Michael Cimino |
|
| 1978 | USA | Go Tell the Spartans | Ted Post |
|
| 1978 | USA | My Husband is Missing | Richard Michaels |
|
| 1979 | USA | Apocalypse Now | Francis Ford Coppola | A special forces officer is called in to locate and kill a special forces colonel who has allegedly gone insane. |
|
| 1979 |  Vietnam | Cánh đồng hoang | Nguyễn Hồng Sến | American bombing |
| 1979 |  Australia | The Odd Angry Shot | Tom Jeffrey |
|
| 1980 | USA | The Exterminator | James Glickenhaus |
|
| 1980 |  Italy | The Last Hunter | Antonio Margheriti |
|
| 1981 | UK | How Sleep the Brave | Lyndon James Swift |
|
| 1982 | USA | First Blood | Ted Kotcheff |
|
| 1982 | Hong Kong | Boat People | Ann Hui | The Fall of Saigon and its aftermath |
| 1982 | Vietnam | Ván bài lật ngửa | Lê Hoàng Hoa | Biopic of the North Vietnamese spy Pham Ngoc Thao |
| 1983 | USA | Uncommon Valor | Ted Kotcheff |
|
| 1984 | UK | The Killing Fields | Roland Joffé |
|
| 1984 | USA | Missing in Action | Joseph Zito |
|
| 1985 | USA | Missing in Action 2: The Beginning | Lance Hool |
|
| 1985 | Vietnam
 USSR | Koordinaty smerti
(Target for Death) | Samvel Gasparov,
Suan Tian Nguyen |
|
| 1986 | USA | Combat Shock | Buddy Giovinazzo |
|
| 1986 | UK
USA | Platoon | Oliver Stone | A new recruit's service in a platoon of soldiers patrolling the Cambodian border |
|
| 1987 | UK
USA | Full Metal Jacket | Stanley Kubrick | Battle of Hue |
|
| 1987 | USA | Good Morning, Vietnam | Barry Levinson |
|
| 1987 | USA | Hamburger Hill | John Irvin | The battle for Hill 937 in Ashau Valley |
|
| 1987 | USA | The Hanoi Hilton | Lionel Chetwynd |
|
| 1987 | Italy
 Philippines | Phantom Soldiers | Irvin Johnson |
|
| 1988 | USA | Bat*21 | Peter Markle | Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton's experience of survival while MIA |
|
| 1988 | USA | Braddock: Missing in Action III | Aaron Norris |
|
| 1988 | USA | Platoon Leader | Aaron Norris |
|
| 1988 | USA | Off Limits | Christopher Crowe |
|
| 1988 | USA | Operation Warzone | David A. Prior |
|
| 1989 | USA | Jacknife | David Jones |
|
| 1989 | USA | Casualties of War | Brian De Palma |
|
| 1989 | USA | Born on the Fourth of July | Oliver Stone | Ron Kovic becomes paralysed during battle |
|
| 1989 | USA | The Expendables | Cirio H. Santiago |
|
| 1989 | USA | 84C MoPic | Patrick Sheane Duncan |
|
| 1989 | USA | The Iron Triangle | Eric Weston |
| 1989 | Australia
Philippines | The Siege of Firebase Gloria | Brian Trenchard-Smith |
|
| 1990 | USA | Air America | Roger Spottiswoode |
|
| 1990 | USA | Jacob's Ladder | Adrian Lyne |
|
| 1990 |  China | Bullet in the Head | John Woo |
|
| 1991 | USA | Flight of the Intruder | John Milius |
|
| 1992 | France | Diên Biên Phu | Pierre Schoendoerffer | The 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu in the First Indochina War |
|
| 1992 |  South Korea | White Badge | Jeong Ji-yeong |
|
| 1992 | South Korea | White Badge | Jeong Ji-yeong |
|
| 1993 | USA
France | Heaven & Earth | Oliver Stone |
|
| 1994 | USA | Forrest Gump | Robert Zemeckis |
|
| 1995 | USA | Operation Dumbo Drop | Simon Wincer |
|
| 1995 | USA | Dead Presidents | Albert Hughes |
|
| 1998 | USA | A Bright Shining Lie | Terry George |
|
| 2000 | USA
 Germany | Tigerland | Joel Schumacher |
|
| 2001 |  Canada
USA | Under Heavy Fire | Sidney J. Furie |
|
| 2002 | USA
UK
Australia
France
Germany | The Quiet American | Phillip Noyce |
|
| 2002 | USA | Path to War | John Frankenheimer |
|
| 2002 | USA
Germany | We Were Soldiers | Randall Wallace | Battle of Ia Drang |
|
| 2003 | Vietnam | Hà Nội 12 ngày đêm | Bùi Đình Hạc | Operation Linebacker II |
| 2005 | Vietnam | Sống trong sợ hãi (Living in Fear) | Bùi Thạc Chuyên | South Vietnamese soldier being mistreated by communist brother-in-law after the war |
|
| 2006 | USA
Canada | The Veteran | Sidney J. Furie |
|
| 2006 | USA | Rescue Dawn | Werner Herzog | Dieter Dengler's experience as a POW |
|
| 2007 | Canada
USA
Germany | 1968 Tunnel Rats | Uwe Boll |
|
| 2007 | USA | Across the Universe | Julie Taymor |
|
| 2007 | USA | Journey from the Fall | Ham Tran |
|
| 2008 | USA | Tropic Thunder | Ben Stiller |
|
Documentary of Vietnam War film list
| Year | Country | Title | Events depicted |
| 1964? |  Canada | Mills of the Gods |
|
| 1967 | France | The Anderson Platoon |
|
| 1968 | USA | A Face of War |
|
| 1969 | USA | In the Year of the Pig |
|
| 1970 | USA | No Substitute for Victory | Narrated by John Wayne |
| 1974 | USA | Hearts and Minds |
|
| 2004 | USA | In the Shadow of the Blade |
|
| 2005 | France | Enemy Image |
|
