Expert: 7devonapes - 11/9/2011

Question
Approx 1981-1983, screened on British TV[possibly BBC2], a very long sequence of a lone helicopter gunship attack... The director concentrated on "close-ups" of a Huey door gunner blasting away into long reeds... I don't recall the gunship firing on Vietnamese people or villages... Towards the end of the sequence, I noticed the helicopter crew "SMILING" as if to indicate mission achieved... The gunship flew away, but the camera-work remained filming the landscape, where a couple of rag-tag people [western faces, I think?], emerged from the reeds, and may have been the gunship's target?... The sequence then ended, I think titles on a black back-ground?... At the time it had the feel of an "epic sequence" yet no film critics or movie buffs, I have contacted over the years, have any inkling, as to what it could be... I even wrote to Walter Murch [producer of Apocalypse Now], and he kindly wrote back, but was also mystified. This haunting footage was not a documentary, definitely film production... I can only think it must be a rare foreign film, as sequence does not appear in the few US films about Vietnam of the time period above... Been haunting me for years, hope you can help?

Answer
Hi Tom,

The only thing that really comes to mind, with regards your question, is the following scene from 1987's "Full Metal Jacket": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06nIz4scvI

The film you're searching for could very well be a European production, most probably a so called "Macaroni Combat" flick at that. Here is a list of said nicknamed film sub-genre: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_War - one of which, "The Last Hunter" (1980), seems to be a "The Deer Hunter" rip-off, so could be promising: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9_Uy8SyteE

There is of course 1983's "Uncommon Valor", which I recall (vaguely) its action set pieces being somewhat similar to those in "Apocalypse Now": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5__fqcNhdDo

Other than that, I can't offer much else I'm afraid. I suggest you check out the following links below to see if any titles, or scenes from listed movie trailers, ring a bell:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Vietnam_War_films
http://srufaculty.sru.edu/derrick.pitard/vietnamfilms.htm
http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/Vietnam/vietfilms.html#Feature
http://www.listal.com/list/macaroni-combat

The Green Berets (1968) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMsggzxFVJk
The Boys In Company C (1978): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tm2q0ODoro
Go Tell the Spartans (1978): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_B2fhCC9s
Streamers (1983): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xmr5jWEl2E
Hamburger Hill (1987) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp-DuEPuZQ0

- Also: You could try submitting this question to Imdb.com's handy "I Need To Know" thread on that site's message board section, here: http://www.imdb.com/boards/

All the best,
Ryan