30 Days of Screenplays, Day 20: “Platoon”
Why 30 screenplays in 30 days?
Why 30 screenplays in 30 days?
Because whether you are a novice just starting to learn the craft of screenwriting or someone who has been writing for many years, you should be reading scripts.
There is a certain type of knowledge and understanding about screenwriting you can only get from reading scripts, giving you an innate sense of pace, feel, tone, style, how to approach writing scenes, how create flow, and so forth.
So each day this month, I will provide background on and access to a notable movie script.
Today is Day 20 and the featured screenplay is for the 1986 movie Platoon. You may read the screenplay here.
Background: Original screenplay written by Oliver Stone.
Plot summary: A young recruit in Vietnam faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.
Tagline: The first casualty of war is innocence.
Awards: Nominated for WGA Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Trivia: Based on Oliver Stone’s personal experience during the war in Vietnam based on a screenplay he finished around 1976. Numerous studios passed on it until he finally got approval and starting filming in early 1986.
I’ve met many Vietnam vets through the years and I’ll often ask them which movie was the most accurate depiction of what it was like in the war: Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket, or Platoon — and the answer is almost invariably Platoon. It stands to reason because writer-director Oliver Stone actually served as a soldier there, after dropping out of Yale to enlist.
This is an interesting script to read on the heels of Broadcast News as both have a similar plot conceit at the core of their respective stories: The Protagonist torn between two other characters. In Platoon, the Protag is Private Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen). Chris has two commanding officers — the brutish, cocksure Sergeant Robert Barnes (Tom Berenger) and the more humane Sergeant Elias Groden (William Dafoe). Whereas Broadcast News has a romantic triangle, Platoon’s triangular conflict is quite different, the two sergeants, in essence, vying for control over the young private’s soul.
At the moral center of the movie are two related events. The first is the platoon’s encounter with the enemy at the NVA Bunker Complex. At the end of the sequence, the men are searching for one of their comrades Manny. This is what they find:
The brutality of Manny’s murder and the cumulative effects of the war on the men sets the stage for what happens next: The platoon’s half-crazed retribution against seemingly innocent villagers including this pivotal moment involving Chris:
What’s your take on Platoon? Stop by comments and post your thoughts.
To see all of the posts in the 30 Days of Screenplays series, go here.
This series and use of screenplays is for educational purposes only!