1978’s The Boys in Company C, along with Go Tell the Spartans, was one of the first Vietnam films to be made after the war. Directed by Sidney J. Furie, the film follows a group of young Marine recruits from Camp Pendeleton, California in late 1967 through the horrific Tet Offensive in January 1968.

The film stars Stan Shaw (Tyrone Washington), Andrew Stevens (in his golden globe winning performance) (Billy Ray Pike), James Canning (Alvin Foster) and Michael Lembeck (Vinnie Fazio). It also stars Craig Wasson (Dave Brisbee), Scott Hylands (Capt. Collins), James Whitmore Jr. (Lt. Archer) Noble Willingham (The Gunny), and R. Lee Ermey in his first major role as, you guessed it, as Drill Instructor Sgt. Loyce.

The film serves as a combat diary with Pvt. Alvin Foster as the film’s narrator. The five inductees form a strong bond of friendship with one another as they turn from raw recruits, into battle hardened Marines. The film is considered a drama, yet has very comedic elements to it. In one scene when the inductees take their oath as Marines, they are then sent to the barber where they are given their new regulation haircuts.

Brisbee (Wasson) is a pacifist who Ermey refers to as “Jesus” because he actually looks like Jesus. When they are filed into the barber a few at a time, Loyce (Ermey) tells one of the barbers to “Do a good job on Jesus for me.” Brisbee and the others then look in horror as to their new “high and tight” hairstyle.

This week’s pick takes us to ‘Nam with Go Tell the Spartans (1978) which shows the first ever encounter among American forces and the Viet Cong before major American involvement in Vietnam took place. Director Ted Post adapts Daniel Ford’s book “Incident at Muc Wa” and turns it into one of the most brutally honest war films ever made.

In 1964, only a few hundred American personnel deemed as “military advisers” aided their South Vietnamese allies. These advisory commands were stationed in lone outposts in the countryside. Their mission: to observe and report enemy activity in their spheres of influence. Burt Lancaster stars as Major Asa Barker, a seasoned American officer who heads a small squad of American troops and a handful of Vietnamese rice paddy farmers turned militiamen.

Barker’s command is situated near the Cambodian border which was a major battle ground some years earlier during the French-Indo China War (1946-54). Barker is isolated in the jungle w/o any logistical support. Many of the weapons used in the film are old, outdated weapons like M1A1 sub-machine guns from World War II and Korea, and Springfield M1 Carbine rifles also leftover from America’s previous wars.