The greatest movie ever made..!

Really Surprised!

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

I wanted to like this film and some parts of it, I did. However, over all I found the movie a major disappointment. The film was filled with stereotype characters; the dedicated lifer who needs to train "his boys" so they can survive the war in Viet-Nam: the soldier with two left hands who ends up winning the medal of honor: the journalist who is a hippie jack-ass: and the hero who is hated by his father-in-law, yet marries his daughter, but gets killed in Viet-Nam. As is typical in almost every Hollywood movie about the military, 99% of it is pure bull. James Caan was his typical angry, hot headed, over emotional character that he played in most of his movies. After awhile, his yelling gives you a headache. I am sorry, but Gardens of Stone is a badly acted and greatly disappointing movie.

In the late 60s, during the Vietnam War, the idealistic soldier Jackie Willow (D.B. Sweeney) arrives at Fort Meyer expecting to go to the Academy and then to the Vietnam War. Jackie is the son of a veteran sergeant and soon he becomes the protégé of the former friends of his father, Sergeant Clell Hazard (James Caan) and Sergeant Major 'Goody' Nelson (James Earl Jones).Jackie is promoted and gets married with his childhood friend Rachel Feld (Mary Stuart Masterson) and Hazard and Goody convince their superior, Captain Homer Thomas (Dean Stockwell), to recommend Jackie to the Academy. He is promoted to lieutenant and asks to go to the Vietnam, returning to the Arlington National Cemetery."Gardens of Stone" is another movie by Francis Coppola (without Ford) about the military life and the prize of the Vietnam War, after one of his masterpieces, "Apocalypse Now". The cinematography is magnificent and the cast is top-notch, and it is so good to see the actors, like James Caan, James Earl Jones and Dean Stockwell still young and actresses, like Anjelica Huston and Mary Stuart Masterson, charming and beautiful. The dramatic story has a theme certainly important for Americans and for fans of movies about military life. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Jardins de Pedra" ("Gardens of Stone")

I thought I knew a lot of war movies or movies who's subject has something to do with war. When I think of Vietnam movies, I immediately think of Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, The Deer Hunter, Casualties of War... But Gardens of Stone was completely new to me.When I have to compare it to one of the movies above, than I would compare it to The Deer Hunter. Both movies show the Vietnam war, without actually showing a lot of action. It's more about the families and friends that are left behind and about the soldiers that once served in Vietnam and came back as a completely different person.While The Deer Hunter is one of my all time favorites, I can't say the same about Gardens of Stone. It's a very good movie, but it never is as touching and impressive as The Deer Hunter is. That doesn't mean that this movie isn't any good. It is, but in a different way...It's about a young soldier who is serving in the Honor Guard, responsible for the burial ceremonies of all the soldiers who came back from Vietnam in a body bag. He doesn't want to do that job, he wants to go where the real action is, he wants to be in Vietnam harvesting honor and medals, which eventually will really happen to him, but at a certain cost.Although I expected more from this movie, I have to say that I liked it. Thanks to the real action footage incorporated in the movie, the good acting by all the actors and the interesting story, this movie was certainly worth a watch. Too bad that it was a bit predictable. From the beginning on everyone who pays a little attention will know what will happen at the end of the movie. Nevertheless I still reward it with an 8/10

I saw this movie on video, soon after its original release, while attending college on a NROTC scholarship. It is a fine work, with a unique perspective on the Vietnam War. It was especially poignant, as I was preparing for military service during the Reagan/Bush years. This was not a film about the soldiers in the rice paddies; or protesters in Washington. This is the story of the men who had to bury the dead and honor their memories. These were soldiers who might be going to Vietnam, and those who had come back from there. It's about the senseless loss of life that war brings and the hubris of youth.Spoilers-James Caan gives an outstanding performance. He has seen Vietnam and would rather be over there or in a training position, where he feels he could help bring some of these boys back alive, rather than burying them. He is torn up by the knowledge that he can't help. He meets and falls in love with Anjelica Huston, a reporter who opposes the war, but is attracted to Caan. Caan tries to make her see his point, that he doesn't love the war, but has the knowledge hat could save some of the men who have to fight it.DB Sweeny has some fine moments as the young soldier who is itching to be in the middle of the war. He is the face of so many who did their duty and paid a horrible price.There are many fine performances in this film, but it doesn't always come together. Still, it is greater than its faults.I didn't notice this in the goofs; but, in the original video release, you could clearly see the boom mic in frame during the restaurant conversation between Sweeny and his girl. My friends and I used to laugh hysterically during this scene, as the mic would swivel between actors as they said their lines. When I later bought a copy, the mic was missing. I assume it was erased when it was remastered for laser and dvd.