The greatest movie ever!

Disapointment

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I saw How Sleep The Brave on video in about 1982. It had already gained a reputation between my group of video watching school friends as being pretty nasty so it had to be seen. After watching it I was pretty shocked mainly by the excessive use of foul language (as a kid you love swearing but this film set new limits) and the realistic combat footage. I have the original UK VHS release and watched it a few years back and do you know what........I still didn't notice that it wasn't shot in Vietnam! It was only after reading the previous reviews on here that I realised it was shot in Berkshire. (Maybe I watch too many low budget films and am now immune to such subtleties as Berkshire trying to portray Vietnbam). So, with a new interest, I dug out the tape and watched it again last night and yes, some shots (i.e. the base camp) are blatantly non tropical but, as much of the action is shot in close up, you don't notice this as you're more interested in whether the point man is about go 'deep 6' and not the foliage they're walking through. This was a VERY low budget film and if you ignore the forest backgrounds the action is still pretty intense. Also, the sun was out which never happens in th e UK hence I was so easily confused :) As already mentioned the acting is atrocious but I'm sure not every GI was Tom Hanks Acting Academy Trained. As with all low budget / no budget films you often need to look past the technical inadequacies to enjoy the movie. I would compare this film to Last House on the Left, which is now rightly commended as being a classic. However, to the casual viewer all they would see is an old, no budget movie with poor acting and general scenes of ultra distastefulness. To anyone now not in their mid thirties you must remember that this film was released on video at a time when simply watching the next video in the Video Library (remember them??) was a special treat. There were literally thousands of low budget films available and HSTB does not warrant being slated as one of the worst (Trust me - I'v seen loads worse). A commendable attempt, using low budget trickery, to relay the closeness and ultimate waste of the Vietnam War. In this day and age maybe someone should go to Weymouth Beach and remake HSTB on Digital Video but updated for the current Gulf crisis? I'm sure in 20 years time some wise ass would say 'this film is terrible because the sand wasn't the correct colour' - MISSING THE POINT!

{how sleep the brave};although cheaply made this film is great ,i enjoyed watching it many time and is nice to see a film without all the effects you get these days.also as for acting it may be poor but not as poor as the stars making millions for scrips that are no more than 8 words long at a time and 3 to 4 camera angles a second that just make you dizzy,the film has lots of funny and sad parts and you can relate to how the men must of felt in the war and what it was like to loose close friends,the plot outlines on a platoon of soldiers being sent out to find a village that is hiding VC soldiers and there weapons, the Americans whom for some only have 8 days till they go home are not happy being sent on this mission but are doing it for there captain who has save there lives in the past ,lots of gore and blood if you like that sort of thing and plenty of fire power,finally not the greatest film i agree but well worth a watch if you can still find it,

"How sleep the Brave", like countless other independent movies produced around this time, undoubtedly took advantage of the home video rental boom of the early 1980s. It is also pretty safe to assume that without the VCR it would have sunk without trace.It is painfully obvious from the beginning, that this film was shot on a tiny budget. It looks like a badly made home movie produced by well meaning but technically clueless war reenactment enthusiasts.The acting is, for want of a better word, embarrassing. Compounded by a script which is brainless and punctuated (literally) with unnecessary four letter expletives.With all the best will in the world, a wood in the leafy wilds of rural Berkshire is never going to accurately recreate the steamy intensity of a South Vietnamese jungle. I almost expected to see some blue rinsed old dear emerge from the foliage and tell them to keep the noise down! It is interesting to speculate whether this film would have been a success at the Box Office had it have been given the full Hollywood treatment. The director's intentions are commendable, but the quality just isn't there.As it is, "How Sleep the Brave", will always remain a largely forgotten and obscure celluloid oddity - let's just be thankful for that!

Saw this film way back when it was first released in England, being very young at the time this film made quite an impact on me. The English countryside may not be convincing but the brutal and bloody action is, very graphic and a strong stomach recommended. If you live in England and have trouble tracking the film down it was re-released as COMBAT ZONE by Castle Home Video.