Save your money for something good and enjoyable

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

It is very real and close to the reality of Vietnam. A lot of American movies make the American soldiers look bad. This is wrong. My Grandfather a United States Marine officer fight for America in Korea and Vietnam. He would not lie to me and he love freedom. All the left-wing movie director did this in order to stop the draft. I like John Wayne' Green Beret too. We need patriotism in this country. Make America great again, President Trump!

I was actually shocked that such a great film had gone under my radar for so long. What gives? Most likely, it was just criminally under- distributed and marketed, causing it to almost fade into utter oblivion had it not been for the internet and plenty of fan word-of-mouth spreading news of this one around the war movie boards.This Australian / Filipino war movie set during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam stands as a bit of an anomaly. They were working with a quite low budget and cast mostly unknowns and locals aside from the two leads Hauser and Ermey, but the budget cuts in no way affect the quality and quantity of sheer action to be viewed.As a total bonus to the action, we're treated to an honest-to-god great script as well, with plenty of very memorable quotes and one-liners. I haven't seen a Vietnam War movie that was this delightfully cruel, mean- spirited, and possibly even darkly satirical since PLATOON, which may be a little artier and have a better cast, but otherwise is matched by this hard-hitting war outing.More on the action - there's at least 3 major battle scenes and as many minor ones spread all throughout the film. It definitely doesn't leave the war junky viewer feeling cheated in the slightest bit. There's plenty of explosions, decapitations, evisceration, waves of humans being mowed down by 50 caliber machine guns, ZULU style, and Huey's firing rockets into palm trees galore! Excitement and tension holds throughout with dramatic panache at every turn. Even the sound design is top- notch, quite realistic, and services the action nicely.My only complaints are with a few iffy performances and dated death scenes later in the film along with places where the musical score sounds a little like it came out of a Nintendo game, but comparing this to any of the other Filipino war movies made during the same period, it's GONE WITH THE WIND.Fans of Filipino C-movies will have a field day spotting the likes of Don Wilson, Nick Nicholson, and Kristine Erlandson in possibly their classiest supporting roles which really stretched their acting chops as never before. Unfortunately for them, very few people saw this film and it didn't lead to bigger and better things for most aside from director Trenchard-Smith (who broke into Hollywood soon after) and editor Andrew Prowse (who rightfully became a B-action filmmaker not too long afterward).

Much like the movie "Zulu" with Micaael Caine, "The Siege of Firebase Gloria" is about an isolated outpost threatened by overwhelming numbers. In this case, not Zulu warriors, but thousands of Viet Cong, during the grisly Tet Offensive. R.Lee Ermey is the Seargent Major who assumes command and Wings Hauser is his point man. Characters, though somewhat stereotyped, are well developed. The action sequences are plentiful, and nicely staged. The film is brutal, with a very high body count. It is not totally predictable, and has welcome flashes of military humor. Forget all the other Vietnam war films you have seen, and seek this one out. Believe me, it is the real deal. - MERK

Well now, c'mon and step right up fellas and take a close look at this gem. It's low budget by Hollywood standards and lacks a Hollywood pedigree, but it really rattles the 'nads and jolts the head out of any daydream you might have fallen into. Brian Trenchard-Smith is a classic director in this genre, far more interesting than Oliver Stone and his ideological vomit. I copied this film off cable in it's widescreen format with quality equipment and have viewed it on a large monitor with premium sound equipment. Spectacular. Every time I watch it I catch a nuance of some human foible or honor or universal experience. Overall, the treatment of the war is fair, without the preachy BS common in some war films. It's just raw, red meat. This film demands boxed set treatment and commentary on many levels, too numerous to comment on here. For all the endless meaningless films that are transferred to DVD why has this great film been passed over?