Films I Neglected To Review: Fonda Sings! But, if it tries to teach, it doesn't try to preach, and at least the sun doesn't set in the East. It shows Westmoreland for what he was too. If nothing else A Bright Shinning Lie proves this to be true. Waiting until these veterans get their own "Saving Private Ryan" will prove too late. The movie showed it like it really was. Bill Paxton was a pretty good choice for the lead role, but wasn't given much to work with. Paxton has his work cut out as the very complicated Vann, a dedicated soldier who is not only everything an Army officer should be, but also a true warrior whose devotion to victory trumps his loyalty to the establishment & thus even his own career. From Wikipedia: A Bright Shining Lie is a 1998 American made-for-television war drama film based on Neil Sheehan's book of the same name and the true story of John Paul Vann's experience in the Vietnam War. He wants to win the war but feels it's being fought inefficiently. Donal Logue made the perfect reporter as well. Films I Neglected To Review: Fall Out Who ever he or she is she need to be shown the door. The action scenes are low-budget & unremarkable, but audiences were long ago falsely conditioned to view Vietnam as a series of either personal or spectacular cowboy-vs-Indian fights. Truth is stranger then fiction as the saying says. The only thing the movie had going for it was that it wasn't particularly boring. A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. The acting was good. Reviewed in Canada on August 23, 2000. The book is so good there is no way the movies can live up to it. It was impossible to get any idea of what he was feeling and his actions were robotic. A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (1988) is a book by Neil Sheehan, a former New York Times reporter, about killed in action U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Vann and the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this A Bright Shining Lie study guide. Showing 1 to 3 of 11 entries. Written by Audience Reviews for A Bright Shining Lie Nov 09, 2010 Interesting HBO movie based on the experiences of John Vann soldier, and military advisor, during the Vietnam conflict. An example of the acting is when Paxton's character, Vann, is upset the South Vietnamese colonel for so he throws some of the sand from the "sand map". In 1998, HBO released a movie of the same name based on the book starring Bill Paxton as John Paul Vann. Alas, A Bright Shining Lie (an HBO original movie, based on Neil Sheehan’s biography of the same name) left me cold. I liked this motion picture. Kind of like what happens to David Janssen in "The Green Berets," only in reverse. . I did not know Vann, but two Colonels that I know did work with him. The story had potential but the script and the acting stank. The Vietnam experience seen through the eyes of an officer average american with family back home and the good intentions, often rebuffed, that are frustatingly hard to put in place. Directed by Terry George. A tour of duty film in Vietnam featuring a morally ambiguous soldier, who echos the moral ambiguity of the decision makers of the war itself. Cast It stars Bill Paxton, Amy Madigan, Vivian Wu, Donal Logue, Eric Bogosian and Kurtwood Smith and is written and directed by Terry George, and produced by Greg Ricketson. Preparing for promotion to high rank, he went to Vietnam in the early 1960s as an adviser, one of the select few to take the fight against Communism right into combat. subscribe to this feed, Films I Neglected To Review: Goodbye Lovers Paxton is intense. Produced by HBO, it is surprisingly a good production, with good acting. And in that nonlinearity it resembles life more than it does fiction. With Bill Paxton, Bo Eason, William L. Mansey, Karina Logue. It lets us see that it was a political war and that maybe it could have had a different outcome if it had been pursued correctly. Films I Neglected To Review: No Justice To Be Found Here Check out the exclusive TVGuide.com movie review and see our movie rating for A Bright Shining Lie Join / Sign Up Keep track of your favorite shows and movies, across all your devices. It shows who really ran the war in Vietnam. The acting is OK, but no one really stands out, including Paxton. | It's all Paxton's show & he takes us on a fascinating odyssey of an officer whose slow realization that the Army would rather lose the war by the book than win it by tossing away the book (it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game?) All together, the time spent watching this movie is well spent. Hot Water (2021) by Erik Childress A lot of the characters are recognizable, be it from Clint eastwood Dirty Harry films to even Robocop. Worth A Look: 7.69% Many viewers will find "A Bright, Shining Lie" quite unsatisfying entertainment, but that's the problem with dramatizing nonfiction, the risk of presenting a story that's trying to teach. Minari by Rob Gonsalves Judas and the Black Messiah by Rob Gonsalves Movie Reviews By Reviewer Type. A Bright, Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan is an erudite, well-informed and exhaustive narrative of the Vietnam War. Bill Paxton as John Paul Vann did a great job. 5 out of 10. However, like most movies about Vietnam, it depressed me: the tragedy & the waste are almost overwhelming! The story itself is one that needs to be told over and over again, until the American people get the message of truth and LIES surrounding Viet Nam. After "Good Morning Vietnam", which was a non-combat movie about Americans in Vietnam, this one comes close in describing what Americans felt in the war. Shame to see an interesting story diluted into standard "Vietnam made for TV" fare. There were a lot of good ideas, such as the hidden propaganda, the conflict of war strategy of various people, the familial problems, to the questionable moral and ethical values of the main character..., but most of them were dealt with not more than a dozen lines! Paxton is suitably restrained, uttering no war cries like Stallone or Norris, making no personal journey of self-awareness or redemption as in "Apocalypse Now" or "Uncommon Valor." Something in his past keeps career Army man John Paul Vann from advancing past colonel. Yet Sheehan's Vann has a shocking capacity for self-harm, hating the ignominious background that was not his fault, indulging himself in sexual adventures that wounded his family & threatened his career as readily as he embarked on reckless combat missions. A Bright Shining Lie is a 1998 American made-for-television war drama film based on Neil Sheehan's book of the same name and the true story of John Paul Vann's experience in the Vietnam War.It stars Bill Paxton, Amy Madigan, Vivian Wu, Donal Logue, Eric Bogosian and Kurtwood Smith and is written and directed by Terry George, and produced by Greg Ricketson Well -- yes and no. After a few years' dry spell at home he is called back to Vietnam as some sort of civilian advisor who now wears the two stars of a general and issues military orders. https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=6365&reviewer=325, better than most vietnam war depictions, but moronic title. There's no imagination, no innovation, the cast is bad (while Paxton tries hard to be. I did not know Vann, but two Colonels that I know did work with him. Find out where A Bright Shining Lie is streaming, if A Bright Shining Lie is on Netflix, and get news and updates, on Decider. He persuaded Vann to give him a pair of the new lightweight Armalite rifles, officially designated the AR-15 and later to be designated the M-16 when the Armalite was adopted as the standard U.S. infantry rifle. Could it be the ringleaders of the Peace movements who were nothing more doped up morons who spent much of their time seducing underage girls, getting high and raving regarding things they knew nothing about. Could it be the same motive they have today which is to destroy the image of this country all over the world. Watch A Bright Shining Lie movie trailer and get the latest cast info, photos, movie review and more on TVGuide.com. To make things worse, I have no idea how I'm supposed to feel about Vann. Wouldn't you be, with a mother like mine?) SXSW 2021--Day One Awesome: 69.23% Got it for 5 bucks and feel cheated, Surprisingly balanced look at a flawed man in the Vietnam War. I had received the book and DVD for Christmas last year. 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