WE WERE SOLDIERS

Year: 2002
USA: Paramount Pictures
UK: Icon Film Distribution
Cast: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Chris Klein, Keri Russell, Barry Pepper, Josh Daugherty, Edwin Morrow, Mike White, Mark McCracken, Jsu Garcia, Marc Blucas, Brian Carpenter, Jim Grimshaw, Matthew Lang, Robert Bagnell, Tim Abell, Vincent Angell, Dan Beene, Luke Benward, Danny Boyer, Doug C Cook, Alan Dale, Don Duong, Cliff Fleming, Brendan Ford, Michael Giordani, Clark Gregg, Jon Hamm, Desmond Harrington, Blake Heron, Joseph Hieu, Vien Hong, Nicholas Hosking, Ryan Hurst, Jonathan Parks Jordan, Derrell Keith Lester,. Simbi Khali, Shepard Koster, Sean Bunch, Maia Lien, Kate Lombardi, Erik MacArthur, Matt Mangum, Joshua McLaurin, Sloane Momsen, Taylor Momsen, Steven Nelson, Randy Oglesby, Jay Powell, Lee Reynolds, John Paul Rice, Daniel Roebuck, Forry Smith, Patrick St Esprit, Keith Szarabajka, Brian Tee, Keni Thomas, Michael Tomlinson, Billinjer C Tran, Joseph Tran, Dylan Walsh, Devon Werkheiser, Bellamy Young
Director: Randall Wallace
Country: USA
UK: 138 mins
USA Rated: R for sustained sequences of graphic war violence, and for language
UK Certificate: 15 contains frequent strong war horror
USA Release Date: 1 March 2002
UK Release Date: 8 March 2002


Synopsis

On Sunday, November 14, 1965 at 10:48 am, Lt Col Hal Moore and his regiment touched down at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley (pronounced: Eye Drang), a place in Vietnam known as 'The Valley of Death'. Lt Col Moore set foot on the battlefield only to find himself, and approximately 400 of his men, surrounded by roughly 2000 North Vietnamese soldiers. They were the First Battalion of the Seventh Cavalry - the same regiment as General Custer - and, as the odds became apparent, the irony was not lost on Lt Col Moore.

The ensuing battle was one of the most savage in US history, and the first major encounter between the soldiers of North Vietnam and America. Ia Drang marked a decisive moment in history. This film tells the story of the extraordinary courage and sacrifice of the soldiers who fought there and the families they left behind.

WE WERE SOLDIERS is based on the best-selling book which details the events of the battle LZ X-Ray in the la Drang Valley. 'We Were Soldiers Once...And Young' written by Lieutenant General Harold G Moore (retired) and civilian war correspondent Joseph L Galloway, both of whom endured the brutal battle and vowed to tell the story of the men who fought and died there.