Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

best movie i've ever seen.

Absolutely brilliant

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

As one who served as an MACV adviser (1965) and later in the infantry in Vietnam (1966), I can only echo those that say this is the best Vietnam film ever made. The cast is excellent. Johnathan Goldsmith was right on with his burnt out NCO portrayal. The overall tone of the film was perfect. This film had no political ax to grind and showed the situation we found ourselves in on a daily basis. No other film about Vietnam comes close to the truth as this one does. Burt Lancaster's best performance since "7 Days in May". Ted Post was never given the credit he richly deserves for his direction. Craig Wasson showed what a "rookie" was up against being thrown into an overwhelming spot. Everyone looked the part of a MACV adviser. I can speak to that from the position of: "Been there, done that, got the T shirt"

Compared with many war films that covered America's involvement with Vietnam, "Go Tell the Spartans' didn't set the world alight due to its very understated style and low-scale resources, but because of centering towards a steady character/situation driven story, it remained an thoughtfully harrowing and toughly grim account showing that there were no heroes, or anything to gain from this war. Leading the way is the commanding presence of Burt Lancaster's inspired performance barking out his dialogue, but holding a truly genuine rapport with his mainly unprepared soldiers. He's not in it for pride, as his knows this isn't the place for it.Vietnam, 1964. American forces haven't been fully deployed into the Vietnamese jungles yet, but Major Asa Barker is assigned to set up a barricade at an abandoned post at Muc Wa (where 10 years earlier 302 French soldiers were massacred by the Viet Cong), but at his disposal is only a few American soldiers and ragtag bunch of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers. Soon making there presence known, the motley crew come up against overwhelming odds to hold the barricade.Directed by Ted Post (who noticeably helm Clint Eastwood in 'Hang Em' High' and 'Magnum Force'... plus made the weird horror 'The Baby'), it's tautly handled in very candid, no-frills way. This forthrightly grounded touch, lend it to having some almost TV-like qualities (like the mechanical camera-work and spotty editing) but on the other hand it gave it true grit and an imitate cloud that stamped in a realistically raw air. This meant the dramas (psychological/psychical) while there (and this is a fairly laborious and talkative film confronting the issues of war and politics), were never overdone or overly milked, but still having enough kick to leave an impression. I read some complaints about it being flat or lacking emotion… but I thought it did enough questioning the naïve involvement (doubts outweighing the for) and the state of mind of their soldiers (looking at misguided obligations). Wendell Mayes' hardened script (who adapted the screenplay from Daniel Ford's 'Incident at Muc Wa') is precisely stimulating in its text be it personal or tactical, but also worked in is some welcoming humor. Outside of Lancaster, there are solidly humane and rounded performances from the cast in the likes of David Clennon, Jonathan Goldsmith, Joe Unger, Dennis Howard, Dennis Howard, Craig Wasson, Dolph Sweet, James Hong and Marc Singer. The literary is heavy, but the roughly rampaging action (intense firefights) might only be minor, still it's staged with excellent ferocity and alertness that it becomes like a disorienting blur (definitely the night sequences) amongst the harshly authentic surrounding terrain. You can feel its setting itself up for a big one, and when it happens the 'you know what' really hit's the fan. Despite the cheap origins 'Go Tell The Spartans' is an accomplished effort deserving a lot more merit, both meaningful and scathing without being pushy in its text, but also visuals.

"Go tell it to the Spartans that here in obedience to their order we lie," ran the quote of Heroditus, the father of Western History which inspired this movie.In a more recent time line, this film is based in part on a vignette Robin Moore told in the book version of Green Berets where American advisors bribe an ARVN (Army of the Republic of Viet Nam)officer to launch a barrage in support of a Republic of Viet Nam (RVN) outpost manned by mountagnards.Go Tell it to the Spartans shows certain aspects of the American advisory personnel: that they became very loyal to the Vietnamese units they worked with. Robin Moore's authoritative text on the subject, not to be confused with the John Wayne movie, would seem to bear this out. Whether the loyalty extended so far as to join in a suicide mission at an outpost apparently written off, well that's hard to say.Yet the movie is a good primer on a subject that's very difficult for most Americans to approach even today.

Director Ted Post is incredibly talented when it comes to telling the audience a captivating story. His characters are believable and he helps create one of Burt Lancaster's finest performances. The story is told in a very entertaining and well-paced fashion while sustaining a feeling of tension. This film never received the attention it deserved when originally released. It's really worth your while and I hope when people see it in a video store they'll consider giving it a chance. It is definitely one of the most realistic and gripping accounts of the war in Vietnam. Ted Post proves to be a very talented director especially in the way he directs his actors. He manages to get great performances out of his entire cast (not only some of the stars). I highly recommend this film and hope that more people will appreciate the way I do.