Platoon Leader

While some recent Vietnam films superbly show the ambivalence and dislocation American troops felt in Southeast Asia, others have more modestly aimed just to be entertaining. PLATOON LEADER is in the latter class, pale in comparison to PLATOON or APOCALYPSE NOW but--considered in the context of the entire war film genre--not bad, either. Jeff Knight (Michael Dudikoff) is the title character, a young lieutenant fresh from the States. Stationed at a small firebase, he is at first the butt of jokes from his battle-hardened men. Under the tutelage of sargeant McNamara (Robert F. Lyons), he soon learns the ropes and leads daily patrols into the bush, captured in some ef...