Watch The Siege of Firebase Gloria For Free

Really Surprised!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA is a little-known Vietnam War flick, Australian-made and shot in the Philippines by cult director Brian Trenchard-Smith, a man best known for making low rent action spectacle including THE MAN FROM HONG KONG and TURKEY SHOOT. This one tells the story of the Tet Offensive, in which the Vietcong rose up to attack many American bases, and focuses on the small-scale siege of a poorly-defended base occupied by the excellent R. Lee Ermey and his men. Ermey really acts his socks off here and brings to life the heart and soul of the picture. The film offers an explosion of endless violence and edge-of-the-seat action scenes in which the realism is key and the bloodshed extraordinarily grisly at times. Trenchard-Smith is at home both shooting the vibrant fire fights as well as eliciting strong tough guy performances from his key cast members, not least Wings Hauser who has also never been better than he is here. Watch out for DIRTY HARRY regular Albert Popwell as a tough-guy sergeant fleshing out the testosterone-packed cast.

When I started to watch this movie, I hadn't heard anything about it and didn't expect very much. I was therewith pleasantly surprised. Make no mistake, this is no masterpiece, but a well done entertaining piece of work which (even) makes you think a little at times.I found the acting to be uniformly quite decent, even though the VietCong are mostly closer to being cartoon characters than real people. What carries the movie though, is the performance by Ermey, R. Lee. Once again he shows there is nobody better than him for roles like these. He is simply excellent! The camera and sound are both satisfactory, and the special f/x as well, considering we are talking about a motion picture made in the eighties (no CGI, etc.). All in all, after almost 30 years, this film withstands the test of time and is definitely worth a look.

In the thick of the Vietnam war, Sgt. Hafner (Ermey) is told to defend Firebase Gloria against the Viet Cong at all costs. His top man, Di Nardo (Wings) is there to back him up. But due to the dangerous and precarious situation, and the many obstacles the men face, Di Nardo begins to crack. The jaded Di Nardo's faith in humanity seems somewhat restored by his growing love for a young Vietnamese child he rescued, who he nicknamed Peewee, but the enemy is on the move, and even idealistic medics like Flanagan (Gerard) will have to challenge their own assumptions about the world. The men and women at the Firebase are simply Americans forced to deal with extraordinary circumstances. Can they do it? Brian Trenchard-Smith does it again! This amazing director, who gave us sparkling gems such as The Man From Hong Kong (1975) and Stunt Rock (1980), among so many others, here turns in a top-notch Vietnam tale. The 80's was seemingly in the midst of a Vietnam movie boom - films such as Platoon (1986), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Hamburger Hill (1987) and Casualties of War (1989) appeared in the mid-to-late 80's, giving filmmakers, particularly writers and directors of a particular age, an outlet to finally look back and process what happened after the passage of a certain amount of time. Apparently it was all kind of a collective nostalgia of sorts, as all these movies appeared at the same time, and all of the above-mentioned movies went to the movie theater. So naturally it wasn't long before the DTV crowd came to reap the benefits, and more modest, lower-budget ventures began to appear, perhaps best indicated by director Cirio Santiago, who spent a decent chunk of his career making jungle slogs typified by the likes of Firehawk (1993) and Eye of the Eagle III (1989). Thankfully, 'Siege is closer to those theater-ready efforts than the latter DTV ones.With Trenchard-Smith at the helm, and with Wings front and center, backed beautifully by Ermey, Nicholson, Strzalkowski, and the rest of the cast, it can't fail to be a thoughtful, well-made, entertaining movie that is patriotic, but not obnoxiously so. It simply shows the soldiers in Vietnam as real, human men, put in an impossible situation, against insane odds, and attempting to survive and return home to their families. Add to that some firefights and war violence, and what more can you ask of the movie? It shows clearly the hardships the U.S. faced, and with the presence of Ermey, adds that much more authenticity (It's funny how people live up to their name - R. Lee Ermey is very close to "Army" - did his parents decide his future once he was born?). Trenchard-Smith and the gang were clearly going for realism, not Hollywood bravado, and this is, in part, why The Siege of Firebase Gloria, while released in the golden year for video stores, 1989, has withstood the test of time so well.The cast of the movie, especially Wings, were probably happy to be involved with a significant, substantive piece like this, as opposed to a lot of the crud they're probably normally offered. Thus, Wings shines in his role. In a career of great roles, this one stands out as among his best. But he's almost upstaged by someone we just heard of from this movie - an actor named Gary Hershberger, who plays Moran. Hershberger is great in the role, proving you don't have to be a Hollywood big shot - if you're good, you're good and you stand out. We always tout working actors like this - there are so many out there that are good quality actors, but are never talked about in the tabloids or sit and talk to Jay Leno. God bless Hershberger, M.C. Gainey, Jerry Wasserman, Marco Rodriguez, Barry Flatman, Wynn Irwin, and their ilk. They, in large part, are what keep movies and TV shows of the good quality we've come to expect and take for granted.Released by Fries home video, whose track record of what they were able to put on video store shelves was hit-or-miss at best, scored a definite hit by acquiring this one for U.S. video release. The Siege of Firebase Gloria is indeed glorious. A winner.

The Siege of Firebase Gloria is not a very well known Vietnam war film. In fact it hardly gets a mention at all and is overshadowed by films such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and others.The premise is as follows: a Marine patrol led by sergeant Hafner (the great R. Lee Ermey) ends up in a remote US Army outpost deep in the jungles of Vietnam right at the start of the Tet offensive. Hafner takes command and must fend off waves of attacks by the Vietcong and NVA.The story is quite interesting of how these men, outnumbered and almost forsaken must defend themselves against all odds. Although Ermey's role isn't too big (the film focuses on a few key soldiers), he is great in every frame he is in. Having been an actual Marine, he reprises his role as a tough commander with a witty tongue. The film in general find a nice balance between the main story while at the same time showing how war takes its toll on men. Interestingly enough the North Vietnamese commanders are also portrayed and fortunately not as cartoonish enemies but competent leaders.The production values are quite good, there are lots of real helicopters, the sets and location are grand and well built and the action scenes quite vast in their scale.However the film doesn't reach the levels achieved by Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket. Despite that, its still worth a watch.