Platoon won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Picture after depicting the Vietnam War.
Oliver Stone wrote and directed the 1986 film, drawing on his own service as a U.S. Army infantryman in Vietnam. Charlie Sheen plays Chris Taylor, a young American volunteer whose unit is torn between the contrasting leadership styles of Sergeant Elias Grodin and Sergeant Barnes, played by Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger.
Platoon was the first major Hollywood film about the Vietnam War to be written and directed by a veteran of that conflict. Its story focuses on the moral divisions within an infantry platoon and on the effects of combat on soldiers rather than presenting a simple heroic campaign.
At the 59th Academy Awards, Platoon won four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound. It is often confused with The Deer Hunter, another Vietnam-related film that won Best Picture, but The Deer Hunter received that award in 1979.