''The Anderson Platoon'' (french: La Section Anderson, released in 1966 in Europe, 1967 in the US) is a documentary feature by Pierre Schoendoerffer about the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, named after the leader of the platoon - Lieutenant Joseph B. Anderson - with which Schoendeorffer was embedded. Two decades later, a sequel was released as ''Reminiscence''.

Background

In summer 1966, '' France Soir'' news magazine director and French public channel ORTF producer Pierre Lazareff proposed that war reporter and director Pierre Schoendoerffer complete the "unachieved" war documentary Schoendoerffer began in 1954. Back in May 1954, Schoendoerffer was covering the First Indochina War for the French army's cinematographic service SCA. At the

siege of Dien Bien Phu The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (french: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu ; vi, Chiến dịch Điện Biên Phủ, ) was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the Fr ...

, he filmed the battle between the French Union forces and the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...

, but his reels were captured when he surrendered to the enemy. After French forces departed from Vietnam in 1956, the United States increased their support for the south, culminating in full scale military intervention and the

. Arguing that "the war was the same, the French only switching with the Americans", Lazareff convinced the French veteran to return to Vietnam as a kind of second chance to complete his war documentary.

Premise

The French war cameraman and First Indochina War veteran Schoendoerffer (38), already famous for his celebrated masterpiece '' The 317th Platoon'' (1965), returns to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. On 1 August 1965, the

1st Cavalry Division (United States) The 1st Cavalry Division ("First Team") is a Armored brigade combat team, combined arms division (military), division and is one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army. It is based at Fort Hood, Texas. It was formed ...

is sent to

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

. The following year in September, Schoendoerffer joins it and follows a 33-man platoon of GIs led by Black West Pointer Lieutenant Joseph B. Anderson (24) until October 1966.

Reception

''Anderson Platoon'' was screened in more than 20 countries and won several prizes, including an Oscar on April 10, 1968, at the

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is a multi-purpose convention center at 1855 Main Street in Santa Monica, California, owned by the City of Santa Monica. It was built in 1958 and designed by Welton Becket and as a concert venue, it has a seating cap ...

. *1967: Prix Italia for Original Dramatic Program *1968: Emmy Award for the Best Documentary Film of 1967 *1967: Academy Award for Documentary Feature *1968: Merit Award (

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

)

Anderson's comments

Some time after the film was released, Captain Joseph B. Anderson, Jr., the leader of the unit of the US Army's 1st Cavalry Division after whom the film is named, commented on the film (and on his other experiences in Vietnam and in the military, in general). He observed, on page 227: Captain Anderson discuses the death from friendly fire of a white soldier named Shannon, from California, who is introduced in the film at approximately 6'50". Anderson states: "I did write a letter to his folks, telling them he did an exceptionally good job. I did not describe the circumstances under which he was killed, because we were directed not to put those kinds of details in letters whatever the case may be." He continues: "The film describes the grenade as an enemy grenade. Which is not the real circumstances." Captain Anderson notes: "I spent my last months in the base camp at An Khe, an aide to the commanding general. Being featured in ''The Anderson Platoon'' had obviously helped my career."

Releases

Television

''The Anderson Platoon'' was broadcast on the French public channel ORTF's monthly show ''Cinq colonnes à la une'' on February 3, 1967. CBS premiered the English dub version on television in the United States on July 4, 1967. Shortly after its 1968 Academy Award, it was broadcast a second time in France's ORTF. In

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, the 62 min. version was broadcast on July 17, 1968, on

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, SFB, and Bremen III. After the

Berlin wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

's fall it was broadcast in Germany, on WDR, on January 15, 1995.

Theater

This documentary was originally made for a French TV show and was released in theaters in the United States only.

Alternate titles

*''La Section Anderson'': original title. *''The Anderson Platoon'': English re-edited uncensored version title. This is the only accurate account for this title. *''2. Kompanie, 1. Zug, Vietnam 1966'' ("2nd Company, 1st Platoon, Vietnam 1966"): West German title. The "Anderson Platoon"'s actual name is "1st Platoon". The platoon belongs to the "B" for "Bravo" Company (the second letter in the English alphabet), and the documentary was shot in

in 1966, hence the German title. *''Abteilung Anderson'' ("Detachment Anderson"): German title after the reunification. This is a translation of the original title; " Detachment" is a synonym for "Platoon" in French.

Home video

''The Anderson Platoon'' was made available on VHS tapes in the United States only. A 60 min. VHS re-edited uncensored video edition was released in December 1987 by Hollywood Select Video. It was re-released by Timeless Video in May 1990. Timeless released a second print in June 1999. By June 2000, Homevision released the original 65 min. French version subtitled in English.

Video on demand

In France it was available online April 26, 2006 as a VOD

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

service through the National Audiovisual Institute's website hosting the ORTF archives.

''Reminiscence''

A sequel to ''The Anderson Platoon'', entitled ''Reminiscence'', was released in 1989. It depicts Schoendoerffer's meeting the platoon survivors 20 years after the events.

Media links

*
''La Section Anderson'' on the ORTF in 1968, 10 min. sample
(National Audiovisual Institute) * *

References

External links

at the

Institut national de l'audiovisuel The (abbrev. INA), () is a repository of all French radio and television audiovisual archives. Additionally it provides free access to archives of countries such as Afghanistan and Cambodia. It has its headquarters in Bry-sur-Marne. Since 200 ...

* * *
"How One French Director Brought the Vietnam War Home for Americans"
by James T. Quinlivan, published at ''The National Interest'' on October 22, 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson Platoon 1966 films 1966 documentary films Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Black-and-white documentary films Documentary films about the United States Army Documentary films about the Vietnam War 1960s English-language films Films directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer French documentary films 1960s French-language films Vietnamese-language films 1960s multilingual films French multilingual films 1960s French films