Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well structured and impressively performed, 4 Aug 2004
By A Customer
This is an excellent summary of the slow but entirely avoidable slide into war in Vietnam. The writing is crisp, the atmosphere maintained very well, and the performances splendid - Baldwin, Sutherland and Gambon all completely convincing. The production also keeps the sense of time well enough, through judicious use of news and Tv broadcasts, allied to the dress and social customs of the sixties. A splendid work altogether which, like all good drama, captures the true meaning, if not always the literal exactitudes, of the time.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great film for fans of The West Wing, 13 days...., 28 Aug 2006
About 58'000 Americans and approximately 2'000'000 Vietnamese died during Vietnam. If you ever wondered how and why America and the Johnson Administration got itself into such a mess, this film is for you.
Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) will always be associated with - and vilified for - Vietnam. However, during the early years of his Presidency, he spent the political capital from winning a Presidential election with the largest majority in history on creating `The Great Society' in his country. A skilled, veteran politician, LBJ passed hundreds of bills that tackled poverty and racial injustice. Under Johnson, for example, the right to vote became law for all African Americans. In light of the Vietnam body count, this achievement is often glossed over. Nevertheless, as we see in the film, without his stirring address to Congress and his manipulation of the racist Alabama Governor (great Cameo from Gary Sinise) in the Oval Office, this may not have happened for another five or so years.
Indeed, in this film, you get a sense of how LBJ could have truly been one of the great American Presidents if it wasn't for a small country in South-East Asia. In this sense, the film is almost a tragedy. The person who gets the blame for this tragedy is Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara (Alec Baldwin). After helping to avert World War III in the Cuban missile crisis, McNamara's counsel to the President carried a lot of weight. In one pivotal scene in the movie (and in the build up to the war), LBJ invites McNamara and a lifelong friend (Donald Sutherland) to Camp David before making his final decision to commit a vast number of troops to Vietnam. Like an angel and a devil on LBJ shoulders, the two take turns to present their case for and against the war. The audience knows the outcome of the Vietnam War and scream for Johnson to listen to his old friend. Of course, LBJ doesn't have the audiences' powers of retrospection and he listens to the man from the Pentagon (to be fair, though, the seeds of Vietnam were planted during the Kennedy Administration).
As you watch the film and follow the `Path to War', you may put yourself in LBJ's shoes and wonder if you would have done things differently. It took a long time for Johnson to respond the aggression against America by the Viet Cong and, when he did retaliate, it was measured and considered. He certainly didn't rush into war, all guns blazing. As LBJ, the English actor Michael Gambon deserves a special mention in his portrayal as the no-nonsense Texan who agonises over the decision/consequences of Vietnam.
All in all, an excellent film showing how the horror of Vietnam ever came about.
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A MUST SEE PRODUCTION, 19 Jul 2003
Path to war, says it all really. It is quite simply a look at to how vietnam went from a stage of conflict to an all out war. Michael Gambon plays the role of LBJ wonderfully, not only is he able to put on a strong texan accent, but there is a similarity also to the real LBJ.
Supported brilliantly by Alec Baldwin and Donald Sutherland as his main advisors, it does amplify the problems during the 1960's and the subsequent 'no way out' syndrome that ultimately led to the vietnam war going on into the 70's. The opening and closing sequences of the film was executed brilliantly. Starting from winning a land-slide victory in the 1964 election, to his speech address in 1968 announcing his resignation.
Sadly this was John Frankenheimer's final project and although it was the first film to look at LBJ and the Vietnam War, it doesn't come even close to the classics that he made earlier; like Seven days In May or the Manchurian Candidate. Whether it follows the real-life history of the LBJ administration, I cannot say. However, I got the impression that the film tried to lay the blame on his advisors; rather on LBJ, and that it was LBJ who became the innocent victim Watch out for a cameo of Gary Sinise playing the role of George Wallace, whom he played in John Frankenhimer's production of the same name.
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