The 317th Platoon

About

France/Spain, 1965
Director: Pierre Schoendoerffer
Producer: Georges de Beauregard, Benito Perojo
Cast: Jacques Perrin, Bruno Cremer, Pierre Fabre
Screenwriter: Pierre Schoendoerffer
Based on the novel by Pierre Schoendoerffer
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard
Music: Pierre Jansen
Genre: Drama, War
Black & White
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Language: French and Vietnamese with English subtitles
Running Time: 100 minutes

Synopsis:
A platoon of French soldiers and Laotian allies fight their way through enemy territory and dense jungle to meet up with their compatriots as the Indochina War grinds to a halt.

Awards and Nominations:
Best Screenplay (Cannes Film Festival, 1965)

Restoration:
Restored by the French Cinematheque and Studiocanal at L.T.C Laboratory

Reviews and Quotes 2

"The 317th Platoon is a masterpiece. It's raw, real, gripping, laconic...His camera adopting the point of view of those foot soldiers delivers 24 frames of truth per second.”
— Bertrand Tavernier

"MASTERPIECE! Surveying the doomed 1954 retreat of French and Laotian soldiers, Schoendoerffer exposes, with a reporter’s eye, the horrors that were and the horrors to come."
— Alan Scherstuhl, The Village Voice

“The greatest war movie ever made is The 317th Platoon. This was the original ‘platoon movie,’ whose format later directors followed but failed to match in its portrayal of characters and their interaction, to say nothing of the moral choices and the
corruption of combat.”
— Antony Beever, The Guardian

Back To Top