Simply A Masterpiece

Sadly Over-hyped

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Scott Glenn's performance is one of the craziest, most unhinged spectacles I've ever seen outside of BAD LIEUTENANT. That said, I went to see this movie three times when it first came out, and I tell you what, it's flawed, and crazy, and not all there, and a lot of it is unfocused, but it belongs squarely in the 'Nam Movie' pantheon, right there with HAMBURGER HILL, FULL METAL JACKET, APOCALYPSE NOW, and PLATOON. This flick is, if only by some accident, the real deal, and in many ways, the only other piece of media I can compare this movie to is Mark Jury's stunning act of photojournalism, THE Vietnam PHOTO BOOK.The display of disorientation and malaise, the feeling of the grimy, nasty, sex-filled environments presented to off-duty soldiers in an occupied country, is second to none. I remember Roger Ebert's review of this film and particularly his opinion that it was, I quote, "Needlessly profane". Obviously Mr. Ebert was never in any military.Is this a perfect movie? NO.Is this even a good movie? Well, not really.Is this a good, or necessary Vietnam movie? Yes, it is. If you haven't seen this, you are not complete. Trust me on that.OFF LIMITS is critical war-movie viewing.

Off limits became something of a quasi-cult film for me. I was in Vietnam with the Marines north and south of Danang in 1968 and once fantasized about hitching a ride down Highway 1 to see Saigon, no small feat as it is something like 580 road miles. But the highway was full of vehicles during the day and you could always catch a ride. I never did get Saigon during the war, but finally did with a group of war vets in 1994. One of my favorite quips in the movie is when Dafoe turns around and finds some South Viet QCs (MPs) coming toward him and says, "We've got mice." That's what we GIs called Viets wearing helmets with QC (Quan Canh) on them. I am now spending several months in Saigon on sort of a temporary assignment, i.e., staying with the in-laws of my Viet wife on a winter break. I would like to see Off Limits again just to critique the city backdrop it used and how realistic it was. I thought this movie could have become a TV mini series but realize it would have been more expensive than China Beach in coming up with SE Asian sets to shoot on. I give it a 7, perhaps too high of a rating, as it goes good on a rainy Saturday afternoon over drinks with friends, especially if they happen to be Vietnam vets.

This film has some great characters and an excellent soundtrack. The scenes starring Keith David as Maurice as pure class. Such a shame his character does not play a more prominent role.Dafoe is brilliant as always, and Scot Glenn is also in top form. If you like fine acting and unusual, fresh, original and funny characters then you could do a lot worse than see this.

I watched this film on Sky movies the other night, it is called Saigon here in the UK. It is of course set in Saigon and I think if you took this cop thriller and set it in LA or New York it would just be another average cop film. What makes it different is the setting and the backdrop of the Vietnam conflict. I must admit though I guessed the murderers identity about halfway through the film. It was also refreshing for the guy not to get the girl as it were! A decent if a quite forgotten film.