Platoon/Trivia

Backed by the Pentagon: Defied. The military refused to have anything to do with this film.
Doing It for the Art: This movie was Oliver Stone's dream project.
Hey, It's That Guy!: A LOT of 'em.
- Yeah, Dr. Cox was in 'Nam (he plays Red O'Neill). Bonus points: in both roles he's often seen bickering with a smug superior named Bob.
- Johnny Depp is in a minor role as Private Gator Lerner, one of Elias' friends.
- The depressed commanding officer watching Chris being airlifted away at the end is Dale Dye, who served in Vietnam and to whom fell the honor of writing the novelization of the film.
- Goliath befriends the protagonist FNG.
- Living Coulour frontman Corey Glover is Francis.
- Johnny Drama is Bunny.
- Duck Phillips must've pissed somebody off to still only be a lieutenant after serving in WWII.
- And Elias was so good at being symbolically Christ-like that he followed up by being Jesus.
Star-Making Role: This is what basically launched Charlie Sheen's career, after a couple of memorable smaller roles. He lampoons his role in this movie in Hot Shots: Part Deux (along with his dad Martin Sheen for Apocalypse Now), "I've loved you in Wall Street!"