Siege of Firebase Gloria on DVD

The Siege of Firebase Gloria , a low-budget Vietnam War combat movie that came out early in 1989, has just been released in DVD in the MGM Limited Edition Collection series. The movie stars Lee Ermey as a Marine Sergeant Major in Vietnam who takes command of a remote firebase just before the 1968 Tet Offensive.

There’s plenty of battle action in this little-seen movie, including a good bit of hand-to-hand combat. Ermey holds to his Marine Drill Instructor persona as a hard-bitten NCO who sneers at the enemy and goads his men into an effective fighting force against great odds. Parts of the mayhem are played to the tune of the great rock song “Gloria” sung by Van Morrison and the group, Them.

Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, a Brit who’s know for mainly for his TV and straight-to-DVD work, the movie was produced by an Australian company, and was shot in the Philippines. It was not widely released in this country, and received virtually no reviews. The movie did get a lot of play in Australia.

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