Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10519 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-06-08
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Colour, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Dimensions: .92 pounds
• Running time: 1003 minutes

Customer Reviews

Like the original - but Painted Black
I used to stay up every week to watch this series back in 1989 and have just watched the whole of this first series. I could never get enough of this series as I grew up during the war in Vietnam and knew people who were out there in the war.

It's great to have the whole first series on DVD - there are 21 episodes on 5 DVDs (the pilot episode is not numbered and episode 21 stands alone on disk 5)

The only thing I dislike about this series is that all the original rock songs have been deleted - there is no regular musical introduction of The Rolling Stones 'Paint it, Black' nor any of the other songs that were spread throughout the series - presumably because Sony did not want to pay royalties (or could not negociate a reasonable cost) for the songs, thus keeping production costs down and profits up. There is some music - but of the generic type: anonymous rock guitar riffs.

All said, this is an exceptional series and well recommended. A must-have for anyone interested in That War.

Paint it (with different music)
'Tour of Duty' is one of my favourite televisions series. It didn't last very long, but while it did, it presented a fairly realistic depiction of life in a squad of soldiers in Vietnam. Together with the series 'China Beach', it began to open doors to a difficult subject for the American public to deal with -- the American public, after all, got to see the Vietnam war almost live, day by day, year after year, in their homes on the television sets, the first war for that to happen. The controversial nature of the war and 'peace' aftermath made dealing with the subject tricky, but the writing, acting and direction in this series was superb.

The story follows an infantry company 'in-country', Company B, that is made up of a typical mixture of young, green recruits (often draftees) and a few experienced leaders, on their one-year tour of duty in Vietnam; the series began (and this video begins) in 1967, one of the early hot years of the conflict. The base is a typical firecamp, nicknamed Ladybird, with bunkers, sandbags, jungle surroundings, and lots of mud.

Stars of the series include many second-tier Hollywood film and television actors, who are all much better actors than their stature might indicate. Key figures included experienced and battle-hardened Sgt. Zeke Anderson (portrayed by Terence Knox, who has been star or guest star on dozens of television series) and relatively-new officer Lt. Myron Goldman (Stephen Caffrey, soap opera star also noted for some quality film work), as they work together to guide a group of men through the literal and metaphorical minefields of the Vietnam war. Other actors include Eric Bruskotter, Joshua Maurer, Kevin Conroy, Stan Foster, and Tony Becker.

In the pilot to the series, the men have a mission to destroy a hidden NVA base headquarters. It depicts the struggles and stress of jungle combat, and portrays the relationships built under fire by the men who come to depend upon each other for their lives.

The soundtrack takes a similar device from other Vietnam-era shows and films, that of using music contemporary with the conflict. 'Paint It Black' is the opening theme, an ironic and appropriate song and lyric. Beware, however, if you get it on DVD, that this soundtrack has been altered, including the very riveting opening.

This is a superb piece on a troubled time in American history.

Tour Of Duty
Brilliant,i have waited for years for this to come out for general release.
Some episodes did come out on vhs but were a tad difficult to track down and as usual on british tv the episodes were very late at night and each season was seperated by several months with no indication of when it would return.
I am chuffed to bits, i just hope the next season is released soon. i have watch all 5 dvds and cannot fault it,