Spotlight: Platoon [40th Anniversary]

Showroom Cinema is bringing Platoon back to the big screen on Saturday 7 November, part of their monthly Spotlight series. It's a one-off screening chosen by the cinema's own staff, a programme that brings older films back to the cinema rather than letting them live on a telly. This one marks the 40th anniversary of the original release.

Oliver Stone's Platoon came out in 1986, and it's a personal, searing look at the men who fought the war in Vietnam. It's told through the eyes of a college drop-out whose platoon's allegiance is split between the gung-ho Sergeant Barnes and the disillusioned Sergeant Elias. It's a story that sits right in the middle of that conflict, and it's one of the few war films that feels as much about the men as it is about the fighting. The cast is a heavy one, with Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen leading the way.

It did more than just get noticed, too. It took home four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing and Best Sound. If you've only ever seen it on a small screen, seeing it in a cinema is a different experience entirely—the sound and the scale are a big part of why it works.

The screening runs for two hours, in English, and carries a Book 15 certificate. It starts at 18:00 at Showroom Cinema in Sheffield.