Platoon Scene 16 Summary

  • Enemy soldiers prepare to head out. They're studying a map, tying shoes—that sort of thing.
  • They start moving. Another soldier hands them grenades as they move out. While running through the forest, one of them trips a flare.
  • It's Rodriguez's hole. Taylor and Frances notice it. Machine guns and RPG's start firing.
  • Rhah comes into the foxhole and gives them instructions: shoot anything that doesn't identify itself.
  • Taylor and Francis (Corey Glover) are on the perimeter and are thus the first line of defense. A flare shoots into the air, lighting up the surrounding area.
  • It's an enemy "probe." Nothing can be seen in the trees. Suddenly, another flare goes up—a sure signal that the enemy has walked another man's foxhole.
  • A man runs towards Taylor and Francis, screaming "don't shoot, don't shoot." He's an American soldier who was ambushed in the jungle.
  • He scrambles into the foxhole, and tells that hundreds of enemy soldiers are on their way. They need to bounce—and quick.
  • Taylor and Francis stay in the hole, and then once they see enemy troops they start firing.
  • Something explodes nearby, and Taylor is blown back. Dazed, he gets up, and tells Francis to stop firing.
  • It's too quiet, and he knows that means the enemy is getting ready to blow them up. He scrambles out of the foxhole, and screams at Francis to do the same.
  • They get out of the way as a bazooka is fired at their hole. They wait in the bushes, and Taylor finally charges out, killing several enemy soldiers.
  • Inspired by his example, Francis charges forward as well.
  • Meanwhile, Bunny tries to shoot the enemy over the top of his foxhole with a shotgun while Junior sits nearby.
  • In the chaos, Bunny runs out of the foxhole, and crashes into a tree. He's shot from behind.
  • The NVA soldier jumps in and shoots him in the face. Meanwhile, Junior is being stabbed multiple times by an NVA soldier.
  • Basically, it's all a gory mess.
  • Barnes is scrambling somewhere. O'Neill, in his foxhole, is terrified. He grabs one of the dead bodies nearby, and hides under it.
  • NVA soldiers think everybody in O'Neill's hole is dead, and move on.
  • In a command somewhere, a guy is on the phone.
  • It's Oliver Stone, making a small cameo. He's being updated on the progress of the battle.
  • Outside, NVA troops have penetrated the perimeter and are overrunning the encampment.
  • One NVA soldier runs into the command center, and shortly thereafter it blows up. He's definitely the equivalent of a suicide bomber.
  • Captain Harris sees it all go down. "Son of a b****," he exclaims.
  • Lieutenant Wolfe is trying to negotiate the chaos of battle, and he can't get anybody on the radio.
  • He gets Captain Harris on, and says that he and his troops are being overrun and need to fall back.
  • There's nowhere to fall back to, Harris replies, before ordering him to stand his ground.
  • NVA troops continue to advance. Wolfe is hit with shrapnel, and then shot by an enemy soldier.
  • Harris knows the battle is all about lost, so he orders an artillery strike dangerously close to where the troops are fighting. What have they got to lose?
  • We see a jet approach, and bombs start falling.
  • Barnes is engaged in hand-to-hand combat with an enemy soldier. After taking one out, he is shot in the leg.
  • Taylor approaches. Barnes has decided to finish off an almost dead soldier. Taylor runs over, screaming at him.
  • Barnes turns around and knocks Taylor back. Then he goes over to Taylor, and gets ready to kill him with a small shovel.
  • His face and the surrounding landscape are both dark. His eyes are almost red, giving him a positively satanic look.
  • At that moment, a plane flies in and starts dropping napalm, or agent orange, or bombs—something very destructive at any rate.
  • The blast wipes out scores of soldiers—NVA and U.S. alike.