Oliver Stone: Platoon, JFK, Salvador & Why Reagan Was Wrong About Vietnam | Dini Petty

Oliver Stone argues passionately against Ronald Reagan and George Bush's directive to "forget about Vietnam." The Purple Heart veteran and Oscar-winning director of Platoon and JFK joins Dini Petty to explain why soldiers who died in "rotten wars" must be remembered more than those who died in noble ones. Filmed November 7, 1997 during Remembrance Day week, this interview captures Stone at age 51, at the height of his cultural influence as America's most controversial filmmaker, challenging conventional narratives about war, memory, and patriotism.

Stone, whose combat experience shaped his Vietnam War trilogy (Platoon, Born on the 4th of July, Heaven & Earth), reflects on the cycles of Vietnam's cultural memory, from Rudyard Kipling-style border war to symbol of American empire's devastation to Forrest Gump's background fiction. He argues against Reagan and Bush's directive to "forget about Vietnam," explaining why remembering the dead from failed wars matters more than celebrating heroes from successful ones. The conversation tackles America's refusal to learn from Vietnam's lessons, evidenced when Stone returned to war zones in Central America to film Salvador and watched history repeat itself in Honduras and Nicaragua.

The interview explores Stone's evolution as an artist: from combat veteran to screenwriter (Midnight Express) to director of biographical films about Nixon, Jim Morrison, and Jim Garrison. Stone discusses his admiration for European filmmakers like Truffaut, Bergman, and Fellini who probed their own lives through cinema (8½, La Dolce Vita), and reveals he's written his first novel as a way to confront his own story at age 20. He addresses accusations of egomania by reframing autobiography as confession, offering himself as "the lab rat" in a selfless artistic experiment.

Stone also discusses Dini's visit to Vimy Ridge where she realized all soldiers (regardless of which side they fought for) were "somebody's sons." He challenges her view that Vietnam changed North America's consciousness about war's insanity, sharing his disillusionment when he witnessed the same patterns repeating in Central America. Despite his reputation as a provocateur, Dini observes Stone's surprising shyness, which he acknowledges while discussing the courage required to make private thoughts public through art. This conversation, never broadcast since its 1997 CTV airing, provides rare intimate access to Stone's philosophy on war, memory, artistic truth, and the responsibility to remember uncomfortable history.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Dini welcomes the man behind Platoon, JFK, and Wall Street on the eve of Remembrance Day 1997
1:15 Stone on Vietnam memory and why forgetting the 58,000 dead insults their sacrifice, even in "rotten wars"
3:30 How America recycled Vietnam through cultural cycles, from Rudyard Kipling to Forrest Gump's background noise
5:45 "They must be remembered precisely because they died in a rotten war," Stone challenges Reagan's directive to forget Vietnam
7:20 Dini reflects on Vimy Ridge graveyards and the universal insanity of war, Stone pushes back with Central America experience
9:40 Filming Salvador in Honduras and Nicaragua, why Stone believed America learned nothing from Vietnam
12:15 The three Vietnam films as personal journeys home: Platoon, Born on the 4th of July, Heaven and Earth
14:50 Le Ly Hayslip's ironic American dream, Vietnamese refugee succeeds while her veteran husband (Tommy Lee Jones) commits suicide
17:25 "A Child's Night Dream," Stone's first novel as confession after decades hiding behind Nixon, Morrison, and Garrison
19:40 Why Stone wants to chronicle his life from 20 to 50, inspired by Fellini's "8½" and European autobiography
21:50 "They say I'm an egomaniac," Stone reframes confession as laboratory experiment, not narcissism
23:45 The shyness that never left, putting your soul out requires courage, making private thoughts public as artistic contract

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The Dini Petty Show was a Canadian daytime talk show that aired on CTV from 1989 to 1999. Broadcast from Toronto, the show featured in-depth interviews with over 400 celebrities, including Hollywood legends, music icons, politicians, and cultural figures. Dini Petty's warm yet probing interview style earned the show multiple Gemini Award nominations and a loyal audience across Canada.

This channel is the official archive of The Dini Petty Show. Most of these interviews have not been seen since their original broadcast. New conversations from the vault are uploaded weekly.

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