Film is based on the book "We were soldiers once --and young" by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway.

Special features of this DVD: ten deleted scenes with commentary ; Getting it Right: behind-the-scenes of We were soldiers ; commentary by director/writer, Randall Wallace ; widescreen version ; Dolby Digital ; chapter search.

Originally released by Paramount, 2002.

Director of photography, Dean Semler ; editor, William Hoy ; music, Nick Glennie-Smith ; costume designer, Michael T. Boyd ; production designer, Tom Sanders.

Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Chris Klein, Keri Russell, Barry Pepper, Don Duong, Ryan Hurst.

Lt. Col. Hal Moore is the commander of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry. As part of the Pleiku Campaign of late 1965, Moore is assigned to action at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, an area known to be overrun by North Vietnamese troops and nicknamed "The Valley of Death." Moore soon finds himself and his men contained to an area about the size of a football field, surrounded by more than 2,000 enemy troops and engaged in the first major battle of the war. Heroism becomes the order of the day as the men refuse to yield, in spite of heavy losses of life.

MPAA rating: R : for sustained sequences of graphic war violence, and for language.

DVD.

Audio tracks in English and French ; subtitled in English ; closed captioned for the hearing impaired.