The Boys in Company C

The Boys in Company C
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sidney J. Furie
Produced by	Andre Morgan
Written by	Sidney J. Furie Rick Natkin
Starring	Stan Shaw Andrew Stevens R. Lee Ermey James Whitmore Jr Scott Hylands Michael Lembeck
Music by	Jaime Mendoza-Nava
Cinematography	Godfrey A. Godar
Edited by	Frank J. Urioste
Production company	Golden Harvest Columbia Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	February 2, 1978
Running time	125 min.
Country	Hong Kong United States
Language	English

The Boys in Company C, directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Stan Shaw, Andrew Stevens, Craig Wasson, James Canning, and Michael Lembeck, is a 1978 film about United States Marine Corps recruits preparing for duty, and their subsequent combat in the Vietnam War. It was among the first Vietnam War films to appear after the Vietnam Era, and was also the first role for R. Lee Ermey of Full Metal Jacket fame.The Boys in Company C is the first in Furie's Vietnam War motion picture trilogy, followed by 2001's Under Heavy Fire and 2006's The Veteran.

The film was a co-production of Golden Harvest and Columbia Pictures, the latter originally handling theatrical distribution. It was filmed in The Philippines.

Wasson plays guitar and sings the theme song "Here I Am", used within the film and over the end credits.

This war drama, which prefigures the similar film Full Metal Jacket, follows the lives of five young Marine inductees from their boot camp training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in 1967 through a tour of duty in the Vietnam War in 1968.

In August 1967, a group of boys arrive at the USMC induction center. They include draft dodger Dave Brisbee (Wasson), who is delivered in handcuffs by FBI agents. The other inductees include Tyrone Washington (Shaw), Billy Ray Pike (Stevens), Vinnie Fazio (Lembeck) and Alvin Foster (Canning). (Like "Joker" in Full Metal Jacket, Foster also keeps a journal and his entries provide the running narrative for the film.)