A Bright Shining Lie is a 1998 American war drama television film written and directed by Terry George, based on Neil Sheehan's 1988 book of the same name and the true story of John Paul Vann's experience in the Vietnam War. It stars Bill Paxton, Amy Madigan, Vivian Wu, Donal Logue, Eric Bogosian and Kurtwood Smith. It aired on HBO on May 30, 1998.
Cast
Bill Paxton as John Paul Vann
Karina Logue as Barmaid
Amy Madigan as Mary Jane Vann
Donal Logue as Steven Burnett
Harve Presnell as General Paul Harkins
Robert John Burke as Frank Drummond
Bill Whelan as Ron Dray
Lim Kay Tong as Colonel Cao Huynh Van
Seng Kawee as VC Leader
Vivian Wu as Lee
Van Thoa Trinh as VC Commander
Richard Libertini as Marriage Counselor
James Bigwood as Office Manager
Ed Lauter as General Weyand
Kurtwood Smith as General Westmoreland
Eric Bogosian as Doug Elders, a composite character not in the book melding elements of real-life people in the book, Daniel Ellsberg and Douglas Ramsey, who both worked with Vann; Ellsberg and reporter David Halberstam had asked that their names be removed from the production after reading an early draft of the screenplay James Rebhorn as Ambassador Bunker Les J.N. Mau as Colonel Dinh David Warshofsky as Terry Pike Thanh Nguyen as ARVN Translator Pichariva Narakbunchai as Annie Kris von Habsburg as a US soldier Matthew Ascherl, Simon Gaut and Jamie Watts (American GI's), featured in opening scene(s) at airfield
Award nominations
In 1998, the film was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie. In 1999, Bill Paxton was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance in the film.