The Green Berets (1968)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Directors:

Ray Kellogg
John Wayne

Writers:

James Lee Barrett (screenplay)
Robin Moore (novel)

Release Date:

27 July 1968 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

They had to be the toughest fighting force on earth - and the men who led them had to be just a little bit tougher!

Plot:

Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam. First off is to...

Plot Keywords:

Green Beret | Vietnam | Beret | Vietnam War | Color In Title

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

John Wayne	...	Colonel Mike Kirby
David Janssen	...	George Beckworth
Jim Hutton	...	Sergeant Petersen
Aldo Ray	...	Master Sergeant Muldoon
Raymond St. Jacques	...	Sergeant Doc McGee
Bruce Cabot	...	Colonel Morgan
Jack Soo	...	Colonel Cai
George Takei	...	Captain Nim
Patrick Wayne	...	Lieutenant Jamison
Luke Askew	...	Sergeant Provo
Irene Tsu	...	Lin
Edward Faulkner	...	Captain MacDaniel
Jason Evers	...	Captain Coleman
Mike Henry	...	Sergeant Kowalski
Craig Jue	...	Hamchunk

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Vietnamese

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) (cut) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:PG (video rating) (1986) (1998) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (1992) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1968) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1984) | West Germany:16 (f) | New Zealand:PG | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:G | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Fort Benning, Georgia, USA

Company:

Batjac Productions

Trivia:

Scenes were filmed with Vera Miles as John Wayne's wife but they were cut before release by the studio. Wayne made up for this by casting Miles in his next film Hellfighters (1968).

Goofs:

Continuity: Before they all leave for Vietnam, Sgt. Muldoon wakes everybody up and turns to Petersen's place and the top of an open guitar case can be seen with a guitar in it. Then we get a look at the place from Muldoon's point of view. The next shot shows Muldoon again, but the guitar is now out of the case and leaning against the wall.

Quotes:

George Beckworth: Petersen, what was all that talk about the enemy building ladders and coffins?
Sgt. Petersen: Well, when Charlie knows he's got a nice box to be buried in, he's just as brave as hell.
George Beckworth: What about the ladders?
Sgt. Petersen: They throw the ladders across the wire to get at us. And later on, they use them for litters to stack on and carry away the dead bodies.
George Beckworth: Later on... you mean after everybody's dead?
Sgt. Petersen: Yes, everybody. Men... women... and children. Everybody.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Movie Orgy (1968)

" A refreshing Change!"

When I first saw the Green Berets back in the late 1970's early 80's it was widely criticized by contemporary film buffs as being jingoistic and 'gun ho'. Obviously, with John Wayne being the leading role, it only served to reinforce this view. Sure it is patriotic but no more than many of the WWII and Korean War films that were made in the 1950's and 1960's. So when recently I had a chance to see the movie, (the first time in over 15 years) what I noticed was that it was actually a refreshing change to the, anti- American, soul searching, self-loathing anti Vietnam war movies made from the late 1970's onwards.

If the Green Berets was guilty of overdoing the nobility, and righteousness of the Vietnam War, the later movies only served to give comfort to the anti-war, self-indulgent Vietnam movement years later. Apocalypse now, the Deer hunter, Platoon, etc., (you know the ones) are just a few of the movies that ignored the barbarism of both the Viet Cong and Khamer rouge in indo-china, conveniently overlook the global political realities of the time as well as unfairly mock the military.

Years later, the Green Berets actually offer a different viewpoint. If one is to keep it into perspective it comes across quite well as it highlights how the US was welcomed in many parts of Vietnam and how indifferent the North Vietnamese were to their own people. The millions of people murdered in the communist controlled parts of Indo-china during and after the American withdrawal are well documented. Check the movie out