The Green Berets (1968)

Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam. First off is to build and control a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy the second mission is to kidnap a North Vietnamese General.

Directors:

Ray Kellogg, John Wayne

Writers:

James Lee Barrett (screenplay), Robin Moore (novel)

Stars:

John Wayne, David Janssen, Jim Hutton

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Wayne	...	Col. Mike Kirby
David Janssen	...	George Beckworth
Jim Hutton	...	Sgt. Petersen
Aldo Ray	...	Sgt. Muldoon
Raymond St. Jacques	...	Sgt. Doc McGee
Bruce Cabot	...	Col. Morgan
Jack Soo	...	Col. Cai
George Takei	...	Capt. Nim
Patrick Wayne	...	Lt. Jamison
Luke Askew	...	Sgt. Provo
Irene Tsu	...	Lin
Edward Faulkner	...	Capt. MacDaniel
Jason Evers	...	Capt. Coleman
Mike Henry	...	Sgt. Kowalski
Craig Jue	...	Hamchunk

Storyline

U.S. Special Forces troops ("Green Berets") under the command of Colonel Mike Kirby defend a firebase during the Vietnam war. War correspondent George Beckwith accompanies Kirby and objects to both the war and the means by which it is executed. Kirby's firebase is overrun and his troops fight bravely to retake it. Kirby and a select group of his men are then ordered on a special mission to capture a high-level Viet Cong officer.

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Plot Keywords:

propaganda film | propaganda | green beret | vietnam | vietnam war | 

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Taglines:

So you don't believe in glory. And heroes are out of style. And they don't blow bugles anymore. So take another look at the special forces in a special kind of hell!

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Vietnamese German Danish

Release Date:

27 July 1968 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Die grünen Teufel

Filming Locations:

Ft. McClellen, Alabama, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$21,707,027

Company Credits

Production Co:

Batjac Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

142 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sheree North turned down the role of Wayne's wife because of the movie's politics. She did work with the actor later however on his last film, The Shootist (1976).

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Goofs

When the tower that John Wayne is standing on gets hit by enemy fire and begins to fall, the people in the tower shown falling are clearly dummies, not human.

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Quotes

George Beckworth: How do you know we should be fighting for this present government of South Vietnam? They have no constitution. They haven't had any free elections. And six months ago, a committee was appointed to form a constitution... and still no constitution.
Sergeant Muldoon: The school I went to, Mr. Beckworth, taught us that the thirteen colonies, with proper and educated leadership, all with the same goal in mind, AFTER the Revolutionary War, took from 1776 to 1787, eleven years of peaceful effort, before they came up ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Canadian Bacon (1995)

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Soundtracks

Ballad of the Green Berets
(uncredited)
Written by Robin Moore and Barry Sadler
Choral arrangement by Ken Darby

User Reviews

John Wayne Does it Again

Great movie. If you can suspend all belief and pretend that we did eventually win this war (this film was made in 1968)and overlook the minor flaws that pop up here and there. It's your average spaghetti western except the Indians/train/bank robbers are Viet Cong (or NVA regulars, not much distinction is made) and the cowboys/friendly Indians are the Americans/South Vietnamese. And the jungle is the wild west. You can see the Duke, guns 'a blazin', teachin' those commies/Injun's a good ol' lesson. Then you see his soft side as he befriends the orphan Hamchunk (what kind of a name is that?) as the film (mercifully) ends. Hey why didn't they send the Duke to Vietnam? We surely would have won the war then!