The Green Berets (1968)

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It is very real and close to the reality of Vietnam. A lot of American movies make the American soldiers look bad. This is wrong. All the left-wing movie director did this in order to stop the draft. My Grandfather a United States Marine officer fight for America in Korea and Vietnam. He would not lie to me and he love freedom. We need patriotism in this country. Make America great again, President Trump!

I see negative reviews.Probably not politically correct for some it seems.John Wayne made a statement.At the same time, John Wayne knew a movie had to engage the audience.The politics at the time were divided.It seems again that reviews were and are divided.Movies of an earlier war were accepted.These movies even today are accepted.The opponents of that earlier war were not well received.Again it seems some wars are not acceptable.Even if war aims are well meant.

'The Green Berets' is a film about a group of highly trained American soldiers and their role in the Vietnam War. This is a highly overt propaganda film, fitting in with John Wayne's controversial stance on the Vietnam War. This is the subject of great criticism, but each war film essentially conveys the message intended by the producers. It's just as propagandistic as 'Casualties of War' and 'Full Metal Jacket', and so I don't think that this line of criticism is too valid. This does not mean that I praise the film, however: irrespective of its political message, it simply isn't a very good war film. 'The Green Berets' lacks realism in many places, although a couple of over-the-top, grizzly scenes may cloud this. I'm also quite disappointed by the lack of idiosyncrasies and personality clashes amongst the soldiers; the interesting and witty exchanges that often grace iconic war films are wholly absent here, and any attempts at introducing such qualities often distract the viewer from the narrative, as they tend to manifest in the form of uninspired comedy. My disappointment was furthered by the lack of attention given to the enemy. I understand that in pro-interventionist propaganda, the opposition should never evoke sympathy or project charm, but the Vietcong forces in 'The Green Berets' are simply dehumanised, which I suppose is in equal parts wrong and lazy. The result is that the various traps and ambushes seem to come from out of the blue and are never seen from a non-American perspective. The Vietcong actions thus range from the inexplicable to the near-supernatural. This kind of approach was taken in the film 'Sands of Iwo Jima', a 1949 film similarly starring John Wayne, but this much earlier title didn't do this to the same extent, and it certainly pulled it off better. Moreover, and returning to the apolitical aspects of the film, the collaboration between John Wayne and Jim Hutton felt uninspired; I felt the same when I saw these two perform in 'Hellfighters'. A slightly more enjoyable performance comes from an unlikely source, i.e. the Star Trek, LGBT and social media icon George Takei. However, even Sulu's greatest efforts fall short of redeeming Wayne's vision of Vietnam.

To begin with I do not watch this movie because I am a John Wayne fan. I am not a fan of his work. However, I do enjoy some of his movies as they tend to have some guts to them and at times backbone.This movie was big in the box office because John Wayne was the star. However, I feel that they should have enlisted a more age appropriate actor to play the role since Mr. Wayne was clearly too old for the part.The Green Berets was made during the time of the Vietnam war not as an after thought to bring it's pain back after the conclusion. The sets were clearly American Hollywood and not location, but made for close-ups with very real resemblance.The bits of humor added in at the beginning leave me to feel that they were inserted to help soften the blow of what was to come - the very real perils of war. However, like most war movies of the era, it cannot even compare with what actually happened in Vietnam.It is my opinion that this movie was more to introduce the nation to a relatively new force unit of the United States Army. The Green Berets were established in 1952 and by this time they were well integrated into the Army as a whole and the current war. The Green Berets is much of a formal introduction of these brave men.The deaths of some key characters (while some may believe them to be pointless) display in a tangible manner the pointless deaths that did occur during this war.There is no real plot except American soldiers with special training going into the Vietnam war and what ensues. There are several smaller plots embedded such as the end plot of kidnapping the new leader of the Viet Cong. During this they utilized a civilian woman related to the Vietnamese colonel.If you enjoy war movies, then you will perhaps enjoy this one. If you are a history buff who prefers historical accuracy, you should move on. If you are a fan of John Wayne, well you have already seen this movie many times. Overall, it is a good movie.