Genres

Visitors Review

2013-05-22 09:54:36

Motion Picture; "The Green Berets"

For those who are fans of "The Duke" (John Wayne). This is yet another example of a very good John Wayne movie. Though the subject matter is controvercial, even today. If your a fan of "War Movies", this film is quite good, and an excellent addition to any collection. The story presentation would be considered weak by today's standards, as would the special effects. Still, not bad considering the period. There were a few touching moments to the story, which added a nice diversity, as opposed to the action which, as I said before, is period specific to 1967-68 when this was filmed.The best that Hollywood could do at the time. Overall, still worth adding to one's collection.

2013-05-22 03:50:32

child of the 60's

IN 1968,IT SEEMED EVERYONE WAS ANTI THE VIETNAM WAR. EVERY NIGHT ON TELEVISION THAT WAR WAS AIRED OVER AND OVER AGAIN. FAMILIES WERE AFFECTED LEFT AND RIGHT WITH THEIR SONS DYING OVER THERE ORJUST BEING SENT THERE. I REMEMBER IT LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY. FOR JOHN WAYNE TO HAVE STOOD HIS GROUND AND MADE A MOVIE LIKE THIS, TOOK IMMENSE PATRIOTISM AND COURAGE.AT THE TIME I WAS SHOCKED AS I LEARNED ABOUT HOW WELL THE NORTH VIETNAMESE FIGHTING FORCE WASARMED AND CAPABLE OF DEMOLISHING ANYTHING IN ITS PATH. THE FRENCH ARMY FOR ONE.THE WAR WAS DOOMED TO BE IN THEIR FAVOR WITHOUT AMERICAN PUBLIC SUPPORT AS IT WAS.LOOKING BACK NOW, JOHN WAYNE WAS IN IT ALL THE WAY WITH HIS BELIEFS AND IDEALS. HIS MOVIE WAS EXCELLENT IN TELLING ONE THING BEYOND ALL OTHER THINGS,THAT IS THAT IF YOU'RE NOT IN SOMETHING FOR THE LONG HAUL IE...TO WIN A WAR, YOU SHOULDN'T BE IN THERE AT ALL.THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE MOVIE HIS CHARACTER'S IDEALS NEVER WAIVER. AMERICA WILL FIGHT TO WIN OR DIE TRYING.YOU CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM THE MOVIE. IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST PATRIOTIC MOVIES EVER MADE.ALTHOUGH I WAS YOUNG AT THE TIME I KNEW THEN HOW MUCH HE LOVEDAMERICA AND DEMOCRACY BY MAKING THIS MOVIE.I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO HIM FOR THAT EVEN THOUGH IN REAL LIFE VIETNAM SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN OUR QUAGMIRE WAR.HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS 20/20.SO IS PATRIOTISM.

2013-05-19 23:25:31

Terrible--not just politically, but cinematically too!

John Wayne may always be seen by millions in America as the distilled essence of American patriotism. In other words, My Country Right Or Wrong. I'll not dissuade anyone from feeling that way if he or she chooses.Nevertheless, while the Duke may have had his heart in the right place for making THE GREEN BERETS, he unfortunately let that blind patriotism and his politics get the best of him. This attempt at stirring up patriotic support for our guys in Vietnam comes across as not merely politically and historically phony but painfully corny. Wayne likes to think that Vietnam was like World War II--which, of course, was painfully wrong (even more so because he didn't even FIGHT in WW II). He wants us to believe that the VC and the NVA could be picked off like ducks in a shooting gallery, when that assumption in fact didn't even come close. And the sentimental scenes involving his dead comrades and a Vietnamese orphan resonate still today, not for how touching they were (because they're not) but because of how utterly sappy they are.Reportedly, when this film was shown to the troops in Vietnam, many of them either laughed their heads off at Wayne's well-intentioned but utter phoniness or fired their M-16s at the screen. I've talked to several Vietnam vets who saw the film--none of them, and I do mean NONE OF THEM, thought it was accurate in the least. Beyond its politics and its historical inaccuracies, it is cinematically phony as well, with the "sunset in the East" final shot being the real capper.Later films like PLATOON and FULL METAL JACKET showed a far more accurate and complex vision of our Vietnam experience as being about young men who were put in a hellhole and were not able to find any way out. That is what Vietnam was all about, not this simplistic, jingoistic propaganda feast. THE GREEN BERETS may be watchable for laughs (most of which would be unintentional), but that's all it's watchable for!

ca_skunk 2013-05-19 17:12:22

Only pro-Vietnam War film ever made

This is the only pro-Vietnam war film ever made. Most of the officers,like John Wayne or Bruce Cabot (Frank Pierce in 1967's "The WarWagon"), are much too old to be running around the jungle looking forthe VC. Aldo Ray, though a bit too old for this part, pulls it off witha tough-as-nails portrayal of Sgt. Muldoon. Mike Henry, a lousy actorat best, actually has a decent scene, in which, unfortunately, he dies.Henry's character, Kowalski, shows what hand-to-hand combat withmartial arts training can really do.Oliver Stone has denounced this film as racist; I have yet to find outwhy. I have seen this film at least a dozen times, and the ruthlessnessof the Viet Cong is shown honestly. The scenes with American actors inblackface (greyface?) portraying VC are rather silly, since thereweren't too many six-foot VC around, but the Malayan Swing and punjistakes are frighteningly realistic, at a time when most Americans hadnever heard of such barbaric weapons.

2013-05-16 23:53:44

Beware! Older, 2 sided DVD

This review is from: The Green Berets (DVD) I was disappointed that this DVD was an older, 2 sided version of the movie. Looks like I'll be shopping again for a newer version that I won't have to flip over in the middle of the movie.

2013-05-16 10:48:40

He's still "our" man!

This film portrays what it was meant to, the "Green Berets" or as we really like to be called;Special Forces. Although I was not in Vietnam I can attest to the realism of the films content in portraying the life of a Green Beret. The language capabilities,the training of indigenous forces,the composition of the team and etc. Although it may lack the special effects quality of todays movies that make it believable, it's purpose of portraying the unit has yet to be outdone! John Wayne will always be honored in the Special Operations community. This film is real, Rambo is not. Yes, it has its flaws, but speaking from an "A-Team perspective" it's an overall success. By the way, everyone seems to emphasize the "sunset scene", but nobody mentions the fact of the Duke jumping out of the airplane with a static line rig that is not hooked up.

Humphrey Fish 2013-05-14 09:08:12

Worse Than Brannigan.

I had heard about this movie, heard that it was a stinker, and so Ijust decided to see this movie by myself, and let me tell you aboutwhat I thought about this movie. I am going to sum it up in four words:what a terrible movie! This movie is really too pro Vietnam War. I amsorry to say this but, if you liked this movie, then you are alsoprobably really thrilled with George W. Bush's Iraq War! This movie wasnot only a bad film, but it was also a really terrible role for JohnWayne, he was too old to be playing somebody in active combat in theVietnam War! This John Wayne movie is worse then Brannigan, I thoughtthat this movie was both a clunker and very boring, this movie wasabout two hours and twenty minutes long, and that is about two hoursand twenty minutes of my life that I am not going to get back! Thismovie is not the worst movie I have ever seen, nor is it one of theworst that I have ever seen, but it is just one terrible movie! In my opinion, John Wayne was WAY too old for the part that he wasplaying, because nobody in active combat in the Vietnam War was as oldas John Wayne was when he made this movie! This is perhaps one of JohnWayne's worst movies that he ever made. John Wayne, I am sorry to saythis, but speaking as a person who has seen a lot of films starringyou, this movie is very terrible! This is also one of the worst warmovies ever made, this is a movie that I would not want to watch again.I also really noticed that in this movie, a lot of scenes that wheresupposed to be serious turned out to be laughable.This movie is one of the worst war movies that I have ever seen, thoughit is not one of the worst movies that I have ever seen. You can goahead and watch this movie if you like, though I would really notrecommend it to you, but you never know, you may end up really enjoyingthis movie!1/10

2013-05-13 19:02:33

John Wayne classic

A must have for John Wayne fans. No collection of John Wayne movies is complete without this one. An intense viewpoint of the war in Vietnam and another good performance by Wayne.

cdias1729 2013-05-11 05:56:28

I like the movie Green Berets

Okay, so some people are commenting how the quality of the film is, orthat the actors were too old to play certain parts. But you mustremember this was 1968. Film has come along way. I was introduced tothis movie when I was about 7 or 8 yrs old. Both my mom and dad wereextras in the movie. My parents have an album of signed autographs,pictures with them with John Wayne, Jack Soo, Aldo Ray, David Jensen, awhole list, even down to the make up man. This was something we wereproud of growing up, that my parents worked with the wonderful JohnWayne. I saw the movie, I was able to see my mom in 3 of the scenes. Myfather on the other hand, you can not see his face. I mean the messageof the movie is endearing, but I admit, a little poor quality, butagain this was 1968. I may be bias on my comments, yes because of myparents part in it. But overall it's a good movie in my opinion. Heresa fact from the movie: The scene where the dog dies, the dog got up onthe first take, so they had to give it another shot of sleeping insulinto make it go to sleep. hee hee

2013-05-11 04:02:10

The Green Berets

This review is from: The Green Berets (DVD) Whoever produced this DVD recorded only 1/3 of the movie. I only get to watch 1/3 of the movie before it goes blank. I do not know what happened to the other 2/3s. Amazon should not be selling this DVD. I threw away $11.99 plus shipping. Do not purchase this DVD.

Trond Enemo 2013-05-10 04:33:32

Patriotic movie

By making this movie in the midst of The Vietnam war John Wayne proved hewas man of courage and principle.Despite the growing anti-war moment in theUS at the time, Wayne had the courage to make a film that stood up for anddefended the troops fighting communism in Asia. The movie is very far fromperfect; unrealistic military tactics, bad special effect, overlong scriptand more, but it is still a movie that honors the military and thesacrifices made by those who saw communism in Vietnam as a threat toAmerican/western way of life. Wayne is to be commended for his effort tobolster patriotism and pride, no matter what his many critics say.Recommended.

2013-05-09 18:02:08

The Duke Doesn't Get It

Although no expenses were spared in this spaghetti Western posing as a modern war movie, its politics make it hard for remotely intelligent people to stomach. THE GREEN BERETS (which takes many liberties with the superior novel) is Vietnam as it should have been (in the eyes of the pro-war hawks) but in retrospect, it appears to depict some alternate dimension. The conflict is broken down into simple black and white terms. Godly Americans helping their Godly Freedom Loving South Vietnamese defend their freedom against the Evil Atheistic Communist North Vietnamese. Unfortunately, the anti-war films that followed it also seemed to take place in some alternate dimension. Evil Imperialist Americans deliberately napalm-bombing the Poor Vietnamese Peasants while American Boys got Killed in Large Quantities For Nothing.Fellow Americans, lets encourage Hollywood to at least once, try and depict the conflict in Indo-China as it really was.

2013-05-09 04:32:48

This movie is a GREAT "guilty pleasure"!

Oh man, what a flick! A gung-ho Duke, a morose David Janssen who grumbles his lines, a hyper George Takei on leave from "Star Trek"... Toss in a wandering plotline and Vietnamese jungles that look like Georgia scrub pine... (oops! That *is* Georgia scrub pine!) and you have one helluva fun flick! Good for an evening of laughs, at least until they put "Megaforce" back on home vid!

sychonic 2013-05-09 01:42:58

Rousing action movie

The chief sin of this movie is that it was a total slap in the face of allthe rabid anti-American hippies and media elites who were peddlinghalf-baked socialism and inane guilt ridden U.S. vilification in the late1960s. In fact, a perfect representation of this crowd is portrayed in themovie by David Jansen. During the beginning of the movie, there's a sceneat the training camp where Aldo Ray gives a rather accurate description ofwhat was going on in Viet Nam. There is also an eerily precise predictionof what would happen if the Communists were to take power--in particular thekilling. As a cinematic outing, this is pretty standard fare--a rather ruthless enemyfought by heroic Americans. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands,of movies like it about World War I, World War II and Korea. For somereason, it galls people no end that someone would have the audacity to makea similar movie about Vietnam--right in the middle of the sixties no less. Well, as we have seen, many movies have gone on to portray the Americansoldier as no less heroic in Vietnam as he was in those other wars. But, in terms of villainous enemies, the Viet Cong and the North VietnameseArmy match the Nazis in terms of pure evil. The visceral hatred that thismovie sometimes elicits seems to be mostly from aging left wingers with anaxe to grind, or fru fru cultural elitists who live in mortal terror thatthey might somehow be seen as unhip. For all it's flaws--such as pine trees instead of Indochinese jungles, andpoorly made up extras as the Viet Cong, this is basically a rousingpro-American movie. War is never clean, nor fun--but war movies very oftenare. This one is hardly different than any other; and if one objects to it,well, start throwing out "The Sands of Iwo Jima", "The Longest Day", "Backto Bataan", even "Fort Apache" and "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon." Those wereall undeniably better movies than this one, but mostly from the perspectiveof technical skill, performances, and writing. All important aspects of amovie--and ones that the Green Berets suffer from in terms ofdeficiency--but hardly to put it in the "bomb" category. If you like action movies, and John Wayne, and it's hard to like one withoutthe other, since he is still a quintessential American icon, and will likelyalways be, see the movie and suspend the politics. Like it or not we werethere, but watch the movie and root for the yanks--we may not have won thewar, but in this movie we do just fine.

2013-05-08 01:33:08

NOT TOO BAD. BAD ENOUGH THOUGH.

You found it! Yes. This is "that movie" that shows the sun setting in the East! There is a Disney-like quality to this film that makes it watchable. The John Wayne - David Janson chemistry is surprisingly agreeable. It's too bad Wayne's pet project will be remembered as propaganda. Nothing more. Nothing less. Just propaganda.

jim-300 2013-05-07 12:19:41

Bad Movie, But Entertaining none the less

I have seen this movie at least 5 times, the first being in 1968 when itopened in the theatres. It is classic John Wayne, complete with therequired number of action scenes and all the visuals you could want. Itjust isn't very good. It is technically very poor, most of the specialeffects are terrible, particularly the scene where John Wayne's helicopteris shot down. It is reminiscent of very poor sci-fi special effects, circathe late 50's. The movie is however, extremely entertaining. I enjoy theunabashed patriotism exuded by the main characters, especially John Wayne andAldo Ray. If you like action or war movies, this one may be for you. Justdon't expect much. " None But the Brave" this ain't.

mm-39 2013-05-07 09:25:41

I love the song, but one of the Duke's weaker movies!

When my dad rented a VCR, back in 84 he picked out a couple of movies (82)The Thing, Officer and a Gentalmen, and this one. I remember him marchingaround with a canoe paddle to the song, and the Family laughed. John Waynehad a lot of resolve to make this movie against the media left. 68 a lotpeople probably screamed about this movie, and John tried to support troopswho had a hard time when they got home to some unfair critism. This filmshows the cruelty of the VC, which is left out of alot of other Vietnamfilm, however this film is bad. The pace, acting, and even action scenesapear dated, and awkward. In fact the whole film is awkward. I love actionmovies and this one drags and is slow. The chopper scene is legendary inbad special effects. In conclusion this is not a extremly bad film, butbad. 4/10

2013-05-07 01:40:22

It's good the hear the other side

It seems like the only movies you'll see about Vietnam these, are made by anti-American leftists. (Except Mel Gibson) This movie is different in that you do get a different perspective of that war, which is rarely shown from Hollywood these days. I wish we could go back to the days when Hollywood supported the military, the way this movie does. The thing that bothers me most about the Vietnam war is that we could have won it. North Vietnamese Generals have admitted as such, in documentaries. But widespread treason was committed by our left-wing media, and the leftist Hollywood types. Which I believe helped turn some Americans against the war. So we ended up losing the PR war. A lot of good people died in Vietnam. We should have honored their service by winning that war, rather than spitting on them when they came home. If anything, this movie reminds us not to ever let that mistake be repeated. I'll take this movie over anything Oliver Stone ever made...5 stars.

Werner 2013-05-05 23:51:53

Outdated : both the movie and the fuss about it

I remember this movie to be an anchor point for critics to bash Wayne'srightist and military approach, while never really having served andfor himself to defame the betrayers of the "Why we fight" movement.This all is long gone, we have (at least) 2 more wars to bash Americawith, so the film could now be judged by its "pure" values. And thisare just a little above average. Next to very strong (verbal) heroicsbeing delivered by the all good Americans, there are cheating anddeceiving Vietcongs and a Duke, who takes care of them all and anorphan boy as well. History has proved otherwise. So the movie iscertainly not a career climax for anybody involved and not a must forthe not died-in-the-wool duke fans.

2013-05-05 02:19:04

A Rugged History Lesson

John Wayne stays true to form in this early view of the Viet Nam War. Full of action and intrigue as it takes a look at the Green Berets in battle.At the time John Wayne made this motion picture, The Viet Nam War was controversial and the critics numbered many. John Wayne took on the critics and the task of portraying an unpopular war in our nation's history. This movie is for those fans who love John Wayne in the thick of battle.