The Green Berets
The Green Berets is a 1968 film featuring John Wayne, George Takei, David Janssen, Jim Hutton, and Aldo Ray, nominally based on the eponymous 1965 book by Robin Moore, but the screenplay has little relation to the book.
Thematically, The Green Berets is strongly anti-communist and pro-Saigon. It was produced in 1968, at the height of American involvement in the Vietnam War, the same year as the Tet offensive against the largest cities in southern Vietnam. John Wayne was prompted by the anti-war atmosphere and social discontent in the U.S. to make this film in countering that. He requested and obtained full military co-operation and material from President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The U.S. Army's strict control of the script's depictions and equipment were reasons why Columbia Pictures, (who had bought the book's pre-publication film rights), and producer David L. Wolper, (who also tried to buy the same rights), changed their minds about making The Green Berets themselves.
John Wayne
had always been a steadfast supporter of American involvement in the war in Vietnam.
He had entertained the soldiers in Vietnam, and wanted The Green Berets to be
a tribute to them. He co-directed the film, and turned down the "Major Reisman"
role in The Dirty Dozen World War II anti-Nazi commando action movie to do so.
The film's first scene illustrates that contention when Green Beret tour guides
at Fort Benning, Georgia, show civilian visitors to the U.S. Infantry School the
Soviet- and Chinese-made weapons issued to the soldiers and guerillas of the communist
NVA and VC, in pursuit of world domination.
Reporter George Beckworth (David Janssen) is a journalist present at a briefing about the American involvement in the war in Vietnam. The briefing (presumably at Fort Bragg's Gabriel Demonstration Area, a Special Forces (SF) public relations site named for SGT Jimmy Gabriel, the first Special Forces soldier killed in Vietnam) includes a demonstration and explanation of the whys and wherefores of participating in that Asian civil war. Skeptical civilians and journalists are told that multinational Communism is what the U.S. will be fighting in Vietnam; proof: weapons and equipment, captured from North Vietnamese soldiers and Viet Cong guerrillas, originating in Communist Russia, Communist Czechoslovakia, and Communist China. Despite that, Beckworth remains skeptical about the value of intervening in the Vietnam conflict. When told by another Green Beret that he does not know whereof he speaks, as he has not been to Vietnam, the reporter accepts his challenge, and agrees go and witness the situation.
In South Vietnam, Beckworth arrives at an American camp, where he witnesses the humanitarian aspect, i.e. irrigation ditches, bandages, and candy for children, of the Special Forces mission, still, he remains skeptical of the need to be there. He change his mind after a ferocious North Vietnamese attack upon the camp, and admits he will probably lose his job at the newspaper when he writes an article supporting the war. After that battle, Beckworth disappears from the film for a time, while Col. Mike Kirby (John Wayne) leads a team of Green Berets, montangards, and ARVN forces on a top secret kidnap mission to capture a very important NVA field commander, who lives, eats, and drinks very well, in a guarded mansion, while the common people go hungry, cold, and naked. Near the end of the film, Beckworth is seen briefly, with his typewriter and duffel bag, joining troops headed for the front.
After some exciting cowboy- and WWII-style heroism and adventure, the film's themes, message, and content foreshadow that, by fighting Vietnamese communists in Indochina, the United States will stop the spread of communist insurgencies in the rest of the world.
Trivia
As
the movie was made with the full co-operation of the US military, the filmmakers
had access to authentic firearms. Early in the movie, John Wayne uses a US-marked
M16 made by Harrington & Richardson, while later he uses a CAR-15, manufacturer
unknown (presumably Colt). After filming, both guns were set aside because of
their connection to the movie, and never issued. The H&R M16 has long resided
in a private collection in the Northeastern US, while the CAR-15 is believed to
have been retained by the US Army.
In a climactic scene in which Wayne was
scripted to break an M16 rifle against a tree, rather than break a real gun, he
used a plastic toy replica of an M16, made by Mattel, as a substitute.
The
defensive battle that begins the second half of the movie is very loosely based
on the Battle of Nam Dong, during which two Viet Cong battalions attacked a small
outpost defended by a mixed force of Americans, Australians and South Vietnamese.
After the successful defense of the outpost, the commanding officer, Capt. Roger
Donlon was awarded the Medal of Honor.
The Wilhelm scream a famous stock sound
effect is used 4 times throughout the siege on the fort.
The two leading Vietnamese
characters would have served in the ARVN army of South Vietnam. In the film, they
were actually portrayed by Japanese-Americans Jack Soo, later seen on Barney Miller
and George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek.
Comedian Richard Pryor
is often credited with a small role in this film, and author Gilbert Adair even
went so far as to point out Pryor's presence as an example of the underrepresentation
of African-Americans in the film. In reality, however, the Richard Pryor in this
movie is Texas newspaper columnist Richard 'Cactus' Pryor, a friend of Wayne's
and a white man.
Technical errors
Three commonly-cited
technical mistakes are (i) the sun setting in the wrong horizon, (ii) the pine
tree forests, and (iii) the communist enemy's incorrect weapons.
The oft
quoted criticism that the film closes with the sun "setting in the east"
by Da Nang is in fact wrong. Critics presume that the film ends in the evening,
while in fact, the penultimate scene is set at night, and the last scene is the
helicopters landing in the morning. The final shot shows Wayne and a young Asian
boy walking along a coastline with the sun near the horizon in the background.
Critics frequently mention this, presuming the movie ends at dusk, rather than
dawn, and believe that the sun is setting rather than rising. However, following
the movie's timeline, the last shot occurs in the morning, and the sun is correctly
understood to be "rising in the east" (see below for a counter-argument).
The story occurs in southern Vietnam, which does not have pine trees, so viewers
think it does not resemble Vietnam. If it took place in the Central Highlands
of Vietnam, it would be correct as that region does have pine trees and Georgian
terrain like that of Fort Benning.
The weapons of the Vietcong guerrillas
and NVA soldiers, while mostly American and British, are accurate, as Chinese
copies of them were exported to the NVA and Vietcong. At the time, few modern
Russian and Chinese assault rifles, i.e. the AK-47, had been captured by the Americans
or Hollywood.
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