The Green Berets
Theatrical release poster by Frank McCarthy
Directed by	John Wayne Ray Kellogg Mervyn LeRoy (uncredited)
Written by	James Lee Barrett Robin Moore (novel)
Produced by	Michael Wayne
Starring	John Wayne David Janssen Jim Hutton Aldo Ray George Takei Luke Askew Mike Henry
Cinematography	Winton C. Hoch
Edited by	Otho Lovering
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Distributed by	Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Release date	July 4, 1968
Running time	141 min.
Country	United States
Language	English/Vietnamese
Budget	$7,000,000
Box office	$11,000,000

The Green Berets is a 1968 war film featuring John Wayne, George Takei, David Janssen, Jim Hutton and Aldo Ray, nominally based on the eponymous 1965 book by Robin Moore, though the screenplay has little relation to the book. Unlike most war films, the movie has polarized public opinion to this day.^{[citation needed]}

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 South 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 matériel from President Johnson.

Columbia Pictures, (who had bought the book's pre-publication film rights) was not able to produce a script that was approved by the Army whilst producer David L. Wolper, who also tried to buy the same rights, could not obtain finance for filming.^[1]

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 to do so. The film's first scene illustrates that contention when Green Beret tour guides at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 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.

At Fort Bragg, newspaper reporter George Beckworth (David Janssen) is at a Special Forces briefing about the American military involvement in the war in Vietnam. The briefing (at Gabriel Demonstration Area, named for SGT Jimmy Gabriel, first SF soldier killed in Vietnam) includes a demonstration and explanation of the whys and wherefores of participating in that Asian 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 the Soviet Union, Communist Czechoslovakia, and Communist China. Despite that, Beckworth remains skeptical about the value of intervening in Vietnam's civil war. When asked by Green Beret Colonel Mike Kirby (John Wayne) if he had ever been to Southeast Asia, reporter Beckworth replies that he had not, prompting a discourteous acknowledgement of his opinion. Realizing his ignorance, Beckworth decides to go in-country to report on what he finds there.

Colonel Kirby is posted to South Vietnam with two handpicked A-Teams of Special Forces troopers. One A-Team is to replace a team at a basecamp working with South Vietnamese and Montagnard soldiers whilst the other A-Team is to form a counter guerilla Mike force. While selecting his teams, Kirby intercepts a Spc. Petersen (Hutton) from another unit who is scrounging supplies from Kirby's supply depot. Realizing Petersen's skills, Kirby promotes him and brings him onto his SF team.

Arriving In South Vietnam, they meet Beckworth whom Kirby allows to join them at the basecamp where he witnesses the humanitarian aspect (irrigation ditches, bandages, candy for children) of the Special Forces mission. Still, he remains skeptical of the U.S.'s need to be there. He changes his mind after a ferocious North Vietnamese Army attack upon the SF camp, admitting he probably will be fired from the newspaper for filing a story supporting the American war. During this period, Petersen befriends a young native boy named Ham Chuck, a war orphan who has no family other than his dog and the soldiers at the basecamp. As the battle rages, the dog is killed and the boy tearfully buries his faithful companion. Symbolically, the boy uses the stick he had used to dig the dog's grave as the tombstone. As the soldiers rush to their defensive positions, the stick is knocked away, leaving an unmarked grave.

After that battle, Beckworth temporarily disappears from the story, while Col. Mike Kirby leads a team of Green Berets, Montagnards (Degar), and ARVN soldiers on a top-secret kidnap mission capturing 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. Kirby's ARVN counterpart Colonel Cai uses his sister-in-law as a honey trap bait for the General. The raid is successful with the captured General airlifted out of the area by a Skyhook device but at a high cost to the patrol - many of the men are killed and left behind, including Petersen.

Near the end of the story, Beckworth watches as Ham Chuck awaits the return of the helicopters carrying the survivors of the raid. He realizes the toll of the war as Ham Chuck runs crying from helicopter to helicopter, searching for Petersen. Kirby, in a touching moment, walks over to the boy and tells him the sad news. Ham Chuck asks plaintively, "what will happen to me now?" Kirby places Petersen's green beret on him and says, "You let me worry about that, Green Beret. You're what this thing's all about." The two walk along the beach into the sunset.

• John Wayne - Col. Mike Kirby
• David Janssen - George Beckworth
• Jim Hutton - Sgt. Petersen
• Aldo Ray - MSgt. 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 - Ham Chuck

• George Takei missed working on the "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode of the original "Star Trek" series to work on this movie.

• David Janssen was working on this film when the final episode of his series "The Fugitive" aired.

• Much of the film was shot in the summer of 1967 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Some of the "Vietnamese village" sets were so realistic they were left intact, and were later used by the Army for training troops destined for Vietnam. The commander of the United States Army Airborne School at Fort Benning can be seen seen shooting trap with John Wayne in the film.

• The famous supposed-goof at the end of the movie where Ham Chuck and Kirby walk along the beach into the sunset and watch the sun set over the ocean in the east is not necessarily impossible. Since no previous scenes take place on the coast, this scene could have taken place, as Vietnam does have a west coast - albeit a short one. 09°57′26″N 105°05′42″E / 9.95722°N 105.09500°E / 9.95722; 105.09500.

• John Wayne's character, Colonel Mike Kirby, was based on United States Army Captain (later Major) Lauri Törni. He is known as the soldier who fought under three flags: Finnish, German (when he fought the Soviets in World War II) and American (where he was known as "Larry Thorne") He originally was a Finnish Army captain who led an infantry company in the Finnish Winter and Continuation Wars. He emigrated to the United States in the late 1940s, and in 1954 joined the US Army. In November 1963 he joined the Special Forces unit A-734 in Sout Vietnam and fought in the Mekong Delta. He disappeared during a mission on 18 October 1965 and was reported MIA (Missing In Action). Posthumously promoted to Major, his remains were found in 1999 and formally identified in 2003. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, section 60, tombstone 8136, on 26 June 2003. Thorne's remains were found in 1999, and formally identified in 2003.

• The defensive battle that takes place during the second half of the movie is very loosely based on the Battle of Nam Dong, during which two Viet Cong battalions and the PAVN attacked the Nam Dong CIDG camp located in a valley near the Laotian border of the South Vietnam Central Highlands. The camp was defended by a mixed force of Americans, Australians and South Vietnamese troops on 6 July 1964. For his actions at Nam Dong, Captain Roger C. Donlon was the first American to receive the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. Australian Warrant Officer Kevin Conway was the first Australian to be killed in action in the Vietnam War during the battle.

Although the film portrays the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army as sadistic tyrants, it also depicts them as a capable and willing enemy. The film also shows that unlike America's previous experience in foreign wars, this one had no front lines, meaning that the enemy can show up and attack at almost any position, anywhere. The film also shows the sophisticated spy ring of the VC and NVA that provided information about their adversaries. Like A Yank in Viet-Nam it is one of the rare films to give a positive view of the South Vietnamese military forces.

The movie supposedly takes place in South Vietnam. Besides the southern yellow pines that make up the forests in the film, there is an obvious lack of palm trees and other tropical plants. In addition, in the beginning of the movie they walk past a water tower with a red and white checkered paint scheme. This is how water towers are painted on U.S. military bases in the United States. Forward operation posts in South Vietnam built did not build water towers like this. Also, in the scene which depicts John Wayne/Col Kirby's A-Team arriving at Camp A-107 (Two-Niner-Savoy), Wayne introduces David Janssen to the camp commander by pointing his weapon at him and waving it. As a soldier, his character should know better: you treat your weapon as though it is loaded at all times and never point the muzzle at something unless it is a target.

The US Army objected to James Lee Barrett's initial script in several ways. The first was that the Army wanted to show the South Vietnamese soldiers defending the base camp assault that was rectified. Secondly the Army objected to the raid with the mission of kidnapping a General that originally took place in North Vietnam.^[2]

The film is most often criticized for glorifying the Vietnam War. Upon its cinema release, Chicago newspaper movie critic Roger Ebert gave the film zero stars and cited extensive use of cliches, depicting the war in terms of "cowboys and indians", and being a "heavy-handed, remarkably old-fashioned film."^[3] Oliver Stone's acclaimed anti-war film Platoon was written partially as a reaction to The Green Berets.^[4]

Many have also criticized the film for being shot in Fort Benning, Georgia, in a pine forest distinctly different from the jungles commonly associated with the Vietnam War.

Despite the poor reviews, the film went on to be a great commercial success, which Wayne attributed in part to the negative reviews from the press, which he saw as representing criticism of the war rather than the film.^[5]

The original choice for scoring the film, Elmer Bernstein who was a friend and frequent collaborator with John Wayne turned the assignment down due to his political beliefs. As a second choice, the producers contacted Miklós Rózsa then in Rome. When asked to do The Green Berets for John Wayne, Rózsa replied "I don't do Westerns". Rozsa was told "It's not a Western, it's an 'Eastern'".^[6] As a title song, the producers used a Ken Darby choral arrangement of Barry Sadler's hit song Ballad of the Green Berets. Rozsa provided a strong and varied musical score including a night club vocal by a Vietnamese singer Bạch Yến^[7] however bits of Onward Christian Soldiers were deleted from the final film.

• The Green Berets at IMDb
• The Green Berets at the TCM Movie Database
• The Green Berets at AllMovie
• Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz