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Just perfect...

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Some(leftists) will tell you the movie is inaccurate in that it shows the USA in a positive light and the VC in a negative light. They'll claim that both sides were morally equal or worse, that the VC was an innocent victim of "American Imperialism". Well, my guess is that the ONLY Vietnam Vet they have heard from is the traitor John F. Kerry. That's right, a traitor and he deserved none of the honor bestowed on him. His injuries during the conflict are on par with a scraped leg while playing football or a nick from a potato peeler. He lied about the "atrocities" carried out by US forces, the Swift boaters told the truth, then the media and the Democrat party set out to destroy REAL heroes, real Vietnam Vets who fought bravely against communist domination of yet another region of the earth. Pathetic liberals ALWAYS side with our enemies. It is obvious that if democrats EVER totally get their way, the USA will truly be irrelevant as a world power. I also disagree with the person who said Mel Gibson's "We Were Soldiers" was better, no it wasn't. It was AS good, but both movies were important. Mel Gibson's movie was more realistic, yes, but Mr. Wayne's movie was more helpful since at the time the filthy, lying, traitorous US media was trashing our Veterans and they succeeded in even brain washing some veterans of Vietnam. I have met Vets of Vietnam that bought the entire line the liberal democrats were pushing. But it simply wasn't true. The USA was in Southeast Asia by request, YES, the South DID ask for our help, and it was right to give it. Too bad we allowed a bunch of left wing, maggot infested, hippies stand in the way of victory for the USA and some measure of freedom for the poor people of South Vietnam.

THE GREEN BERETS is John Wayne's much-lamented Vietnam War epic which shows the situation in a positive light in regard to America's involvement. The story is heavily politicised and was made as a rebuke to the growing anti-war movement in the USA, which Wayne would have no truck with. Me, all of this subtext stuff is irrelevant, I just want to know if a film is entertaining or not.The answer is a yes here, although THE GREEN BERETS is not without flaws. Running at nearly two and a half hours, the film is overlong and stodgy in places, particularly during the gruelling midsection. Things pick up for some impressively sprawling battle sequences in the latter part, but the special effects aren't quite up to par and the film does look cheap in places.Still, the cast keeps you watching, not least Wayne himself who is all gruff and brave, if you can ignore the fact that he's way too old to be fighting on the front line. Aldo Ray is another favourite of mine and he has a ball as the tough sergeant. The only character I felt out of place was David Janssen's reporter, added to the story to bring some moralising to the piece; it wasn't really required, I thought. George Takei is a welcome presence as a South Vietnamese fighter.THE GREEN BERETS is surprisingly vicious in places, not holding back from showing some of the horrors of warfare in Vietnam; I'm talking brutal jungle traps, kids and animals getting slaughtered, punji sticks everywhere you walk. It's this no-holds-barred approach to the material that keeps it watchable, and a neat counterpoint to the later anti-war Vietnam epics of the 1970s and '80s.

I have no issue with this being a movie in support of the US effort in Vietnam. It's too bad it's just not that good a movie - largely because John Wayne tried to graft a typical 'rollicking' John Wayne adventure replete with 'colorful' characters that like Chekov's gun don't really get used once the story gets "going" but neglected the actual task of... storytelling.First part of the movie consists of assembling the stock characters - I mean troops. Each is supposed to have a special talent essential for the mission - there's even a 'scrounger'. When we finally get to 'nam we get the local color in the form of 'Hamchuk' and his dog. The dog is the only character, once introduced, to get used again. Alas, it's for bringing up the feels.Now, I haven't seen this in a while but I bet there was a knock down, drag out bar fight in this somewhere - you can't get your Rollicking Content Certificate without one. What there wasn't much of - at least till the third act - was actual Special Forces being special. I mean, come the f*** on, two thirds of the movie is spent setting up and defending their jungle tree-house - I mean base.They finally show a Special Forces 'trick' in the way they evacuate some dude by shooting a loop of rope up to a plane dragging a hook. Then they ruin it with some other dude - the token Black Guy - getting splatted against a cartoon mat of bamboo spikes. Wile E Coyote died a little inside on account of that.Real people had to suffer from that government and the war that put that government into power. No need to suffer sitting through this lackluster motion picture...

I suppose you have to give John Wayne credit. By 1968 the Vietnam War was already becoming unpopular, protests against it were erupting, America's allies were publicly opposing it. Making a movie that would be essentially a defence of U.S. involvement in Vietnam took some guts. Of course, Wayne's fan base was likely made up of the more conservative types in American society, but still. Making a pro-Vietnam movie in 1968 would have been cutting increasingly against the grain. And, no doubt owing to Wayne's stature, even anti-Vietnam actors wanted roles in this - notably David Janssen as anti-war reporter George Beckworth, who follows the unit as a war correspondent, and Star Trek's George Takei, who took on the role of Captain Nim, a ruthless South Vietnamese officer.Now, I'm no expert on the Vietnam War or anything military to be honest. But to my amateur eye, this seemed rather well done and the military scenes seemed authentic. Of course, it's the reverse of what we usually associate with movies about Vietnam. In this, the U.S. is noble, and fighting for a just cause against the atrocities of the communist, North Vietnamese enemy. In fact, all that is made so clear that in the end Beckworth becomes a supporter of the U.S. involvement. And, unlike most Vietnam movies, this movie doesn't focus on young draftees but on the special forces, who likely were much more professional and who probably had higher morale.Perhaps in a reflection of one of the basic reasons for the unpopularity of the Vietnam War, the prime weakness of the movie for me was a lack of clear focus or purpose. The movie has a tragic figure - the young Vietnamese boy who has only a dog as a companion and who bonds with one of the U.S. soldier. In the end, it finally settles into a purpose - to capture a senior North Vietnamese general. But for the most part, this just depicts war.It does provide an interesting and alternative perspective that's worth watching - and it shouldn't be dismissed for its bias, it should be evaluated on its merits. On that basis, it isn't great, but it's a worthwhile watch. (6/10)