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==Music==
==Music==
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'".<ref>http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=2918</ref> 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<ref>http://sonobeatrecords.com/sonobeatartists1.html</ref> however bits of ''[[Onward Christian Soldiers]]'' were deleted from the final film.
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'".<ref>http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=2918</ref> 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<ref>http://sonobeatrecords.com/sonobeatartists1.html</ref> however bits of ''[[Onward Christian Soldiers]]'' were deleted from the final film.

== Production notes ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2010}}
*As the movie was made with the full co-operation of the US military, the filmmakers had access to authentic firearms.
* Toward the end of the movie, when John Wayne's character meets Jack Soo's character, you can see traffic on a highway going by in the distance through the trees, including a bus.
* 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 [[battalion]]s attacked a small outpost defended by a mixed force of Americans, [[Australian Army|Australians]] and South Vietnamese. After the successful defense of the outpost, the commanding officer, CPT [[Roger Donlon]] was awarded the [[Medal of Honor]].
* The [[Wilhelm scream]], a famous stock sound effect, is used four times throughout the siege on the fort. (1 hour 19min , 1 hour 23 (very quiet)x2) {{Citation needed|date=June 2010}}

* 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 under-representation 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.
* This film is often identified as the "only film made about the Vietnam War during the Vietnam War" or as the "only pro-war movie made during the Vietnam War", but it is neither. At least two arguably pro-war films were made during the Vietnam War concerning American forces in Vietnam: ''[[A Yank in Viet-Nam]]'' (1964) (which was actually filmed in Vietnam) and ''[[To the Shores of Hell]]'' (1966).
* The character Col. Mike Kirby (called "Sven Kornie" in the original book) is based on the real life person [[Lauri Törni]]{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}}, who later on called himself Larry Thorne. Lauri Törni was a [[Finnish Army]] captain who fought in the [[Winter War]] (1939–40) and [[Continuation War]] (1941–44) against the Soviet Union. In 1954 he joined the US Army, and in November 1963 he joined the Special Forces unit A-734 in Vietnam and fought in the [[Mekong Delta]]. He disappeared during a mission in 1965 and was presumed dead. Larry Thorne's remains were found in 1999 and formally identified in 2003.
* The film's most famous line is "Out here, due process is a bullet!" spoken by Wayne to explain the treatment the South Vietnamese give an ARVN soldier who is exposed as a VC spy.
* Stock gunfire sound effects were used during the battle scenes, including blast reports of single-shot [[Winchester]] and [[Remington]] [[rifles]] used for producing [[Western films]].
* Many of the extras used to portray Vietnamese villagers are actually Hispanic, Afro-American, Japanese, Pacific Islander, Native American, or of mixed ancestry, as the casting directors were having difficulty locating a large enough population of southeast Asian persons in Georgia.
* Actor George Takei was forced to miss production of half of the second season of the original ''[[Star Trek]]'', including the episode "[[The Trouble with Tribbles]]", in order to co-star in this film.
* Because of John Wayne's height and size, it was difficult to find US Army jungle fatigues that he could wear. As a result, many of his trousers are actually OD temperate climate garments (evidenced by their shade and pocket layout).


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 07:57, 27 December 2010

The Green Berets
Theatrical release poster by Frank McCarthy
Directed byJohn Wayne
Ray Kellogg
Mervyn LeRoy (uncredited)
Written byJames Lee Barrett
Robin Moore (novel)
Produced byMichael Wayne
StarringJohn Wayne
David Janssen
Jim Hutton
Aldo Ray
George Takei
Luke Askew
Mike Henry
CinematographyWinton C. Hoch
Edited byOtho Lovering
Music byMiklós Rózsa
Distributed byWarner Bros.-Seven Arts
Release date
United States July 4, 1968
Running time
141 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
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.

Plot

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.

Cast

Realism

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 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]

Critical reception

The film is 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]

Music

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'".[5] 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[6] however bits of Onward Christian Soldiers were deleted from the final film.

References

  1. ^ Suid, Laurence H. (2002), Guts and Glory: The Making of the American Military Image in Film (Rev. and expanded ed.), Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, p. 247, ISBN 0813122252.
  2. ^ Munn, Michael (2004), John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth, London: Robson Publishing, pp. 294–295, ISBN 1861057229
  3. ^ The Green Berets - Roger Ebert's Review at rogerebert.com
  4. ^ Stone, Oliver (2001). Platoon DVD commentary (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment.
  5. ^ http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=2918
  6. ^ http://sonobeatrecords.com/sonobeatartists1.html
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