Die grünen Teufel

He was one of the original team that captured the general. He climbed up on the balcony and let the rope down...Does that validate that part of the movie enough....He also said the part of the little boy never existed....He watched with tears in his eyes because some of his team did not return from that mission alive....Be kinda careful when you criticize things. These guys did not ask to be sent over there...They were sent over there....He did not appreciate getting yelled child killer when he returned either. They were basically good soldiers doing all they could to stay alive....He had may years of Viet Nam syndrome after returning to civilian life....Never got anything from the government nor expected anything....He did his duty and returned.....

At no time in the final scene is the time of day ever indicated. The scene was filmed on a beach near Fort Bragg, North Carolina on the Atlantic Ocean so it HAD TO BE a RISING sun and not a setting sun. (The scene does not last long enough to show any motion of the sun in either direction anyway!) Since Kirby's team had just been extracted from deep in hostile territory, it is more likely than not that they would have been extracted at night, arriving back at the base at dawn.

The sneering criticisms of this scene by left-wing critics are a perfect example of how far out of the way they went to find fault with this film.

Col. Mike Kirby (John Wayne who traveled to Vietnam in June 1966 and got the idea to make this picture about the army special forces on that trip) picks two teams of crack Green Berets ( Aldo Ray , George Takei , Jim Hutton , Edward Faulkner , Raymond St Jacques , Patrick Wayne , John's son , among others) from U.S. Special Forces troops for a mission in South Vietnam . Being accompanied by cynical War correspondent George Beck (David Janssen) briefing about the American military involvement in the war in Vietnam . First off is to build and control a camp that is attempting to be taken by the Viet Cong , the second assignment is to Kirby and a select group of his men are then ordered on a special mission to capture a high-level enemy Colonel .

This exciting wartime picture contains thrills , violence , noisy action , breathtaking battles and absurd situations . Don't miss the ending scene where the sun sets in the East , including a patriotic as well as famous music . Nice acting by John Wayne , as usual , he was prompted to make the film as a response to the growing anti-Vietnam War movement in the US . John Wayne's character , Col. Mike Kirby, is based on the real-life Lauri Törni, who later on called himself Larry Thorne . The latter was a Finnish army captain who fought in the Second World War during the Winter War (1939-40) and Continuation War (1941-44) against the Soviet Union . He emigrated to the US in the late 1940s and in 1954 joined the US Army . Very good support cast , plenty of familiar faces such as Jim Hutton , Aldo Ray , Raymond St. Jacques , Bruce Cabot , Patrick Wayne , Edward Faulkner and Luke Askew . The film was panned by reviewers , general public and many soldiers serving in Vietnam found the film offensive . Being partially based on real events , as 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 attacked a small outpost in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam . Even George Takei (he missed nine episodes of Star Trek) has admitted in interviews that while he was grateful to be cast in this film , he nevertheless strongly disagreed with the film's pro-war message and felt the finished movie was very bad . Green Berets was released soon after the Tet Offensive and the My Lai Massacre getting negative critiques , too . However , a lot of critics deemed this war film much better than its reputation would suggest . Possibly due to the film's extremely lousy critical reactions , it's been a long-held belief by many people that it was also a box-office flop . Actually , it was one of John Wayne's biggest box-office successes , attracting millions of moviegoers and ending up being the 13th highest grossing movie of 1968.

Colorful cinematography in Panavision by Winton Hoch , filmed on location in Columbus, Georgia , and Ft. McClellen, Alabama . Much of the film was shot in 1967 at Ft. Benning, Georgia, hence the large pine forests in the background rather than tropical jungle trees . Good production design , 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 . Impressive and rousing musical score by Miklós Rózsa , similarly composed to previous epics as Ben Hur , King of Kings , El Cid . Lavishly produced by Batjac , Wayne's company and Warner Bros was concerned about letting John Wayne direct the movie because of the fact that his previous directorial effort , El Alamo (1960), had been an expensive flop . They therefore only agreed to let him do the film if he agreed to co-direct with a more experienced director, and Wayne chose Ray Kellogg . The studio agreed, despite Kellogg's only having ever directed a few "B" pictures such as : ¨The Giant Gila Monster , My dog buddy , The killer shrews¨ , because of his impressive track record as a second unit director on a number of major studio releases . Being John Wayne's final war film , although Undefeated (1969) and Río Lobo (1970) contained some war scenes .

The only thing wrong with this movie was that John Wayne's character, COL Kirby, was not Ranger qualified.

Forget the trite lines and poor special effects. Viewers who criticize this film for not having a meaning or realism miss its point. This was John Wayne giving support to the troops the best way he knew how- by making a patriotic John Wayne movie. Nobody ever criticized Bob Hope for entertaining the troops, so why pan the Duke for doing the same? This movie was no more borish or weak than the Saturday morning serials we used to cheer in the 30s, 40s and 50s. If you want a deeper message see The Searchers (and if you look closely, you WILL see some parallels...)

North Vietnam and the VC had great PR throughout the war---they managed to dupe most of the world into believing they were peace loving victims of Western imperialism. For some reason, the press never focussed on their use of cold terror and outright mass murder to force their aims on the people of RVN. People forget that we were not in Vietnam to save Vietnam; we were there to stem the tide of world wide communist expansion. We didn't lose in 1975; we won in 1989 when the Wall came down.

So John Wayne's "The Green Berets" was a little schmaltzy. Warm beer tastes flat, but better than no beer. The actors' roles, on both sides, were caricatures of their respective types.

I saw this movie when I was stationed on Okinawa in 1969. Everyone cheered, no one whined. No civilian I ever met liked it. So what? Regardless of politics, most Americans who served in Southeast Asia did so honorably. This is an honorable movie.

"The Green Berets" clearly follows the genre of war movies for which John Wayne is famous. While the movie is purely an action adventure it nevertheless has its merits. It does not depict the horrors and suffering of war but it does inspire through the heroism of its characters. It makes the same kind of social and political statement that John Wayne's World War II movies make. Many people pan the picture as simply a piece of propaganda but there is always a place for such films. We forget that stories and movies such as this inspire a sense of courage, duty and patriotism. When the movie was released the green beret had taken a seat next to the coon skin cap and cowboy hat. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt us as a society to have more heroes like those depicted in The Green Berets.

What was Vietnam truly like? I personally do not know but have learned that it always depends on who you ask. I have met a number of Vietnam veterans and each has a different story to tell. The Vietnamese soldier I am told was no better or worse than the American soldier. Those that look down on the Vietnamese soldiers probably looked down on the Vietnamese people as a whole. One former army ranger who served two tours of duty in Vietnam said they were some of the toughest soldiers he had ever seen. I have also read accounts that the elite units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (rangers, paratroopers, marines) were indeed very courageous and fierce soldiers. As for the Vietcong and North Vietnamese, they were without a doubt brutal and cold blooded. As one posted comment noted "The Killing Fields" depicts the kind of cruelty that the Vietcong practiced. They were no different than the Khmer Rouge as a few Vietnamese I have met have told me.

One thing all Vietnam veterans have in common is a sense of frustration about how the war was fought. Why did we lose the Vietnam war? Perhaps because we never really fought to win.