Well, let me tell you, little feller, about the truth of Vietnam. The military establishment knows exactly what its doing, the South Vietnmanesse are all pro-American and democracy loving and anyone who says otherwise is just a bleeding heart pinko commie!
Although I often criticize movies of a liberal persusion for being preachy, I have never been more proad of my left-wing beliefs than after seeing The Green Berets, a rediculous piece of conservative propaganda. How many fans baby boomer fans did John Wayne loose over this movie?
Wayne plays Colonel Mike Kirby, a commander of the US Army Special Forces, A.KA. the Green Berets. He commands of long list of stereotypical characters from World War II movies. Along with the Berets is George Beckworth (David Janssen), a jaded reporter from the liberal media who is apprehensive about the military. Do you think that over the course of the mission Beckworth will see the truth about the brave herosim of the American cause? There's also a little Vietnamese kid (Craig Jue) who forms a special friendship with one of the soldiers (Luke Askew). You wouldn't think that soldier has a close to 100% chance of dying on the mission to leave a manipulaitve final scene with the kid, do you? As a small ray of sunshine, we have George Takei, Mr. Sulu from Star Trek, as Captain Nim, a South Vietnamese military commander who really, really likes the Americans.
To say that the movie is manipulative and shameless in an understatement. This movie might be used as Exhibit A. to demonstrate why we lost the war. The NVA and Viet Cong attack the Americans because...their sadistic and evil, not because they have a politcal goal. The South Vietnameese army, who in real life felt that they were under an impiralist occupation, is portrayed here as being super pro-red, white and blue. There's also a great scene in which Wayne sumarilly executes a Viet Cong and explains to the disgusted reporter "Out here, due process is a bullet!" What a great message to send to other countries about the values of America!
There is never any sense of psychological realism (the soldiers are rarely scared even in extreamly dangerous situtions), and the movie is racist towards Asians even when it doesn't intend to. Every time the kid appears on screen, we get that "Oriental" brang-brang-brang music that went out of style in the 30's. Finnally, shooting the movie in Georgia (the state, not the country) may not have been such a great idea. This could be just me, but I don't think there are many evergreen trees in Vietnam.
What is really frighting about the film is how little conservative foreign policy has changed since the late 60's. If Americans make military strike, it must be right, not for any logical reason but because it's Americans, damnit! Likewise, anyone who dissents is just weak liberal who hates America.
Although a total wash as a film, I can reccomend The Green Berets as frightning historical document of a public frame of mind, when meta-narrative over reason caused the country to get involve in a conflict it never should have. Oh, and there's the final shot, where the sun sets in the East.
The Green Berets (1968)