The Green Berets (movie)

The Green Berets is the title of a 1968 film starring John Wayne and featuring George Takei, David Janssen, Jim Hutton, and Aldo Ray.

Related Topics:
1968 film - John Wayne - George Takei - David Janssen - Jim Hutton - Aldo Ray

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The Green Berets has a strong patriotic and pro-Saigon theme, which resonates throughout the movie. The movie was produced at the height of the Vietnam War, during the same year as the infamous Tet offensive which, while militarily successful for the United States, was a great propaganda defeat. It was the atmosphere of growing discontent with the war that prompted many to make a film countering the anti-war message.

Related Topics:
Vietnam War - Tet offensive

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The movie justifies America's involvement in what it describes as "a global crusade against communist domination of the world". It illustrates the point, by showing the Soviet- and Chinese-made weapons, which were commonly issued to NVA and VC soldiers.

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Even those that disagree with the film's politics must recognize that it is a unique cultural artifact. The hopeful spirit of the movie ends with a subtle reassurance that South Vietnam will be victorious. It also ends with a famous scene of Wayne walking into the sunset with a young orphan and the message, "You're what this war's all about!"

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As of 2005, the film remains one of the few major Hollywood films that portrays the War positively; thus, it provides a stark contrast to other movies made after North Vietnam's victory, including Born on the Fourth of July, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and In Country which were characteristically dark and pessimistic about the American presence in the War. ("The winners get to write the history books".)

Related Topics:
As of 2005 - Born on the Fourth of July - Apocalypse Now - Platoon - Full Metal Jacket - In Country

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