The Green Berets (1968, G)

John Wayne directed and starred in this pic, purely to clarify his political stance on the Vietnam War and to get his message to the audience.  Wayne was trying to raise awareness for the American cause in Vietnam.  I'm into politics, but I generally don't like to go into political stuff in my reviews.  I'll just mention that I supported the American involvement in Vietnam, and I thought it was wrong how American citizens mistreated and scorned at veterans.  Honestly though, the Green Berets is probably the most boring and uninteresting film you will ever watch on the Vietnam War, and as such can't do much to change anybody's feelings about the actions taken in Nam.

Wayne had the directing expeirence in his epic western-war film the Alamo, and he certainly had the acting expierence.  He was ready for this movie on all levels, the problem is that he had been in too many westerns to make this film convining at all.

The Green Berets feels like a western in Vietnam, with the US Army troops the cowboys and the North Vientamese communists the Indians.  This is a war film that plays out like a childish cowboys and Indians adventure.

Even so, the movie is not without some high marks, such as when Wayne's lead character tells a reporter, "out here, due process is a bullet!"  There are one or two scenes at least where Wayne goes on a monologue to talk about how oppressive the Communists are to their own people.  That raises some awareness about the situations in Vietnam, I would think.

And yet, what the Green Berets really fails on is in emphazing the horrible living conditions the American soldiers went through.  The movie portrays the battles as epic, dramatic and coordinated.  That's just like a cowboys and Indians movies.  The Indians surprise attack, about to overcome the last cowboy defenses, and then the cavalry rides in to save the day.  The Green Berets is utterly a failure in showing the harsh realities of the war.  It just does a moderately good job of explaining it.  That's all there is to talk about.

                                      ** ½ /5