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The Green Berets (film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Berets_%28film%29

The Green Berets is a 1968 film featuring John Wayne, George Takei, David Janssen, Jim Hutton, and Aldo Ray, nominally based on the eponymous 1965 book by Robin Moore, but the screenplay has little relation to the book.

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 southern 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 material from President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The U.S. Army's strict control of the script's depictions and equipment were reasons why Columbia Pictures, (who had bought the book's pre-publication film rights), and producer David L. Wolper, (who also tried to buy the same rights), changed their minds about making The Green Berets themselves.

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 World War II anti-Nazi commando action movie to do so. The film's first scene illustrates that contention when Green Beret tour guides at Fort Benning, Georgia, 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, in pursuit of world domination.

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Plot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Berets_%28film%29#...

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Realism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Berets_%28film%29#...
Although the film portrays the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army as sadistic tyrants, it does, however, show them as a capable and willing enemy that will not go down easy. The film also shows that unlike America's previous wars, this one had no front lines, meaning that the enemy can show up and attack at almost any position. The film also shows the sophisticated spy ring of the VC and NVA, perhaps their greatest asset.

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Glorification of the war
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Berets_%28film%29#...

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Technical errors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Berets_%28film%29#...
The oft quoted criticism that the film closes with the sun "setting in the east" by Da Nang is in fact wrong. Critics presume that the film ends in the evening, while in fact, the penultimate scene is set at night, and the last scene is the helicopters landing in the morning. The final shot shows Wayne and a young Asian boy walking along a coastline with the sun near the horizon in the background. Critics frequently mention this, presuming the movie ends at dusk, rather than dawn, and believe that the sun is setting rather than rising. However, following the movie's timeline, the last shot occurs in the morning, and the sun is correctly understood to be "rising in the east" INCORRECT: the movie's timeline points to dusk, since the team is picked up by helicopters in the afternoon, after performing a Skyhook extraction of a North Vietnamese general. The airfield is on Vietnam's coastline near Da Nang, which faces East. It is, in truth, a colossal error. Also, the scene begins in bright daylight and darkens. When the sun comes up, it gets lighter.).

The story occurs in southern Vietnam, which does not have pine trees, so viewers think it does not resemble Vietnam. If it took place in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, it would be correct as that region does have pine trees and Georgian terrain like that of Fort Benning.

The weapons of the Vietcong guerrillas and NVA soldiers, while mostly American and British, are accurate, as Chinese copies of them were exported to the NVA and Vietcong. At the time, few modern Russian and Chinese assault rifles, i.e. the AK-47, had been captured by the Americans or Hollywood.

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Trivia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Berets_%28film%29#...

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External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Berets_%28film%29#...

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The Green Berets (1968)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063035/

Directors: Ray Kellogg
John Wayne

Writers: James Lee Barrett (screenplay)
Robin Moore (novel)

Cast (Cast overview, first billed only)

John Wayne - Col. Mike Kirby
David Janssen - George Beckworth
Jim Hutton - Sgt. Petersen
Aldo Ray - Sgt. Muldoon
Raymond St. Jacques - Doc McGee
Bruce Cabot - Col. Morgan
Jack Soo - Col. Cai
George Takei - Captain Nim
Patrick Wayne - Lt. Jamison
Luke Askew - Sgt. Provo
Irene Tsu - Lin
Edward Faulkner - Capt. MacDaniel
Jason Evers - Capt. Coleman
Mike Henry - Sgt. Kowalski
Craig Jue - Hamchunk

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