Warner Home Video has released John Wayne's
The Green Berets on Blu-ray. Wayne stirred up a hornet's nest among his political opponents when he released the film in 1968 at the height of the protest movement against the Vietnam War. After his 1966 visit to Vietnam to bolster the spirits of American troops, the Duke wanted to make a statement in support of the U.S. involvement in the war. He felt so strongly about the subject that he directed the movie as well as starred in it. (Ray Kellogg directed most of the major action scenes.)
The film remains one of only two films the Duke directed, the other being his 1960 epic The Alamo. Predictably, the movie caused a firestorm of protest, as it was released just when calls for withdrawing from the conflict were picking up steam. Most critics wrote the film off as hopelessly inept from an artistic standpoint. Indeed, Wayne employed every cliche imaginable and the script seemed to have been left on a shelf since the WWII era. There is the lovable company scrounger (Jim Hutton) who unofficially adopts a doe-eyed orphan kid and other key characters are actually named Kowalski and Muldoon.Wayne does address the political controversies of the era, but the opposing viewpoint of the war is seen through diatribes of another cliched character, a liberal reporter played by David Janssen. Wayne's simplistic outlook on the conflict is represented by his answer to Janssen's complaint that due process of law is not being followed. Wayne's Colonel Kirby tells him, "Out here, due process is a bullet."
Despite the plethora of simplified political views, the film is still engaging as entertainment, thanks to an impressive cast that includes Raymond St. Jacques, Aldo Ray, George Takei, former Tarzan Mike Henry, Irene Tsu and Jack Soo. Wayne stock company members Bruce Cabot and Ed Faulkner also appear. The movie was rejected by every major studio, until Wayne browbeat Jack Warner into financing part of the production, along with his own Batjac Productions. Costs were cut by filming at Fort Benning, Georgia, which makes for a surprisingly effective faux Vietnam. Even at this point in his career, Wayne remained a towering screen presence and provides the glue that holds the weaker elements of the movie together. The action sequences are particularly effective. Wayne and Warners had the last laugh, as the movie went on to appeal to what Spiro Agnew would call "The Silent Majority" and become one of the top boxoffice hits of the year. Wayne struck at the right time, for within a few years, even the right wing saw the writing on the wall as the corrupt and inefficient South Vietnam government and army seemed destined to collapse. By the time President Nixon brought down the curtain on the conflict, few on either side of the political spectrum were bemoaning the decision.
It's impossible to watch the movie today without bringing in your own political perspectives and tie them into our present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Conservatives can point out their beliefs that even back in '68 those dreaded liberals were sending our troops into battle with one hand tied behind their backs in terms of having to fight by rules the enemy didn't abide by. In turn, liberals can argue that most of their warnings about the war destined to end in failure were ultimately proven to be true and that America's strength on the battlefield is always compromised when we fight wars against cultures we don't understand. Either way, Wayne's simplistic film, ironically, now provides plenty of fodder for intellectual debate.
Warner's Blu-ray release looks magnificent but one is frustrated by the fact that it isn't a special edition. Surely, this would have been a great opportunity to have critics or scholars debate the merits of the film and its politics. (There is also a lost sequence with Vera Miles as Wayne's wife that would have been great to present, if it still exists.) The Blu-ray does boast a vintage production featurette, that Wayne fans will find very entertaining. A theatrical trailer is also included.
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