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The Green Berets Movie Review

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Actors: John Wayne, David Janssen, Aldo Ray, George Takei
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Green Berets
In 1968, the year of Tet and a crescendo of anti-war protests stateside, John Wayne released this film to honor American boys in uniform in Vietnam and what he thought they were doing there. Wayne plays Col. Mike Kirby, who picks two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam to protect a camp the Vietcong are trying to capture, and to kidnap a North Vietnamese general. David Janssen plays journalist George Beckworth, a doubting Thomas who is easily won over to the cause. Although the film has some exciting battle scenes and details Viet Cong atrocities, it portrays a war in which American soldiers never use drugs or kill civilians, the sun sets over the ocean to the east, and the tropical jungle foliage consists largely of pine forests (because the film was largely shot near Fort Benning, Georgia). Some of the special effects and stunt work are laughably bad, but there's a stirring score by Miklos Rosza. Turn off your brain and prepare to watch an old-fashioned World War II western set in Vietnam, and it's a decent flick.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar




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Analysis of The Green Berets
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 30%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%



Time/Era of Movie: - 1960's-1970's
War Thriller Yes
Armed Forces: - Special Forces
Specific to - Vietnam

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - senior military
Age: - 40's-50's
Hair color? - brunette (Brown)
Hair style - short/standard straight (man)
Body type - muscular (man)
Events of movie makes character more... - irritated
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - bulging muscles

Secondary Main Character
Identity: - Male
Hair color - brunette (Brown)
Hair style - (man) short/standard straight
Body type - average build (man)
How much in movie? - 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)

Main Adversary
Identity: - enemy army
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - 20%
Hair color - brunette (Black)
Ethnicity/Nationality - Other Asian

Setting
Asia/Pacific Yes
Asian country: - Southeast Asia
Misc setting - fort/military installation

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately messy visuals of dead
Movie makes you feel... - challenged
How many deaths in film? - dozens
How much use of techno gadgets? - 3 ()
Kind of violence: - land battles - mission to destroy something - mission to protect something - hand to hand - guns - knives
Unusual forms of death - frying (cooking) - impaled - perforation--bullets - perforation--swords/knives
Lot of special effects? Yes
Kinds of F/X - exploding vehicles - exploding bombs
Is this movie based on a - book
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