The Green Berets
Short description
The Green Berets follows Colonel Mike Kirby, who assembles two teams of elite Special Forces soldiers for missions in South Vietnam. One assignment involves reinforcing and defending an outpost under enemy pressure, while the other sends the men on a risky operation to capture a North Vietnamese general. A skeptical journalist accompanies the soldiers, giving the film a civilian viewpoint on the war.
John Wayne directed the film alongside Ray Kellogg. It was his second directorial effort, following The Alamo in 1960. Wayne also stars as Colonel Kirby, with David Janssen, Jim Hutton, Aldo Ray, Raymond St. Jacques and Bruce Cabot among the credited cast of 25. James Lee Barrett wrote the screenplay, and Michael Wayne produced the film for Batjac Productions.
Made for about 7 million US dollars, the film returned roughly 22 million worldwide, a multiple of its budget that indicates commercial success. Audiences have been less enthusiastic over time: on IMDb it holds a rating of 5.6 from around 15,000 votes, and on TMDB the rating is 5.7 from about 195 votes, suggesting a modest reception rather than enduring acclaim.
What's left behind the scenes
- Based on the work by Robin Moore.
- In reality, a significant portion of war correspondents initially supported the US government and its involvement in the Vietnam War, but subsequently changed their opinions to the opposite, especially after traveling to Vietnam on assignment and seeing everything that was happening there with their own eyes.
- In 1967, director and actor John Wayne wrote a letter to US President Lyndon Johnson of the Democratic Party requesting assistance in filming a movie about the Vietnam War. The US Department of Defense had already provided assistance to filmmakers on the films “Sands of Iwo Jima” (Allan Dwan, 1949) and “The Longest Day” (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck, 1962). Jack Valenti, then president of the Motion Picture Association of America, supported his request in a personal conversation with Johnson. Johnson ordered that assistance be provided in working on the film, and “The Green Berets” – one of the most controversial films of all time – was born.
- Some of the Vietnamese village sets were so realistic that they were not dismantled after filming, and were subsequently used for training troops destined for Vietnam.
- The film crew received full support from the Pentagon, which allowed them to feature aircraft and helicopters actually used in Vietnam, absent from many later films on this topic.
- Merwin LeRoy later recounted that he was approached by producers and asked to help John Wayne with directing. LeRoy agreed, but on the condition that Wayne himself ask him to do so. Wayne did ask, and LeRoy became the film's third director, though his name was not mentioned in the credits.
- The Vietnamese representing opposing armies in the film are armed with single-shot rifles. Automatic weapons are practically absent from the film. This was indeed the case in the early period of the Vietnam War, and many Viet Cong had weapons from World War II manufactured by Britain or the United States, acquired from the Chinese. The AK-74 assault rifle began to appear only in the mid-1960s, but there were few of them in Hollywood prop stores, so they were not used as props.
- The character of Colonel Mike Kirby, played by John Wayne, is based on Lauri Törni, a captain in the Finnish army who participated in the Winter War (the conflict between the USSR and Finland, 1939-1940) and the so-called Continuation War (the Soviet-Finnish War, 1941-1944), and later served in the Vietnam War as part of the US Army.
- During filming, Aldo Ray's fondness for alcohol was a constant problem. Sometimes it came to the point where other actors had to deliver some of his lines.
- The management of Warner Bros. had some doubts about approving John Wayne as the director of the film due to the box office failure of his previous directorial effort – the adventure drama 'The Alamo' (1960), which cost the studio a substantial sum. Therefore, he was allowed to direct only on the condition that a second director be present on set, and Ray Kellogg was appointed to this position. Previously, Kellogg had only directed 'B' movies, but had already proven himself as a second unit director on several major projects.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
