Review of The Green Berets (1968) by Richard D — 23 Jul 2016
This is often knocked for being a propaganda film. It certainly is. It's decidedly on the side of American intervention in Vietnam and makes no bones about it. I don't think that's automatically a bad thing.
Many films made on the other side of this issue are propaganda films in exactly the same sense and they aren't criticized for being so. I don't agree with this film's politics, but I don't have to agree with a film's agenda to be entertained by it (see just about every film Chuck Norris ever made).
This is also a ridiculously old fashioned film. It feels like a film made during WWII, and by 1968, that made it a relic. Even films that were not critical of war had moved on by this time. I don't think that's particularly a problem either.
If a film is well-made, I can forgive it being a nostalgia piece. The problem I have with this film is that it's really not a well-made film. There are huge suspension of belief issues as it is very clearly shot in California, which looks nothing like Vietnam to say the least.
(The closing shot of the film famously has the sun setting over the Ocean.) Worse than that, it's just an awkward clunker of a film that pushes an agenda without really bothering to entertain. A good cast .
.. Luke Askew, Jack Soo, George Takei ... gamely try to sell this nonsense, but all utterly fail.
This review of The Green Berets (1968) was written by Richard D on 23 Jul 2016.
The Green Berets has generally received mixed reviews.
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