The Green Berets (1968)

John Wayne's pro Vietnam War movie feels like a film in denial, both on the realities of the Vietnam War as well as on what constitutes an engaging viewing experience. Nominally based on a 1965 book by Robin Moore the film has been described as a sort of World War II movie in Vietnam clothing, and while such a description isn't 100% accurate it does capture the essence of this film, it does not feel quite real, almost as if it comes from another dimension or is about a different war. Wayne is an Army colonel given command over FOB near "the border" in South Vietnam, the two big action sequences are an enemy siege on the base, and after that Wayne leading his men on a secret mission to kidnap a North Vietnam general, these sequences play almost like two different movies. Worse still when there is no shooting going on its almost unspeakably boring. David Janssen appears in the film as perhaps the only American reporter to go to Vietnam as a skeptic of the war and come back a supporter, and all the other Americans in the film are squeaky clean.This production also made the mistake of filming mostly in Georgia, you should not film your Vietnam War movie in Georgia, Georgia looks nothing like Vietnam, it is not a jungle place, in a few shots you can see the leaves on the trees starting to show their fall colors. Roger Ebert put this film on his "Most Hated" list but perhaps the best summation of The Green Berets comes from Renata Adler writing in the New York Times "It is vile and insane. On top of that, it is dull." *