The Green Berets

Name: The Green Berets
Genre: War, Drama
Released: 1968-07-04
Duration: 2 h 22 min
Rating: 5.6
Cast: John Wayne, David Janssen, Jim Hutton, Aldo Ray, Raymond St. Jacques

A special force in a special kind of hell!

The Green Berets (1968)

Timing: 2:22 (142 min)

5.6/10
15 735

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5.7/10
193

5.6/10
15000

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Everything about the movie

Video 4

Photo 26

Actors and characters

Video for the film The Green Berets — The Green Berets (1968) - Trailer

2:55

Photo 26

Release date

Country

Production

Genre

Budget

$7 000 000

Box office

$21 707 027

Website

Director

John Wayne, Ray Kellogg

Actors

John Wayne, David Janssen, Jim Hutton, Aldo Ray, Raymond St. Jacques, Bruce Cabot, Jack Soo, George Takei, Patrick Wayne, Luke Askew
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Michael Wayne

Camera operator

Winton C. Hoch

Composer

Miklós Rózsa

Artist

Walter M. Simonds

Audition

Editing

Otho Lovering
Whole Team (19)

Short description

Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for two missions in South Vietnam. The first is to strengthen a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy. The second is to kidnap a North Vietnamese General.

What's left behind the scenes

Based on the work by Robin Moore.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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.
During filming, Aldo Ray's addiction to alcohol was a constant problem. At times, it reached the point where some of his lines had to be spoken by other actors.
In 1967, director and actor John Wayne wrote a letter to US President Lyndon B. 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 for 'Sands of Iwo Jima' (Allan Dwan, 1949) and 'The Longest Day' (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck, 1962). His request was supported during a private conversation with Johnson by Jack Valenti, the then-president of the Motion Picture Association of America. Johnson ordered that assistance be provided, resulting in 'The Green Berets'—one of the most controversial films of all time.
John Wayne's character, Colonel Mike Kirby, was based on Lauri Törni, a captain in the Finnish army who fought 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.
The management of Warner Bros. had some doubts about appointing John Wayne as the film's director due to the box office failure of his previous directorial effort, the adventure drama 'The Alamo' (1960), which cost the studio a significant sum. Consequently, he was only allowed to direct on the condition that he agree to the presence of a second director on set, and Ray Kellogg was appointed to the position. Previously, Kellogg had only filmed B-movies, but he had already proven himself as a second director on several major projects.
Mervyn LeRoy later recalled that producers approached him and asked him to help John Wayne with the directing. LeRoy agreed, but only on the condition that Wayne ask him personally. Wayne did so, and LeRoy became the film's third director, although his name was not mentioned in the credits.