Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Green Berets, The

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Green Berets, The

    Click image for larger version

Name:	green-berets.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	19.8 KB
ID:	385117

    Released by: Warner Brothers
    Released on: January 5, 2010.
    Director: John Wayne, Ray Kellogg
    Cast: John Wayne, David Janssen, Jim Hutton, Aldo Ray, Bruce Cabot, George Takai
    Year: 1968
    Purchase From Amazon


    The Movie:


    Created as a cinematic attempt to sway the anti-war sentiment that was swelling up in America in relation to the Vietnam War, John Wayne's The Green Berets, a film he co-directed and lent his considerable star power to, hasn't held up so well, at least as a serious picture.


    The movie, set in the late sixties, begins
    in North Carolina where a group of reporters bombarding a group of high ranking military big wigs about the Vietnam War and America's involvement. One of the reporters, George Beckworth (David Janssen), the stand out in a group of snarky and smart assed types, is invited by the rough and tough Colonel Mike Kirby (John Wayne) to travel to Vietnam and experience the war for himself. Beckwith agrees, and winds up following Kirby and his team of special missions types to the front.

    As Beckworth sees what the troops are going through, so too does the audience as we witness different raids on enemy encampments. Soon enough, Kirby's troops team up with a group of South Vietnamese soldiers (one of whom is played by a young George Takei) at which point they wind up on some very different missions where they provide medical and humanitarian aid to Vietnamese civilians who are very much in need of it. Of course, they can't go too long without seeing some action, and before you know it they're taking on a sea of encroaching enemy soldiers and kidnapping an enemy commander. While the men make their way through the fields of Vietnam, each one dealing with his own fears and personal issues, Beckwith develops a better understanding of the war and the people who fight in it.


    Possibly one of the most heavy handed war films ever made, The Green Berets is a film that crams patriotism down your throat with a vengeance. While it should (but sadly doesn't always) go without saying that those brave enough to serve their country in the most selfless way possible absolutely deserve the respect of the populace, Wayne's picture only seems to be able to get that across by force. There's no subtlety to the script or the characters, and the whole thing feels like a very thin justification for a war that was instigated and fought under unusual circumstances. The anti-communist stance is ridiculously stoic and so right wing that it's actually a little distracting.


    Once you put the politics aside (and granted, not everyone can or is willing to do that), however, The Green Berets is good fun. The film hasn't aged particularly well and while the picture is nicely shot and benefits from some great production values and a fun cast, most of it plays like high camp by modern standards. The novelty of seeing countless enemies killed on screen in a G rated film ensures some curiosity value (this is quite possibly the most violent G rated film ever!) while the epic scope of the battle scenes are still pretty impressive in their own right. The whole picture is a goofy, disjointed mess but at the same time it's Wayne acting like Wayne and doing his thing. As dated and backwards as it sometimes seems, it is still some good fun.


    Video/Audio/Extras:


    The Green Berets arrives on Blu-ray in a VC-1 encoded 1080p 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that, once you get past the obvious DNR, looks alright. Skin tones are sometimes a little waxy and the digital removal of some of the film's grain does come at the expense of detail in some scenes but the good outweighs the bad even if there's been some room left for improvement. The colors look excellent, you'll see it in the jungle scenes and you'll really notice it when the bombs drop and the explosions rip across the screen. Black levels are good, there aren't any compression artifacts to note, and facial detail looks good, especially in close up shots. Some scenes look softer than others and the scenes that take place in the dark are a bit on the murky side but despite some noticeable ringing throughout the movie, for an older catalog title it looks decent.


    The HD track on this Blu-ray release is a Dolby TrueHD 1.0 Mono track that we can assume approximates the film's intended theatrical sound. It might have been nice to hear the war scenes remixed in surround sound but that didn't happen and you can't really fault WB for presenting the film in its original sound mix, particularly when it sounds just fine like it does on this disc. Dialogue is easy and clear and problem free while the levels are well balanced save for a few scenes where the sound effects bury the performers in the mix. The epic score would have sounded nice spread out across a larger soundstage but even here in the 1.0 presentation it carries some significant weight. No problems with hiss or distortion to report, and if some scenes sound a bit on the flat side compared to more modern productions, so be it. This isn't reference quality by any stretch but it sounds alright.

    Optional standard definition Mono tracks are provided in English, French, German and Spanish while subtitles are provided in English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, German SDH, Greek, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Swedish.


    Extras are slim on this disc, limited to a vintage making of featurette called The Moviemakers that clocks in at about seven minutes in length, and the film's theatrical trailer. Both of these are presented in standard definition. Menus and chapter stops are also included.

    The Final Word:


    The Green Berets is ridiculously dated and not even remotely realistic in terms of its portrayal of the Vietnam War and America's involvement in that war, but it is pretty darn entertaining, particularly if you appreciate John Wayne's dopey screen presence. Warner's presentation won't blow you away but it looks okay even if the extras are light. Is it a classic? Not really, it's more like Platoon's redneck grandfather in that you laugh at it while you question its politics - yet you're still amused by it.

      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X