I don't see the problem. Most war films are propaganda. Duke made his to honor the men over there, who caught nothing but grief back home. The critics hated the "propaganda" movie, but the public came out and made it a success.
It was easy to make patriotic films about World War II because the majority of Americans thought their country was on the right side.
In the Vietnam War that was clearly not the case.
The main problem was that John Wayne tried to make a World War II-style propaganda film about the Vietnam War.
Display MoreI would agree that this is a solid, well-acted movie, and the heck with the critics!
While many people in the United States felt we were doing the right thing going into Vietnam, and helping them combat Communism, not many realized how much effort was really made by our military to help the Vietnamese and not just kill them. John Wayne did his best in this movie to try to convey that message.
Chester
P.S. Available at, among other places,
Amazon
Deep Discount DVD (cheaper again!! :lol: )
The US invasion of Vietnam was illegal under international law, as it violated Chapter VII of the United Nations' Charter.
They probably would have had a harder time getting the armed services to help out as much as they did, had not Duke been a major part in the film. I agree that some of the actors didn't look the part, but that is Hollywood. I never let stuff like that ruin a good film for me.
Mark
Surely the army was glad to see any pro-military film made about the Vietnam War? The anti-war protests were well underway by 1967.
It might have been better with a younger actor like Chuck Connors playing the lead role, but they probably could not have got funding without Wayne.
A major criticism of the film was the fact that most of the actors were far too old and unfit to portray Green Berets.
Display MoreI would agree that this is a solid, well-acted movie, and the heck with the critics!
While many people in the United States felt we were doing the right thing going into Vietnam, and helping them combat Communism, not many realized how much effort was really made by our military to help the Vietnamese and not just kill them. John Wayne did his best in this movie to try to convey that message.
Chester
P.S. Available at, among other places,
Amazon
Deep Discount DVD (cheaper again!! :lol: )
Many felt the US invasion of Vietnam was illegal under international law as it violated Chapter VII of the United Nations' Charter.
