The Green Berets and Vietnam Era Movies

War Movies With Political Perspectives on America's Longest Conflict

Jan 2, 2009

Vietnam-themed movies began as a patriotic apologetic for the war, transformed the genre into anti-war and critical stories, and ended as objective documentaries.

The Green Berets was produced and released in 1968. Starring John Wayne, the epitome of American strength and honor at that time, The Green Berets gave a rationale for American involvement in Vietnam. 1968 was the year of the Tet Offensive, a political and psychological victory for North Vietnamese Communists. It was also the year of the Battle for Hue and the My Lai Massacre. But the ballad of the Green Berets, popularized in the film, would soon be overshadowed by criticism of the war as subsequent movies and popular music challenged American views regarding Communism.

By the time the Vietnam War ended in 1975, Americans had heard hundreds of anti-war pop and folk songs and watched several Vietnam themed movies. It was the decade of the 1980s, however, that produced the most films about Vietnam, at least 190. By the 1990s this number began to decrease to just over 118 with many of those offerings falling into the documentary genre. Since the start of the twenty-first century, a scant dozen movies were produced, again primarily documentary with the notable exception of We Were Soldiers.

We Were Soldiers was released March 1, 2002 and told the story of the 7th Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam in 1965. This was the year after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that gave President Johnson a virtual “blank check” of executive power to escalate the war in Vietnam and commit hundreds of thousands of US soldiers. We Were Soldiers premiered the year after President Bush received similar powers via Congressional resolutions to conduct the war in Afghanistan that began October 7, 2001. Various books written about the early years of the Bush administration, like Scott McClellan’s What Happened, intimate that the invasion of Iraq was already on the table.

Popular movies addressing significant events, such as the Vietnam War, often tell the story through the prism of contemporary events. Thus, John Wayne’s Green Berets appealed to millions of Americans that, in 1968, sympathized with such slogans as “Better Dead than Red” or “America, Love it or Leave it.” These conservative Americans elected Richard Nixon in 1968, albeit by a slim lead in popular votes. Eventually, the long debacle in Southeast Asia changed the views of Americans and this became evident not only in voting habits but also through the lens of Hollywood.

Apocalypse Now was released in 1979, Platoon in 1986, and Full Metal Jacket in 1987, the same year as Good Morning Vietnam. These films represent some of the best Vietnam movies and each of them criticized the war from a different perspective. The proliferation of these movies coincided with the presidency of Ronald Reagan, a Cold Warrior determined to end the standoff with the USSR.

Vietnam movies may have been motivated by the desire to remind Americans of the futility of wars like Vietnam that began because of abject fears of Communist expansion. But most Americans in the 1980s had put Vietnam behind them, focusing on building national and personal prosperity. Reagan was trusted and highly supported.

We Were Soldiers only received one award from the ASCAP (Music Awards) and was not one of the top ten grossing films released in 2002. This may be indicative of the change in viewer tastes, particularly regarding Vietnam as a subject. Even sporadic comparisons of Vietnam with the War in Iraq failed to produce new movies designed to spark American awareness and draw parallels.

Winter Soldier, the controversial 1972 documentary, was re-released in 2005, but only saw limited appeal. Perhaps because the Cold War is now part of history, Vietnam themed movies have lost their general appeal. As Hollywood responds to current American concerns, new genres will, no doubt, find expression in future screenplays.

Source:

Lary May, The Big Tomorrow: Hollywood and the Politics of the American Way Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000)

The copyright of the article The Green Berets and Vietnam Era Movies in Modern US History is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish The Green Berets and Vietnam Era Movies in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.