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terriannjohnson
Reviews
The Green Berets (1968)
excellent action film
politics aside the green berets is an excellent action and war picture -yes its dated,yes its campy,yes its sometimes cheesy and borders on the unrealistic-the helicopter crash for example and unbelievable-But i still like this movie-and i am not really a fan of john Wayne,but i find this film to be one of his best war movies-if not the best.after doing some research on this film i discovered that the some parts of the film-the gung-ho speeches at the start, the fire base,the ruthlessness of the Viet Cong,the boobytraps,and the fire fights were pretty accurate portrayals.john Wayne actually asked president Johnson for the army's technical assistance and after looking over the script told Wayne he would have what he needed,the film was shot at Georgia's fort benning in the summer and fall of 1967.But be warned the second half of the films trumped up Vietnamese matahari secret commando mission is pure Hollywood hokum from another era and reeks of old cheese and is strangely remaniscent of the mission from the dirty dozen.
Rough Riders (1997)
excellent film
this is an excellent film that most have never heard of because it was made for TV (turner)and never shown in the theater.not much to add except that the film sheds light on the short and little known 1898 Spanish-American war which while trumped up by the media(newspaper publisher William Randolph Hurst played superbly by George Hamilton)catapulted the up until then isolationist united states on to the world stage for the first time and which gave the united states control of Spanish territories around the globe-Cuba,Puerto Rico the Philippines,wake island,Guam and the Marshall islands.and allowing the united states to flex its military might globally for the first time.there are some historical inaccuracies(such as the imperial German army advisor's aiding the Spanish, director john milius also made the turn of the century imperial Germans the bad guys in his 1975 film THE WIND AND THE LION in which Brian Keith played teddy Roosevelt as president during an international incident resolved by his big stick diplomacy-sending the marines.if you liked rough riders see the wind and the lion.
The Ballad of Andy Crocker (1969)
excellent early returning Viet Nam vet movie.
i first saw this movie as a child in the early 70s,and saw it again for the first time since recently on tape,it is as relevant to a new generation and war today as it was to the "Nam"generation over 30 years ago.lee majors is excellent as the disaffected veteran who returns to a crumbled former life back home and has trouble adjusting to civilian life.also look for Marvin Gaye in a rare acting role.this low budget TV movie is as good as other returning vet movies that came later in the 70s-the deer hunter and coming home,i like this movie it shows the problems of the returning war veterans and the obstacle's that they faced.even more surprising is that this movie was released as a TV movie while the united states was still deeply involved militarily in southeast Asia.this film deserves a fresh look today with veterans returning home from a new war-to the same old problems.