I didn't make up a BINGO-style scorecard, but I did have a little list of things I expected to see and hear while watching John Wayne's The Green Berets. While talking to conservative-minded friends about the movie, more than a couple have responded immediately with something along the lines of, "that one's kind of embarrassing, huh?"

The condescending manner in which Wayne's Col. Mike Kirby tries to inculcate David Janssen's reporter George Beckworth with "true" patriotism would be infuriating if it weren't hilariously shortsighted. Wayne's Vietnam "epic" is full of racism, arch-conservatism, and peppered with plenty of rah-rah sentiment about US involvement in Vietnam for good measure. The flaws don't end there: entire shots dip in and out of focus, a Georgia plantation house is used as a major set piece, and the sun sets in the east at the end. The movie is important in the realm of military movies relative to the historical record because the situation as Wayne would have it painted contrasted wildly with things that were and had been happening while they were shooting Georgia doubling for Vietnam.

George Takei's performance here as the helpful native came on the heels of his saying goodbye to playing Sulu the first time. It's nice to see him doing something aside from a TV series, but this material is terribly beneath him, as it is below the great Aldo Ray. Warner's Blu-ray of The Green Berets came out back on 5 January and includes the trailer and a vintage making-of featurette in addition to the feature. The vintage featurette trumpets Wayne as if he's the man's man for the job when it comes to telling the story of Vi-et-nam. I watched it twice. The transfer is as good as the source would allow.