The Green Berets (1968)

Film of 2012 #34

This is a Vietnam propaganda film co-directed by John Wayne, who is also the main star of this film, filmed in 1968 it was filmed at the height of the time when the US public were highly opposed to the war. You can clearly see that the film makers were in support of the soldiers that were fighting. You have the North Vietnamese portrayed as bloodthirsty animals that slaughter men women and children. There are a couple of cases where they are really quite unsubtle, as the audience you are pulled in through the reporter George Beckworth played by David Janssen and he starts the film opposed to the war and at the end you see him sign up based on what he sees while following the Green Berets. 

This is not a particularly great film there are several scenes throughout that make you hate the North and love the South and you know that the Americans are doing a great job. They are in a country that they do not really want to be in and at the time I am sure there was some good chest thumping going on and possibly some increase in voluntary sign ups. Out of it's time more than 30 years after the war ended it has lost some of it's impact and to be honest it really is out of place. Like TV serials that can no longer be shown due to the racial words that were seen as acceptable at the time but no longer acceptable. I think that this film should be relegated as a historical look at what Hollywood were doing to support the soldiers in Vietnam. 

Overall if you are interested in war films and seeing what they could do with them as propaganda then go for it, if you were looking for a balanced look at the Vietnam war then avoid this. The acting and set pieces are fine if a bit forced and I will give this 2 stars, there is a role for George Takei in the film.

King Kong (1933)

Considering that this film is nearly 80 years old, it still stands up to today's exacting standards, yes some of the effects are a bit dodgy and really the stop motion that they use is dated and you can see the strings and you can tell how some of the effects are done but overall you have to remember that these effects were done in a different time period when things were done properly.

Reading up after watching this film this was actually a risque film, at the time this was made there were little to no rules about what you could show on film. Reading the history of the film from the cuts that were made to being restored it is a snap shot of where we have been with films. Overall this film is excellent you care about the characters and Kong who is the star of this film you care so much about what is happening to him and even though you know the end and you know where it is going you still hold your breath while he scales the tower.

I would say that this is a five star film that everybody who cares about film should at least try and watch once, it is also good if yo have seen the Peter Jackson film from 2005 you will see where he takes lots of his inspiration.