Screenplay:
James Lee BarrettCinematography:
Winton C. HochComposer:
Miklós RózsaCast:
John Wayne, David Janssen, Jim Hutton, Aldo Ray, Raymond St. Jacques, Bruce Cabot, Jack Soo, George Takei, Patrick Wayne, Luke Askew, Jason Evers, Richard Pryor (more)Plots(1)
One of the first American films specifically about the Vietnam War was also one of the most hawkish, offering a pro-intervention perspective at the height of the conflict. Filmed along the conventions of a World War II action drama, a gung-ho colonel battles the vicious Viet Cong while protecting innocent civilians, befriending an orphaned boy, and reforming a liberal newspaperman's misguided political views. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
This is what happens when, to support pro-war propaganda, you use the forests of North America in the fall to represent the impenetrable jungle of Vietnam and when you cast a pudgy, fifty-one-year-old John Wayne in a role which makes even Rambo look like a sniveling coward. And they meant this deadly seriously. But that is what makes this a perfect, although unintentional comedy. ()
This is truly a weak war film. It is unnecessarily drawn out without much of a story to tell. The individual characters are pseudo-dramatic and comedic, which is a shame, especially the humor in certain cases, and the color doesn't suit it well either. It's simply just a war film that happens to have John Wayne. ()