Two Contrasting Movies about the Vietnam War: Go Tell the Spartans and The Green Berets

Was it best for the American audience to view a sugary, childlike Vietnam War? Or should have the American audience seen the Vietnam War in a sincerely meat-and-bones kind of manner? This paper chronicles two contrasting American-made movies from the Vietnam War era. The first of the two is titled The Green Berets. This movie truly symbolizes a puffed up Hercules on some sort of delusive head trip. It screams out, "This is a Hollywood production!" The other movie is titled Go Tell The Spartans. Thankfully, there is a realistic approach brought to this movie. It has a very nitty gritty sense of awareness about what is really the heart of the Vietnam War (or any war, for that matter): the people. These are the soldiers fighting in the battle as well as the people living in the war land.

The Green Berets' main man in the beginning is Master Sergeant Maldune. He is shown in the early on in the movie answering questions from an audience which included newspaper reporters and the families of those in the military. Maldune quickly answers any question with a swift dose of false heroism. One quickly gets the message that the United States military is better than Superman, and any concerns are lame and unpatriotic. Cut to the beginning of Go Tell The Spartans. Its head honcho is Major Barker. He is not out wasting time with public relations. No, Barker is making some serious decisions about the selection of field troops. He doesn't seek to paint pretty flowers over enemy land mines; there is no time for such arrogance. Major Barker is one tough soldier who can be counted on when the going gets rough.

Another contrast between the two movies can be noticed in their beginnings. Both movies also introduce the other major cast members: the soldiers. The soldiers of The Green Berets stand at attention, have chiseled cheekbones, and speak exotic foreign languages. Nevermind that only one soldier could speak Vietnamese. These soldiers seemed like plastic Ken dolls. All that was needed to make this scene complete was Barbie giving each of these Ken dolls a great big kiss for good luck.

The way that Go Tell The Spartans introduces their soldiers is incredibly different. First of all, the soldiers walk in one by one to see Major Barker in his office. You can get a sense of what makes these guys tick. Barker is concerned with what they can bring to the field. These soldiers are not droids like the soldiers introduced in The Green Berets. No, these men are characters that an audience can sympathize with and cheer for. I was able to learn each soldier's rank, name, and war experience. There was 2nd Lieutenant Hamilton; he's all about duty and honoring the United States. Hamilton came across as a pretty decent soldier, but just wet behind the ears. Another one was Sergeant Oleonowski; he served with Major Barker in the Korean War. His persona was that of a burnt-out, but tough veteran. There was also Corporal Lincoln; he had been stationed in Saigon, but hadn't seen any action. And then there was Courcey. Corporal Courcey was a soldier who Major Barker couldn't seem to figure out. See, Courcey was a soldier who actually volunteered to go to Vietnam. And if a soldier volunteers, then that means his tour of duty in Vietnam will automatically be longer. (What kind of man would want that?)

That last thought brings me to another contrast between these two movies. Colonel of The Green Berets talked about bravery and seemed to encouraged soldiers to be gung ho about fighting. Major Barker didn't talk of any baloney nonsense. Maybe that's why he was so puzzled by Corporal Courcey's eagerness to tour Vietnam. Barker knew that there was a job to be done, and that each of his men needed to have his head on straight in order to make it out of Vietnam alive. I can appreciate that in a character. It makes the movie that much more realistic.

Another overall contrasting tone of these two movies was how the actual fighting took place. In The Green Berets, war was almost too easy for the United States military (like taking candy from a baby). Sure, a few U.S. soldiers did die in this movie, but even then they seemed able to do something spectacular as they died. For instance, in one scene a U.S. soldier was scoping out an area around General Tee's regime (the bad guys). This soldier was attacked by not one, not two, but three Viet Congs. Mind you, these Viet Congs had weapons. Our man got it good by one of these gooks; now he was seriously wounded. However, that didn't stop our fine Green Beret from killing all three. Alas, he died, but not without first strutting his Superman powers. Gee whiz, what a hero! This scene was almost as astounding as the one with Colonel Kerby at the fancy cocktail party. Hey, it's the middle of a dangerously hard war yet I think I'll listen to a Vietnamese singer while I sip on champagne. Wow, with Kerby in charge the U.S. doesn't need the Viet Cong as our enemy.

Compare these aforementioned scenarios with Go Tell The Spartans. Here, it is all war - morning, noon, and night. It's a real man's war, full of emotion and hard decisions (if there's any time to rationalize at all). Go Tell The Spartans shows its audience that war is not black and white or even right and wrong. It is trying to defend your country the best way any good soldier possibly can. It's about making mistakes, but still moving on because tomorrow is another day. And if you don't move on today, you probably won't get a second chance. An good scene in the movie that I think exemplified these beliefs was when 1st Lieutenant Hamilton (he had been recently promoted) died. He risked his life trying to save a paddy farmer who had been left behind. There was a group of paddy farmers helping the U.S. military. This particular paddy farmer had been trying to cross a dangerous creek. Crossing this creek meant being exposed to the enemy. Sergeant Oleonowski had been leading his group of men across this creek. Oleonowski made it safely across. Likewise, so did all the others - except this one paddy farmer. Hamilton couldn't stand it when Oleonowski wouldn't go back for the man. Hamilton knew in his heart that he had to save this paddy farmer. So he went across the creek. But it was too late; the man was already dead. Looking up in the sky, Hamilton also saw his death coming fast. Soon after this incident Sergeant Oleonowski committed suicide. These and other tragedies in the movie actually did a pretty good job of trying to grab at the heart strings of its audience. I think what helped to intensify these kinds of scenes was the fact that these characters had been introduced as regular guys. Sure, they were respectable soldiers, however they had souls just like you and me. When these soldiers went down I could easily sympathize.
Onward to the ending of each movie. There were differences between how these two films ended, yet you could tell that each tried to accomplish a similar tone. The Green Berets had hopes of a melodramatic finish, but fell short. Colonel Kerby is alive and well at the end of the mission to capture General Tee. Kerby (the manly man that he is) concedes, "A successful mission, but very costly." I think that the word 'successful' was too strong of a description when some of the soldiers died for the mission. For whom was this mission a success? If I could have wrote Colonel Kerby's line it would have been this: "The mission has been completed, but what a costly price to pay."

Also at the end of The Green Berets is Han Chun, a young orphan Vietnamese boy. Han Chun had taken a particular liking to a soldier named Peterson. Peterson didn't make it out of the mission alive. Han Chun is extremely sad about this and is now worried about his fate. Who will take care of him? But have no fear because Superman Kerby is here! The Colonel assures the little boy that he will find a home for him. Then Kerby says to Han Chun, "You're what this [war] is all about." How courageous of the United States military to put their lives at risk to save all the innocent children of Vietnam. Or how full of bull****, depending on whether or not you like fairy tales. I say this because as we get further into this class, I realize that the Vietnam War was more about preserving U.S. democracy than actually caring about the people living in Vietnam.

In comparison, Go Tell The Spartans had a gruesome ending. However, before I tell you about the ending let me go back to earlier in the film. Corporal Courcey found a cemetery full of many, many French soldiers who had previously died in Vietnam. It was there that he saw an old, one-eyed Viet Cong sniper. Courcey ran to a nearby tree for shelter. Once there, he raised his gun but the sniper had already disappeared. Okay, cut to a later scene in the film. The U.S. military is ordered to desert their current operation in Vietnam (which was to arrive in the village of Muc Wa). Many men are happy at the chance to leave while still alive. Yet Courcey refuses to leave behind the paddy farmers who'd been by the U.S. military's side from the get-go. So Courcey stays - and so does Major Barker. Barker is a soldier who won't leave any of his men behind.

Now, let's finally turn to the ending of Go Tell The Spartans. Barker, Courcey, and the paddy farmers are caught by a surprise attack. Courcey awakens at daybreak to find no one else alive. All the bodies have been stripped of clothing that the enemy needs. So he walks on. There is a sense of loneliness as Corporal Courcey finds himself back at the French cemetery. That same old, one-eyed Viet Cong sniper is there, but haggardly lets down his shotgun. You get the message that this war is a very tired war with both sides equally disheartened by it all.