Trivia for
The Green Berets (1968) More at IMDbPro »

• Much of the film was shot in 1967 at Ft. Benning, Georgia, hence the large pine forests in the background rather than tropical jungle trees.
  
  
• Some of the "Vietnamese village" sets were so realistic they were left intact, and were later used by the Army for training troops destined for Vietnam.
  
  
• The colonel who ran the jump school (and who was seen shooting trap with John Wayne) was the real jump school commandant and a legendary commander of U.S. paratroopers.
  
  
• Late in the movie John Wayne can be seen to wrap his rappelling rope through a carabineer the wrong way. Called a "fatal hookup" in the Army, this would result in an immediate fall once weight was applied.
  
  
• David Janssen was working on this film when the final episode of his series "The Fugitive" (1963) aired.
  
  
• In the book "Green Berets" by Robin Moore, the main character is based on Maj. Larry Thorne (originally Lauri Törni, a Finnish soldier who moved to USA after WWII).
  
  
• George Takei missed working on the "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode of the original "Star Trek" (1966) series to work on this movie.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: As enemy soldiers are thrown into the air by an exploding grenade.
  
  
• Scenes were filmed with Vera Miles as John Wayne's wife but they were cut before release by the studio. Wayne made up for this by casting Miles in his next film Hellfighters (1968).
  
  
• In 1967 John Wayne wrote to Democratic President Lyndon Johnson requesting military assistance for his pro-war film about Vietnam. Jack Valenti told the President, "Wayne's politics are wrong, but if he makes this film he will be helping us." Wayne got enough firepower to make The Green Berets (1968), which became one of the most controversial movies of all time.
  
  
• Warner Bros. were concerned about letting John Wayne direct the movie because of the fact that his previous directorial effort, The Alamo (1960), had been an expensive flop. They therefore only agreed to let him do the film if he agreed to co-direct with a more experienced director, and Wayne chose Ray Kellogg who, despite having only ever directed B-movies, the studio accepted due to his track record as a second unit director on a number of major studio releases.
  
  

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