History Trivia / TheGreenBerets

* DeletedRole: Scenes were filmed with Creator/VeraMiles as Col. Kirby's wife but they were cut before release by the studio. The scene only took one morning to shoot, but the film was considered overlong, and that scene was judged easiest to cut. Batjac, Creator/JohnWayne's company, offered her 10,000 dollars for her work. When she refused that, they then offered her a new car, which she also declined to accept. Wayne made up for this by casting Miles in his next film ''Film/{{Hellfighters}}''.

* HeAlsoDid: Ray Kellogg, who co-directed with Wayne, previously directed ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' fodder ''Film/TheKillerShrews'' and ''Film/TheGiantGilaMonster''. Since the film was a very blatant star vehicle and AuthorTract for Wayne, he's often assumed to be its sole director and Kellogg's name is forgotten. Asked by a biographer what Kellogg contributed to the film, Wayne only commented that "without him, my career would not be what it is today."

* OldShame: Creator/GeorgeTakei has admitted in interviews that while he was grateful to be cast in this film, he nevertheless strongly disagreed with the film's pro-war message and felt the finished movie was very bad.

* UncreditedRole: Mervyn[=Le Roy=] said in his biography that he was asked by the producers to come and assist Creator/JohnWayne on the film. [=Le Roy=] accepted on the condition Wayne asks himself. Wayne did and Le Roy came and helped him directing, but refused to have his name in the credits.

** Additionally, some of the film was directed by Ray Kellogg, best-known otherwise for directing ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' fodder ''Film/TheKillerShrews'' and ''Film/TheGiantGilaMonster''. Asked by a biographer what Kellogg contributed to the film, Wayne only commented that "without him, my career would not be what it is today."

* CastTheExpert: The colonel who ran the jump school (and who was seen shooting trap with Col. Kirby) was Col. Welch, the real jump school commandant and a legendary commander of U.S. paratroopers.

* CastTheExpert: The colonel who ran the jump school (and who was seen shooting trap with Col. Kirby) was the real jump school commandant and a legendary commander of U.S. paratroopers.

** Additionally, some of the film was directed by Ray Kellogg, best-known otherwise for directing MST3K fodder ''Film/TheKillerShrews'' and ''Film/TheGiantGilaMonster''. Asked by a biographer what Kellogg contributed to the film, Wayne only commented that "without him, my career would not be what it is today."

* ExecutiveMeddling: The Pentagon requested edits to the script so that it showed the South Vietnamese as a bigger part of the war effort, and changed the abduction of the North Vietnamese general, which originally featured a cross-border raid into North Vietnam[[note]]Such raids were, of course, happening all the time but they were highly classified.[[/note]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/JohnWayne wanted his friend Music/ElmerBernstein to score the film but Bernstein felt compelled to turn the opportunity down, as he didn't feel it sat well with his politics.

** David Janssen had a severe argument with Wayne on the set of the production because Wayne lost his temper on a young Asian actor during the shooting. Janssen left the set, which he never did before in his career.

* DeletedRole: Scenes were filmed with Vera Miles as Col. Kirby's wife but they were cut before release by the studio. The scene only took one morning to shoot, but the film was considered overlong, and that scene was judged easiest to cut. Batjac, Creator/JohnWayne's company, offered her 10,000 dollars for her work. When she refused that, they then offered her a new car, which she also declined to accept. Wayne made up for this by casting Miles in his next film ''Film/{{Hellfighters}}''.

* BackedByThePentagon: After Wayne bought out Robin Moore, the original author's, share in the production. The Pentagon was trying to prosecute him for revealing classified information.
* DoingItForTheArt: John Wayne helped to personally bankroll the movie and turned down the role of Major Reisman in ''Film/TheDirtyDozen'' in order to co-direct and star in it. He claimed that his goal was not to make a political film, but a tribute to the courage of the American soldier and Special Forces specifically.

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* Creator/RogerEbert severely disliked this John Wayne film; he put it on his [[RogerEbertMostHatedFilmList most hated list.]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[Creator/GeorgeTakei Captain Nim, ARVN]] is [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Lt. Sulu]]!
** And his superior, Colonel Cai, is [[Series/BarneyMiller Det. Sgt. Nick Yemana]]!

** And his superior, Colonel Cai, is [[Series/BarneyMiller Det. Sgt. Nick Yemana]]!

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: A choral arrangement of "Ballad of the Green Berets" used at the beginning.