Working with John Wayne, James Stewart, Anne Bancroft, and John Ford! Exclusive with Irene Tsu
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- Опубліковано 11 тра 2024
- John Wayne’s controversial Vietnam war drama, THE GREEN BERETS, was the 12th highest-grossing film of 1968. Wayne not only starred in the film but co-directed as well. Actress Irene Tsu joined Duke’s stock company of actors for the big-budgeted epic, including Bruce Cabot, Patrick Wayne, Jim Hutton, Ed Faulkner, and Chuck Roberson. Shot in hot and muggy Georgia, the production lasted so long that co-star George Takei, on leave from season 2 of the original STAR TREK, saw his TREK character Sulu’s dialogue be rewritten for James Doohan’s Scotty.
Irene joined Rob Word to discuss what it was like working with Wayne and shared stories of two other western film icons, James Stewart and director John Ford.
Irene’s training in ballet and jazz led to her being cast as a teen dancer in director Henry Koster’s 1961 film version of FLOWER DRUM SONG. Koster’s next was the Parisian shot comedy, TAKE HER SHE’S MINE, starring James Stewart and Sandra Dee. Irene got her first speaking part as a teenage French prostitute, which launched her decades-long career as an actress in over 30 feature films, including PARADISE, HAWAIIAN STYLE with Elvis, and several dozen TV shows, including THE WILD WILD WEST, LAREDO, and CADE’S COUNTY.
Irene joined an all-star female cast in director John Ford’s last feature film, 7 WOMEN, in 1965. She currently sells luxury real estate in Beverly Hills and was one of THE LADIES FROM LONESOME, in the Burt Kennedy Western performed live for A WORD ON WESTERNS, March 2024. • Burt Kennedy’s THE LAD...
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That was absolutely awesome Rob Word, so awesome, what a great blessing to still have her on this earth and so sharp and able to appear and talk about her on screen experiences with Duke and other greats, so awesome, thank you everyone that helped produce and put this together for our ever lasting enjoyment.
Sure glad I was able to have her join me and share her memories. Thanks, Tex
Irene sounds like a real sweetheart. She holds her beauty well. Thanks, Rob.
AMEN
How interesting! Irene Tsu was in some really great movies! Flower Drum Song is one of my all-time favorites! The Green Berets had a stellar cast, including the great Jack Soo, who was also marvelous in Flower Drum Song.
She was beautiful in The Green Berets and she is still beautiful!
Irene Tsu is as gorgeous as ever and so truthfully insightful regarding her early career, plus experiences filming what remains among my favourite John Wayne movies 🙂 Thankyou Rob 🙂
What a nice lady. I’ve always had such a crush on her. 😁 I’m sure practically every guy did.
Irene was in demand in the 60s. A very good actress.
THE GREEN BERET was one of my favorite war stories. It was an Oasis in a sea of CRAP! The Protests, the killings of JFK, RFK, MLK! JOHN WAYNE & THE BEATLES made it all BEARABLE. Nice lady, Good interview Rob!
Thanks, Terry.
@@AWordonWesterns Rob, you work so hard to entertain and inform us. It is I who am thankful.
Patriotic zeal alamo Green berets
This was before the My lai
Massacre hit the headlines!
Beautiful Irene had a wonderful guest starring role on the Laredo (1965~1967) western TV series episode "The Bitter Yen of General Ti."
Another great interview Rob. This wonderful lady has had a long and varied career spanning over 6 decades. BTW it appears you have picked up some trolls who instead of appreciating the interview prefer to talk about the politics of a war from 60 years ago😉.
I had the privilege of working with these two great actors, a wonderful experience now lm 82 and near the end, l can’t disclose my identity
I trained at Ft. Benning (Infantry Officer Basic Course) in 1971 and we trained on some of the sets. I remember the pagoda set. That is also where I I first saw the movie. That was kind of fun seeing the jump towers, classroom buildings etc in the movie. At the end of my career I was stationed again at at Ft Benning when the filmed “We Were Soldiers “. Kind of a full circle
Thanks for the memories, bud, and for your service. Rob
What a beauty!
Another excellent interview! Such a talented woman, and so wonderful of her to share her experience of the golden cinema! 😊🌺
Another wonderful interview. Irene seemed to be in everything during the sixties and seventies. Thanks.
Thanks so much for this engaging interview with Ms. Tsu.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks.
Wow, beautiful lady. Thank you for your interviews Mr Word. It brings back memories of movies I miss.
Glad you enjoyed it, Lynn. Thanks.
Great interview! I remember this movie and the Barry Sadler tune of the same name that perhaps inspired the movie. It was also the time of the My Lai Massacre and the horror stories that came from it. The country was pretty divided between the "hawks" and the "doves." I waited to see the movie when it played at a drive-in to avoid any nut cases who wanted to protest. When I think of what we are going through now and where we have been, history just seems to repeat and the culture war wages on.
Beautiful lady. Enjoyed her in the ladies from lonesome. Wonderful interview rob.
Such a timeless classic of a movie.
Great movie…. Mr Word, I must thank you. A few days ago you put The Bid Trail by Raoul Walsh on UA-cam. I’m 69 years old and can’t remember “ever” seeing a film that was so accurate to the time. Using real prairie schooners being pulled by oxen.
You don’t see any of that later on in Hollywood. TV shows Like Wagon Train used the an accurate covered wagon but inaccurate pulled by horses. Even the movie How The West Was Won was inaccurate. I’ll say Mr Raoul Walsh made a fine enjoyable film. Thank you Mr. Wood🤠
She's still gorgeous!
Ms. Tsu looks pretty good to be 78 years old . How many co stars of both John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart are still with us ?
Fewer and fewer, JJJ. I was happy to be introduced to Irene and have her as a guest for an AWOW interview and as an actress for our western production THE LADIES FROM LONESOME. She's a year older than me. I'm 77.
@@AWordonWesterns Thanks for your reply . I looked up information after I posed my question . Fabian appeared with Mr. Wayne in a sort of western North To Alaska while he appeared with Mr. Stewart in the then modern day Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation . As far as I know in May 2024 Fabian is still with us .
Rob you don't look 77. Your well preserved
Thank you
I remember that Bomb Threat, Rob. Made me mad as Hell at all them Hippies around me in High School too. My friends and I were totally against the Hippy Movement of BS Peace. 👍👍 10👑🤠🇺🇸
Out of all of Duke's movies.......this one was always at the bottom of my list,......it never really clicked with me,.....😢.
Because he was trying to push his political agenda.
@@jimplummer4879 And?
@@jimplummer4879 Like liberals at that time didn't and they're even worse now.
@@Hagbard123Are you expecting another answer?
It's a fun movie
Beautiful 🥰
She seemed nervous here, but very good interview , Rob 👍👍👍👍
Very nice to hear Ms. Tsu talk about her experiences. Green Berets is a very good film because decades later it continues to be present in spite of the liberal dems who are anything but democratic. John Wayne continues to remain in the DNA of the United States and I hope that certain puppets and manipulators will be swept away as soon as possible.
John Wayne never served in the military during WW2. But Liberal Dems” as you liked to call them did!!! Henry Fonda US Navy,Sterling Hayden,Paul Newman was a gunner on. a BomberUSArmy Air Corps Charles Bronson severely wounded Purple Heart,Audie Murphy wasn’t old enough to vote while serving in the Army 1942-45. Most decorated USSoldier was a supporter of FDR because he saw how New Deal programs helped Americas Rural Population.
@@buddyvilla7393 You don't want to compare the Democrats of the 30's, 40's and 50's with today's garbage? Roosevelt with Hillary Clinton or Kennedy with Kamala Harris? The fight to improve workers' conditions with senseless "gender" theories and a substantial detachment from everything that concerns the people in its most popular sense? It doesn't make sense and you know it, today's liberal dems aren't even capable of tying the shoes of the dems of that period. Furthermore, regarding having participated in fights, there was a law that exempted fathers of 4 children, John Wayne he tried to enlist but the film studios sabotaged his desire. Many biographers and film historians rightly state that the contribution of his films to participation in the Second War and then in the Cold War against the communist dictatorship in the Soviet Union had an enormous importance for American citizens much greater than having participated in actions in the war itself. I don't know if you are aware of this but Stalin himself had placed a bounty for anyone who killed him. Having said this, I greet you cordially.
The movie gets mostly positive reviews on Amazon. It was based on the best-selling book and the song "Ballad of the Green Berets" must have helped the movie. It gets a full orchestration by Miklos Rosza for the title.
Still a beautiful woman
As Bill Tompkins ( google him ) said “ Everything we have been taught and told all our lives was a lie .” And he didn’t say all most everything or a lot , he said EVERYTHING & he meant exactly what he said .
Part of the Dukes awakening
The movie made 32 and cost 7 made lots of money great the movie cost a lot money to make
She has always been so beautiful, I hope she has had a good life and her beauty hasn't gotten her into bad relationships. High quality problems I guess...
Still beautiful.
My son is too young to have experienced the horror of that war, but is a big fan of WWII films in all of their formats. He saw this film recently and asked me if it was a government-sponsored propaganda tool. That's just how transparent and out of touch the film was and is. Not exactly a shining moment in the career of John Wayne. Your excellent interview reminded me that I haven't seen "7 Women" in far too long, at least, Rob. That's next on my list!
Saw her in Hot Potato with Jim Kelly.
I always found the green berets an entertaining war movie as a JW fan I’m fairly biased anyway, but in fairness he made a movie , LBJ made a war .
I remember seeing that movie in a theater when it came out .... all I remember now is that it wasn't what I expected ... I think I wanted more "War" and less plot line ..
Nowhere near his best movie but it's entertaining and I think the left made a mountain out of a molehill with this movie. Nowhere near as preachy or heavy handed as many lefty movies or shows coming out now.
It probably wasn't tea that Ford was drinking.
It's fascinating how folks politicise the movie still. Reality is he made a 'war' movie. We all had to pick up the pieces of that war. I guess they have their Country back. It's easy to cast stones nowadays. Lots of people had an ending and a forced restart whether they wanted it or not , All of those involved are enhancing their Culture, or cursed to be involved. Not a worthy postscript to a well opinionated choice for him. It doesn't go away with a 'history' lecture. Folks don't care about the 'script'. It's a long line of no winners.
A much maligned film of the era. Lot's of cheesiness but still fun. Best part was at the beginning when Aldo Ray and Ray St Jacques explain to the stupid reporters why the war needed to be fought. Funny how they were so hard up for Asian actors they hired every body ... except Viets. George Takei (Japanese American), Jack Soo (Korean American), Irene Tsu assuming she's Chinese American)...
Irene was born in China, moved to Hong Kong and then NY when she was 10.
"The Green Berets" attracts a lot of heat (as well as pretty much universally bad reviews) to this day for its unrealistic depiction of what became (but wasn't quite as much so then in 1968) a very unpopular war. And its heavy handed cloaked in patriotism anti communist message.
But it made money.
Hey, it was John Wayne fer goshsake, and while a lotta folks back then may have had a problem forgiving LBJ for the war, I think most of us find it easy to forgive the Duke past and present for just about anything.
Yes, a propaganda film, but a lot of those were made during WW2 as well (with Wayne famously appearing in quite a few of those, too), also unrealistic most of them, and similarly transparent in their message. Which was to support the war effort and buy bonds (message on screen after the closing credits)... and do your duty and enlist if you're able bodied, male aged 18-35 (You might even find an enlistment NCO of wunna the service branches waiting for you in the lobby in fact), or get a job in a defense plant.
Right to the present day we continue to see propaganda in films, television, and product commercials all the time, that even while selling their sponsor's toothpaste and deodorant, also subtly or not promote political agendas, schools of thought, what is and what's not socially acceptable, to promote beliefs or reject ways of thinking.
Like it or not we're exposed to it every day of our lives, and for me the trick is to reccognize what you're seeing in the case of film and tv as entertainment, and if you find any agenda driven stuff contained therein so irksome it spoils that aspect of it, then simply don't watch.
A lotta people hated "The Green Berets" but a lotta people liked it too, my guess even plenty who didn't care for its message either, but could get past that and view it the same way they would a Western, say. Where I doubt any of us who admired "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" for example, or "Fort Apache" were ever influenced by those films' jingoism to any real extent or were *seriously* inspired to go running out West to shoot Indians.
Did you go to Nam?
@@cindyhamblin5673 No. What prompted you to ask?
@@hiramnoone just wondering, my brother served in Nam 68/69, came back with Agent Orange poisoning,by 1997 both his kidneys shutdown so I gave him one of mine so he survived for over 20 years with my kidney! But heck I come from a family of 4 generations of military, and I always wonder about people's opinions on the subject of war, and the men/women who died to eradicate evils such as communism and Natzis, which my dad, Uncle and Aunt served to shut down!
@@cindyhamblin5673 That's a very sad story and not an uncommon one. This country owes you and your family a lot.
Serving over there produced a lot of casualties even after the fact, from chemical exposure like your bro, to hearing loss from exploding ordinance and artillery fire, to PTSD related alcoholism, adjustment problems, depression and just getting out being two or three years behind everyone else the same age who were lucky enough to stay home during the same period.
I did my military bit in Europe during the Cold War where I experienced plenty of cold, but as things turned out, luckily no war.
@@hiramnoone I don't find that sad,I find it a choice,I made it and was glad that he had more years to live! My brother came back and became a minister and he led many to Christ, he's gone home now! Yes, war is hell, but Communism and natzism is of the devil, no Liberty, just imprisonment!
People forget that movies like this were propaganda films.
All movies are propaganda one way or another
John Wayne…elite warrior in movies…draft dodger in real life.
Wayne was not a draft dodger. He received a legitimate deferral and was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status (classified as 3-A - family deferment). The modern criticism of Wayne is related to comparisons between himself and actors like Jimmy Stuart (Army Air Corps) and David Niven (British Commando) who enlisted instead of being potentially deferred and put their acting careers on hold while Wayne continued acting to his great benefit. While opinions may differ about what Wayne should have or have not done, Wayne most certainly was not a draft dodger or someone who did anything illegal or unethical in accepting the deferment.
Not a j w fan but do your homework he was not a draft dodger also green berets was terrible movie not near real i sir served in that shithole
Do want me to list some famous liberals that dodged the draft? Also, like others already pointed out, John Wayne was not a draft dodger.
@@Mickey-1994 thats right i said he didnt dodge like ali, cheech marin bunch lib flakes i served did my part