No. That's fair.
Actually, flown right, it could beat an F-5 in a dogfight, and hold its own against F-15s in intercepts to dogfights. The weapons used were not too obsolete, although very few received Aim-9Ls before going out of the USAF inventory. Pity, because the Lima would have improved its ability to dogfight.
As a WSO, it helped to go against the F-15s using the long-pulse mode of the radar and refusing to lock on unless you had a valid shot ready with an Aim-7. The smokeless engines introduced in the mid-80s also helped. In truth, I passed my intercept checkride by directing the intercept off of the smoke trail of the “bad guy” - 20 miles away!
You actually had one good turn in the F-4, but then the energy bled off - so you needed to plan a turning fight as ‘turn & run’, repeat as needed.
One of the real joys of my career was being a young Lt when we still had O-5s & O-6s from Vietnam. A night debrief would be filled with beer and cigar smoke, cussing and telling stories and debating how to do X better. Those are some of my fondest memories of my 25 years in...