Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: ssc-vax!wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Recent films concerning the military Message-ID: <11912@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 4 Dec 89 01:42:10 GMT References: <11857@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: Boeing Aerospace & Electronics, Seattle WA Lines: 46 Approved: military@att.att.com From: ssc-vax!wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja) In article <11857@cbnews.ATT.COM>, bobtl%toolbox.wv.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET writes: > This may not be appropriate, but I am interested in the psychology of > "warriors" (members of the armed services) and how the American public > views them. I think popular films are an expression of this. > > A local TV station showed two films on subsequent nights, "Top Gun" > and "Private Benjamin". I was struck by the way the two services are > treated differently. So I started thinking about other films. > How about "Stripes" and "An Officer and a Gentleman". Same thing. > > I have to go back to some of the John Wayne flicks before I find where > a functional member of an Army unit is portrayed as a hero (Green Berets). > Now I'm not a real film buff, so I probably have missed something. > If so, I would like to hear about it. The fundamental difference is cost: The equipment necessary to film an "Army" movie is cheap and easily obtained. None of the services allow their equipment to be used in movies where the service is but in a bad light; for instance, "Dr. Strangelove" didn't have more than stock footage of B-52s, while "A Gathering of Eagles", filmed around the same time, had the full cooperation of the USAF and plenty of scenes custom-flown for the movie. If a filmmaker wants to make an Army film, he calls the local film supply house and rustles up a couple of Sherman tanks, or half-tracks, or tents, or whatever. The Army doesn't control these items, and can't effect the content of the film. But if the filmmaker wants to make a movie about aircraft carriers... well, there's only one major operator, and if the Navy doesn't like the script, the film doesn't get made. Sure it can be filmed with models in a studio tank, but... A perfect example was a TV-movie called "Red Flag", about the Air Force fighter weapons school, versus the (gag) "Iron Eagle" films. "Red Flag" was a bit simple, but put the Air Force in a favorable light. "Iron Eagle" had a teenager stealing an F-16, which was a plot device the USAF wouldn't stand for. So "Iron Eagle" used IAF F-16s, with hoky USAF stickers pasted over the Israeli insignia. "Red Flag" had gen-u-wine USAF F-4s and F-5s. Ron Wanttaja (ssc-vax!wanttaja) Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com