Post Scripts: In a positive light?

A few weeks back I promised to tell you how the U.S. military works with movie-makers. The film maker who wishes to utilize combat equipment: (tanks, carriers, planes, etc.) must first submit the script for approval. The Pentagon then suggests changes to the story to make sure the military is shown accurately and in a positive light… in their view, of course.

The military is aggressive; demanding plot changes whenever a villain, for example, is a member of the Armed Forces, plus seeking to emphasize the heroism of service members. The services always want the films to be a "commercial" for them and savvy film makers understand the Pentagon approach and pitch their films accordingly. Not always, however. In the recent film "Perfect Storm" about the rescue of a fishing boat, the Army wanted to show Air Force pilots making the heroic rescue but in reality it was the Coast Guard who saved the crew.

Here are examples of service-related movies and why they were not given assistance by the services, usually the Army:

Apocalypse Now: This Vietnam masterpiece received thumbs down because the Army said it would never order a soldier to "terminate" another soldier. In the end the film was made in the Philippines without U.S. Army assistance. The Army said the general (in the film) was corrupt, the staff officer was a weenie, and the film did not promote a good image.

A Few Good Men: The Dept. of Defense did not like the film’s depiction of a murder on a Navy base, nor its portrayal of military justice. The Pentagon took the view that the film was unrealistic because it portrayed the military’s fail-safe protection as vulnerable to human error.

Forrest Gump: This film was denied assistance because the Pentagon felt that Tom Hank’s dim-witted character was not the kind of man the Army would have enlisted, and that the army was staffed by soldiers of minimal intelligence. In the film, Gump bends over, pulls down his pants, and shows a scar on his bottom to President Lyndon Johnson. A Navy memo stated:" The mooning of a president by a soldier is not acceptable behavior."

Independence Day: This film received no help because the services said "it showed no true military heros. The military appears impotent and/or inept; all advances in stopping the aliens came from civilians, and portrayals of Defense Department and Joint Chiefs of Staff were negative." The Department of Defense also had a problem with the script – that the Air Force had a flying saucer under wraps in New Mexico.

The Thin Red Line: This film was not approved by defense officials. In my opinion it is one of the best war movies ever made, depicting U.S. infantry battling Japanese on a Pacific Island during WW2. Apparently it was far too realistic with officials deciding it was better for parents not to see what their sons endured in the Pacific Theater of Operations early in the war.

In closing, Born on the Fourth of July was not approved because (Oliver Stone) said: "They don’t want to deal with the downside of war. Most war films are recruiting posters. Such lies."