BGuthrie Photos: Smithsonian Associates -- Strange Bedfellows: The Military and the Movies

Smithsonian Associates -- Strange Bedfellows: The Military and the Movies:

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Description of Pictures: This was a series of three panel discussions about the relationship between Hollywood and the military. It discussed how the military public affairs offices would, in exchange for acceptable portrayals of their services, help out with military vehicles and troops as well as advise. It was supposed to be hosted by Jack Valenti, the head of the Motion Picture Association, but he was a no-show. In fact, most of the participants were different from what was listed in the program. Instead, the panels were all moderated by Larry Suid (author of "Guts and Glory"). The first panel consisted of Norm Hatch, Susan Hankey, Kathleen Ross, and Phil Strub. The second was Ken Wales, Mitch Marovitz, Gary Shrout, and Thomas Matthews. The third was Robert Fyne, Peter Lev, and Jack Green. More detailed about each is provided below.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SASB_030504_020.JPG: Larry Suid, author of "Guts and Glory", was the moderator for all of the panel discussions.
2. SASB_030504_029.JPG: Panel 1: Susan Hankey ("Fred"), DOD Public Affairs assistant. She worked with someone named Baruch (?) who was replaced by Phil Strub.
3. SASB_030504_031.JPG: Panel 1: Kathleen Ross (director, Army Public Affairs Office, LA)
4. SASB_030504_034.JPG: Panel 1: Phil Strub (special assistant for audiovisual at the Pentagon). He was a 1974 University of Southern California film graduate school before moving to the Pentagon. This is the guy who ultimately approves every script submitted to the Pentagon for assistance. The military will approve a lot of movies even though they're not keen on the themes but he mentioned there were several examples that they just couldn't do it. One of these was "Crimson Tide" which featured a mutiny on a nuclear submarine and the other was "Broken Arrow" which features the theft of a nuclear weapon. Neither scenario had occurred in real life and they didn't want to encourage them so they didn't support the movies. Also, if the movie universally portrays their people in a bad light, they don't get approval ("Dr Strangelove", for example, was not provided assistance). But the military has been helping movies as far back as DW Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (1915). In 1927's "Wings", basically the entire army air corps was provided to help some of the scenes. In the original "King Kong", the army refused to have its aircraft involved and the producers ended up essentially bribing a lot of flight crews doing training flights to get them to do the scenes. Some movies like "Air Force One" received full support while "Outbreak" only received courtesy assistance (in this case, because the military was hiding its culpability in cultivating the deadly virus).
5. SASB_030504_039.JPG: Here is panel 1. Left to right: Norm Hatch, Susan Hankey, Kathleen Ross, and Phil Strub.
6. SASB_030504_056.JPG: Panel 1: Norm Hatch, chief of Audio-Visual Division (OSDPA, 1968-79). He talked about filming WWII-vintage films.
7. SASB_030504_124.JPG: Panel 2: Gary Shrout (Naval Public Affairs Office, LA)
8. SASB_030504_142.JPG: Panel 2: Thomas Matthews (Technical Advisor, "Black Hawk Down"). He had actually been involved in the planning of the assault there.
9. SASB_030504_153.JPG: Panel 2: Kenneth Wales (producer, author of "Sea of Glory"). He started out as an actor (1961-68) but then went on to be a producer of a variety of movies including "The Wild Rovers" (1971) and "Revenge of the Pink Panther" (1978).
10. SASB_030504_174.JPG: Another decent article, this one from http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/s600389.htm Critics disturbed by Hollywood, defense relationship Correspondents' Report - Sunday, July 7, 2002 8:10 COMPERE: The latest blockbusters from Hollywood seem to be breaking new ground - not just at the box office, but in their extraordinary cooperation with the United States Military, with billions of dollars worth of defense equipment now being made available at a price. The movie producers say it makes their films more realistic, while the Pentagon is happy with the good publicity. But critics are disturbed by this cosy relationship and are questioning the influence the military is wielding. Lisa Millar reports. LISA MILLAR: The Sum of all Fears is the latest Tom Clancy novel to make it onto the big screen. The hero, Jack Ryan is back, but he is unable to say "Baltimore from a nuclear bomb". He does get to play with millions of dollars worth of military equipment though and it's the real thing. Phil Strub is the special assistant, for Entertainment Media at the US Department of Defense. PHIL STRUB: Well in The Sum of all Fears we provided a fair amount of assistance -- marine corps helicopters, a navy ship, army equipment, air force bomber, airborne commander center -- quite a bit. Not many days, but quite a bit of assistance. LISA MILLAR: In fact the makers of Sum of All Fears had access to inner sanctums, consulted with CIA officials, and even got a personal tour of CIA headquarters from the director himself. Phil Strub receives hundreds of requests from producers wanting to make their movies as realistic as possible. PHIL STRUB: When film makers come to us, and want our help to make a movie or a TV show, we see this as an important opportunity to tell the American public something about the US military, and then may be help recruiting or retention as a by-product. LISA MILLAR: But not all the movies get the green light. Phil Strub has no problem saying ‘no' to producers who want to use the military's equipment, but make them out to be the bad guys. PHIL STRUB: Well I say that it's quite true that we look for realism, military realism, within the narrow limits of dramatic movie making. We understand that there's artistic licence and these are not documentaries. So in our opinion, if you depict the US military as unrelentingly negative, that's not realistic. So yes in a sense, we're looking for positive portrayal. LISA MILLAR: But Chuck Pena, from the Washington base think tank, the Cato Institute, believes the military's influence is extending too far. Wind Hawkers is a World War II movie about Japanese code breakers -- a scene in which an American soldier steals a gold tooth from a dead enemy, was dropped from he movie at the insistence of the Pentagon. CHUCK PENA: I mean the Pentagon's motives are pretty clear -- which is, let's go find movies that paint flattering pictures of the military -- flattering even if it's not true in some cases. LISA MILLAR: While the military's been helping Hollywood for more than a century, Top Gun was the start of a whole new era. The Tom Cruise hit, which featured fast planes and fast men, is believed to have sparked a boost in recruitment figures for the military. But Charles Pena says if they need to boost the military intake, they should do it some other way. CHUCK PENA: The problem is that this is literally tax-payer dollars. And the purpose of the United States military is to defend the American public and to if necessary wage wars, it's not to make movies. LISA MILLAR: But the Pentagon says it gets paid well for its services. The helicopters in Black Hawk Down cost the movie's producers $7,000 an hour to fly. And despite the criticism, it's not planning on saying ‘goodbye to Hollywood' just yet.
11. SASB_030504_183.JPG: Here is panel 2. Left to right: Ken Wales, Mitch Marovitz, Gary Shrout, and Thomas Matthews.
12. SASB_030504_193.JPG: Panel 2: Mitch Marovitz (Army Public Affairs Office, LA). Talked about why the rejected "Forrest Gump" (a soldier in uniform couldn't have been at a peace march) but helped with "Tuskegee Airmen".
13. SASB_030504_302.JPG: Panel 3: Robert Fyne (Professor, Kean University, author of "The Hollywood Propaganda of WWII").
14. SASB_030504_307.JPG: Panel 3: Jack Green (Navy Historical Center, historical advisor to Navy motion pictures). He talked about how much they hated the new "Pearl Harbor" movie.
15. SASB_030504_334.JPG: Here is panel 3. Left to right: Robert Fyne, Peter Lev, and Jack Green.
16. SASB_030504_337.JPG: Panel 3: Peter Lev (Professor, Towson State University)
17. SASB_030504_352.JPG: This part I really liked. It was an end-of-session Q&A and the previous participants came up and just sat on the stage steps answering questions.
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