For years, the military-entertainment complex (cooperation between Tinseltown and the Department of Defense) has worked extremely well. Movie directors get access to the best equipment and sites, while the Pentagon gets some form of unofficial big-budget promotional material showing just how cool the American military is. This is essential in scaring off enemies. However, there have been a few cases where filmmakers and studios made movies that angered the Pentagon. A House of Dynamite, the newest Netflix hit, is a great example.
The cooperation between Hollywood and the DOD began during World War II, when the United States Office of War Information sought to use cinema for its own ends to rally the American public behind the war effort. Since then, most military-themed movies have been contractually supervised by the DoD Entertainment Media Unit within the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. The great relationship between Hollywood and the Pentagon will remain for years, except when movies like the ones below get made.
6
‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979)
Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) is living like a potentate inside the jungles of Vietnam, having gone rogue. Understandably, the higher-ups are pissed. Left with no other choice, they send Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) to assassinate him. Well, things don’t really go as expected in Apocalypse Now, a movie that’s way superior to Heart of Darkness, the Joseph Conrad novella it is based on.
The Crazy Rogue Colonel Is a Myth, According to the DOD
A report by WQXR-FM reports a lamentation from the Department of Defense, claiming that a lapse in pre-emptive note-giving sometimes encourages Hollywood to invent stereotypes. In Apocalypse Now’s case, that stereotype is the “Crazy Vietnam Vet.” An additional report reveals concerns from the higher-ups that the film would harm morale within the military. Well, it was always going to be hard for a renegade filmmaker of Francis Ford Coppola’s intellect and sensibility not to be cynical in the face of gruesome reality. Everyone was talking badly about the Vietnam War in the ‘70s, calling it unnecessary. But, at a time when the American government was aiming to redeem itself, the director’s views were a dangerous sentiment to air. Still, he went on with it.
Interestingly, veterans recommend this visually pleasing film full of tense moments and great dialogue. The war drama won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, and many of its quotes, including “I like the smell of napalm in the morning,” are timeless. Additionally, you’ll be intrigued to know that it was made under very harsh conditions, with sets being destroyed by the weather and Coppola fighting with Brando over weight issues and unmemorized lines.
5
‘Platoon’ (1987)
Platoon follows Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), a young man beaming with idealism who soon becomes disillusioned with life in the battle zone. He enlists with enthusiasm, but soon after landing in Vietnam, he gets exposed to the harsh realities of war, including conflicts within his own unit. Is it too late to pull out? Probably. So watch Chris do his best to survive.
No Love Lost
The Pentagon’s issues with Platoon started quite early, when the DoD refused to grant Oliver Stone access to equipment, uniforms, and personnel. According to the book Operation Hollywood by David Robb, the Pentagon was irked by the script, which depicted American soldiers as divided and happy to engage in human rights violations. Stone had to rely on local military support while filming in the lush, coastal Ludon Island in the Philippines. When the movie won Best Picture, the Pentagon was reportedly worried it would damage the image of U.S. forces, especially now that it had a larger audience.
The Pentagon was justified in its animosity towards the movie, but audiences shouldn’t hesitate to pounce. Oliver Stone based the script on his own experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam, so there is an authentic picture of war here. Stone intended to portray the conflict more genuinely, having hated John Wayne’s The Green Berets. Even better, the film is wonderfully acted and photographed.
Divided into two parts, Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket first places us inside a harsh boot camp, where the gluttonous Private “Gomer Pyle” Lawrence (Vincent D’Onofrio), is struggling to impress the hard-nosed drill sergeant, Hartman (Lee Emery). The second half puts us right at the heart of the battlefields in the Vietnamese cities of Da Nang and Huế.
Not Every Drill Instructor Is Like Hartman
The story of young soldiers — first meant to go through harsh training, then put in peril — fascinates. However, the DoD didn’t see it that way. David Robb’s Operation Hollywood and a July 1987 Los Angeles Times report on Hollywood quoted a Pentagon spokesperson saying that movies like Full Metal Jacket “do not represent the Marine Corps or the U.S. military as it is.” The department also regarded the film’s first act, showing suicide, verbal abuse, and a lack of concern for a mental health victim, as “harmful to the recruiting image of the Corps.” The U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting Command even circulated a memo, emphasizing that the movie was all fiction, not a true reflection of actual military training.
Whether real-life drill instructors employ methods similar to those of Sgt. Hartman remains unknown, but we must admit: the character is hella entertaining. “From now on, you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be ‘Sir.” Do you maggots understand that?” says the man early in the film. Audiences will also be awed by a scene where a Vietnamese girl obliterates the soldiers one by one using a sniper rifle.
3
‘Zero Dark Thirty’ (2012)
Zero Dark Thirty covers the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden. The film’s central character is Maya (Jessica Chastain), an intelligence analyst who links bin Laden’s courier to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Even though her efforts to get a mission sanctioned are hampered by bureaucratic obstacles, she eventually convinces her superiors to send a Navy SEAL team.
Did They or Didn’t They Use Torture Techniques?
Shortly after the film’s release, former Pentagon spokesperson George Little released a statement, insisting that it was “not a realistic portrayal of the facts,” insisting that torture did not lead to bin Laden’s location. The Department of Defense Inspector General also opened a review into the cooperation between the Pentagon and director Kathryn Bigelow’s team to determine if classified documents were improperly shared. Even U.S. Senator John McCain, who was tortured during his time as a POW in North Vietnam, said that the film left him sick because of the torture scenes.
Well, what we see here is definitely a darker, far more cynical version of the story than any other that has ever been told, but should that bother us, considering the serious nature of the villain’s crimes? Zero Dark Thirty is very informative, and the cast, consisting of heavyweights like James Gandolfini and Jason Clarke, does wonders. The film was nominated for five Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing (which it won), and Best Film Editing.
2
‘Paths of Glory’ (1957)
Partially based on an actual incident (the Souain Corporals Affair during World War I) as well as events in the novel of the same name by Humphrey Cobb, Paths of Glory stars Kirk Douglas as Colonel Dax, the man in charge of a platoon of French soldiers who refuse to engage in a mission they deem suicidal. Consequently, they get court-martialed, but Dax vows to stand by his men.
Orders Mean Everything in the Military
Despite not being based on American soldiers, Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory triggered the ire of the Pentagon. According to the book, Cinema and the Great War by Andrew Kelly, the film was banned in all United States military establishments, both at home and overseas, for fear it would encourage insubordination. Such a concern was legitimate, but anyone choosing not to watch the war drama misses out on a lot.
Photographed in natural light, this immensely moving, heartbreaking, and inspirational picture is carried by a once-in-a-lifetime feat of acting from Kirk Douglas, undoubtedly one of the finest, most painstaking performances ever captured on film. Interestingly, the movie also stars real vet, Timothy Carey. The actor enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps during WWII at the young age of 15, an experience he totally hated, according to his autobiography.
1
‘A House of Dynamite’ (2025)
A House of Dynamite presents one of the most unusual scenarios where an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) is projected towards Chicago from a faraway territory, and the Pentagon fails to establish its origin. The Russians say it’s not them, and no one else looks guilty? What’s going on? There are only 18 minutes to figure everything out.
Such a Threat Is Easy to Neutralize in Real Life, Says the DoD
The Department of Defense issued a response after the Kathryn Bigelow was released, stating: “The fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target, and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama intended for the entertainment of the audience,” but that, modern interceptors “have displayed a 100 percent accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade.” The Pentagon added that the film “does not reflect the views or priorities of this administration.”
Sure, the movie makes America look weak (and incompetent), so the response is fitting, but most of the military details are exact, and the three-part script vividly evokes the strictures that often emerge during moments of crisis. The political thriller also has a very strong first act, arguably the best this year, and it wouldn’t be wrong to ask the Academy to look Rebecca Ferguson’s way. She is amazing.
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