European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 03, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                To John Wayne received help from the ill leery Lor the Green berets when he made changes to the script. Movies and the military to ensure cooperation from Dod Darryl Zanuck had to Cut a scene from the longest  an uneasy Alliance associated press he Pentagon look one look at Oliver Stone s script Lor platoon and told the filmmaker the government would t give any technical assistance unless he changed it Stone refused took his Crew to the Philippines made his movie using retired military personnel As consultants and went on to win the Academy award for Best picture of 1986. And stir the emotions of the Vietnam Era generation John Wayne on the other hand made changes in his script Lor the Green berets 1958 and received help irom the military paying a Mere $16.000 to spend eight months Liming at fort Benning. A when Hollywood makes a military or War movie the government is often asked to help with technical assistance locations personnel equipment or Stock footage. The defense department s help depends on How the military will be depicted in the movie an uneasy Alliance has been forged Between Hollywood and the Pentagon As one recruits and the other entertains but both seek to profit. The association is a Tricky one and often comes under review from time to time. Last june 14, a nuclear submarine that was to be used in filming the Hunt Lor red october snared a tugboat s Tow line and pitched the Craft under 2,500 feet a water near Long Beach Calif. Two crewmen were rescued but a third was never found and is presumed dead. Two Days later the same submarine ripped the nets of a fishing trawler in los Angeles Harbor. Both encounters Are being investigated by the Navy and the National transportation safety Board i Haven t heard any horror stories about accidents Philip Strub. The defense department s special assistant Lor audio visual projects said in a Telephone interview irom his Pentagon Ollice. I m sure there Are accidents irom Lime to time but nothing to warrant an inquiry at least irom our perception " Strub said Many requests irom filmmakers Are turned Down there Are often clashes Over creativity platoon full Metal jacket and apocalypse now received no military assistance. Top gun. Which received almost unlimited assistance irom the Navy was the next War and military movies have always been a popular ticket with the american Public Ever since . Griffith s birth of a nation in 1914. Here Are the biggest grossing military movies and the amounts they earned according to Baseline inc., an information service for the entertainment Industry top gun $176.7 million rambo. First blood ii $150.4 million platoon $137.9 million an officer and a gentleman $129.8 million Good morning Vietnam $123.7 million stripes $85.3 million private Benjamin $69.8 million rambo $53.7 million full Metal jacket $46.3 million Heartbreak Ridge $42.7 million Best thing to John Wayne As a recruitment coup. Interestingly hamburger Hill which condemned . Involvement in Vietnam got help from the Pentagon because the government thought the script was balanced said Lawrence h Suid. Who wrote guts and glory great american War movies. The Navy is really giving us everything we  said Mace Neuweld. Producer of the Hunt for red october a movie about the Captain of a new soviet missile sub who decides to defect and take the sub with him. We re certainly not an instrument of the us. Navy. But it would have been Foolhardy to do it without their cooperation " the Navy has a consultant on the red october set at All times and was Given Advance copies of the film s script. They changed one joke about Hustler Magazine that they thought was in bad taste but we would have changed it anyway Neuweld said. He pointed out that the armed forces and Hollywood have enjoyed a special relationship Lor a Long time and he thought the movie would be Good publicity for the military. The 1988 to series Supe Carrier started out with military support but it was withdrawn because the government did t feel it accurately reflected military life scrub said i have no real quarrel with the  said Charles Fries executive producer of the Short lived series i feel they should have supported our show. They thought we would do the Saga of life on an aircraft Carrier and we had to do ,4-team meets the Navy because of network pressure. Their Job is to protect the depiction of the Navy. They just Felt the peacetime Navy would t be involved in the things we involved the peacetime Navy  the series had stories involving pilots crashing $20 million jets into the sea and drug abuse. Fries said the series could have continued with die footage but the department of defense refused to allow Access. Where no Security Issue is involved Stock footage should be available he said since the footage was made at Public expense specific regulations governing the military s role in movie making were issued in january 1964 because of the longest Day Darryl f Canuck s 1962 epic about the Normandy landings that opened with a scene the department of defense had said must be Cut to ensure cooperation. The scene showed an american Soldier machine gunning a group of German soldiers who were apparently trying to surrender but the american did i understand their pleas of Bitte Bitte "please1 please and fired Over the years the military s objections to a movie were made through its denial to provide assistance when help was withdrawn irom Supe Carner the department of defense asked that its credits be deleted. Strub said an air Force officer in the Pentagon was Upsel about the script Lor twelve o clock High 1949 because it portrayed pilots unwilling to Fly Lor a new and demanding commander but outside of refusing help there s not much the government can do about a filmmaker who does not agree to changes other than withdrawing All credits to the military. The military objected to Robert Mitchum ordering his troops to fire in one minute to Zero 1952 and asked that the scene be taken out. It want and the army withdrew credit the marines pulled their name irom Heartbreak Ridge. Clint Eastwood s 1986 movie about a hard nosed sergeant our support always depends on the availability of people and  Strub said. Even in it is altering to the department of Welense. We cannot interfere with our Mission " payment for military guidance varies rom film to film and ranges from the going Rale Lor extras to donations to service clubs and groups. With top gun Lor example if f-14s were taking off and the top gun cameras were rolling there was no charge but in a plane Lew specifically Lor the movie the filmmaker had to pay what it Cost the military to try the plane a Cost the government will not divulge. Movie makers will always go outside the country for props and equipment if the . Military won t help. But that does t always work. Full Mela jacket was partly shot on a soundstage and a Gas works in London. It was hardly Southeast Asia and critics had a Field Day. ,bruary3,1990 stars and stripes Page 15