Customer Reviews

Pentagon Wars [VHS]

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie was a real surprise. I rented it on vacation when neither my son, my wife, nor myself could agree. I just saw that Olympia Dukakis and Richard Benjamin were in it and he directed. And, it was a comedy.

But this film is the blackest of comedies. And the very scenes that were the most hilarious were also those that engendered outrage in me, gradually at first, and then with a rushing forward.

It is the true story of the latter stages of development of the Bradley armoured vehicle which was featured in the Gulf War, and the Air Force officer, James Burton, whose task, by Congressional edict, was to sign off on the final testing of the vehicle. Without his approval the Bradley could not go into production.

The film is based on his book.

What he discovered was that the Bradley's design had evolved from a fast troop transport to a mish-mash of everything, making it unsuitable for each of its now numerous and contradictory roles.

Worse, however, was that the vehicle was an obvious death trap. If the paper-thin armour didn't get you, then the poisonous fumes would. And if they didn't do it, then the exploding of the vehicle's gas tank would finish off the job.

The army would not test the vehicle, except for those that they rigged--knowing full well what the results would be. Israel bought some, but seeing right off the bat that the vehicle as designed was a death trap, insisted on modifications.

So, there were two production lines: one for the Israeli version and one for the death trap US version: produced by its own country with the knowing enthusiasm and approval of military brass.

Contractor production of sub-standard military equipment is a very old story. Nothing new here. But what infuriated the officer was that here was the US Military knowingly trying to push through a vehicle that was an obvious tomb for American soldiers.

Well, this sounds (and is) pretty grim. But the film is played primarily as comedy. Obviously very black comedy, but still comedy.

The general and leader of the project is Kelsey Grammar. The questioning Congressional chairperson is Olympia Dukakis, and Richard Benjamin is Caspar Weinberger, Reagan's secretary of defense. He's always finding out the bad news from the morning's Washington Post since all his military people are just blandly reassuring him that it's all proceeding grandly: not a single glitch in the project.

The light tone and jaunty pace keep the film moving along. The villains not quite verge on buffoonery. Grammer is obviously completely disdainful of the Congress people and their questioning, yet reining it in so he can (almost) appear to take them seriously, so they'll go away.

I would have prefered it if Grammer had been more restrained and a bit more subtle about it. The generals we see at hearings on TV are much more straight-faced. But perhaps it wouldn't have been possible to keep the tone of the film nor to exhibit their disdain nor to make plausible the supposedly true incidents, each new one more ludicrous and implausible than the one before.

As the film ended I was very upset. I'm not at all hawkish in my politics. But I do believe that when we commit Americans to fight that they should have equipment that serves them the best. I was laughing as the film proceeded as one outrageous and hilarous incident succeeded another. I did want to know whether the "Office of Ruminant Procurement" really did come into existence or was it Hollywood taking liberties with the text.

As with Colonel Burton, though, the knowledge that US brass would push enthusiastically for a death trap vehicle is a bit much for me.

This film would be hilarious were it not so frightening.

This film is not portrayed as a documentary Still, it purports to reflect in a semi-accurate manner the convulsions that attended the development of the Bradley fighting vehicle. Based on news reports, it contains more than a bit of truth, even if there is some dramatic license being employed.

The conflict in this film is between a conscientious officer who wants to do real testing and a pentagon general who wants to make contractors and politicians happy. It is a sad state of affairs.

The development of the Bradley had a long history before it ever reached deployment. It was plagued by cost overruns, changing specifications and failed tests. It even went through a phase where it was supposed to be aquatic. In the end, a troop carrier for 11 troops became a scout vehicle that was too prominent to do scout work, had a turret like a tank so it would attract extra fire, had aluminum armor so it would not be too heavy (or stop shells) and would only carry 6 people. The reasons for all of these travesties can be found in pork barrel politics.

This is a comedy and it is funny in its irony. That does not stop it from also being a tragedy.

It is well-known that when it comes to procurement, the Department of Defense does not usually put a priority on such incidentals as whether the item actually works. DOD history is cluttered with such gold-plated duds as the Sergeant York gun and the infamous $7600 coffeemaker. "The Pentagon Wars," a made-for-cable film originally aired on HBO, is a devastatingly satirical -- and true -- look at one such boondoggle, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Col. James Burton (Cary Elwes) is a by-the-books Air Force officer who is given the job of making sure the Bradley is effective and ready for use. He quickly learns that the vehicle is a Frankenstein's monster, designed by committee and unable to do any of the tasks it was meant for, but which is being built anyway. In his attempts to adequately test the vehicle, Burton is up against Gen. Partridge (Kelsey Grammer), who is determined to get the Bradley into production no matter what. After all, it has been 17 years in design, with $14 billion already spent on it. Who cares whether it works or not? Burton does, actually, and is equally determined to make sure the Bradley actually works before he signs off on it, an attitude which does not earn him plaudits from Partridge. Running interference are Col. Bock and Maj. Sayers (John C. McGinley and Tom Wright), who sabotage every one of Burton's tests with darkly hilarious results.

(The buy-it-now-and-test-it-later culture is, unfortunately, alive and well in the Pentagon even today. No better illustration exists than the $50 billion -- pre-cost overruns -- National Missile Defense, now in production despite failing most tests and passing a few only under grossly rigged test conditions.)

"The Pentagon Wars" is a darkly gleeful look at the government weapons procurement culture. Pick it up if you get a chance.

Unfortunately, too many of the stories of the U.S. military purchasing $500 hammers and $2,000 coffee makers are true. The bigger the weapons system, the easier it is for "chrome plating" the design to enter into the system. Neither the military nor the defense contractors benefit from streamlining the weapons development process. The more, the merrier. Trapped in this system are literally thousands of dedicated, well meaning, capable people. "The Pentagon Wars" tells the story of an earnest, dedicated career Air Force LT. Colonel who is given the dead-end assignment of certifying the white-elephant Bradley Fighting Vehicle. His best efforts are frequently thwarted by the project officers and defense contractors, but there are always courageous people who are willing to stand up with the truth. This light-hearted comedy will make you laugh and be proud of our brave military people who fight these internal wars against enemies in front and behind. I saw this recently on an in-flight movie coming back from Europe. The entire business class section sat rivited, laughing and booing at the same time. I can't remember the last time that I saw an audience so rivited by an in-flight movie. You will not be disappointed by "The Pentagon Wars."

Not only is The Pentagon Wars one of the funniest movies, but it has a twisted sense of how military tests programs can get when Congress and the Upper Brass try to control spending on test programs. In fact this movie is more relevant today in highlighting why our troups go into harms way without the equipment the need (lack of armor on vehicles in Iraq).

Now, I may not be a self proclaimed "military analysis" like jtpaladin, but I did spend 5 years in a military test program. While the movie takes a comedic approach, it is remarkable close to how a test program works.

I saw this movie when it first came out and thought it was a hoot! The mix of charaters and the way the movie pokes fun at the simplest items (love the sheep specs) keeps it going from start to finish. Then I went to work on the test program, and everytime we had to make a change to the item, I thought of this movie. ROFLOL!!!

I only have one complaint about this movie:

WHERE IS THE DVD RELEASE?

"Believe it or not, it actually happened" is what the opening title card reads: the US Army spent $14 billion over 16 years redesigning the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle from a simple APC into "a troop carrier that can't carry troops, a reconnaisance vehicle that's too conspicuous to perform reconaissance, and a quasi-tank with less armor than a snowblower but has enough firepower to take out half of downtown Washington." I had once played around on one at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree and had no idea that the thing had originally been a deathtrap that very few people in the Defense Department would speak out against because of military discipline and an overemphasis on being team players. However, this shocking look at what American tax money ends up paying for because of flag officer ignorance, junior officer ambition and defense contractor greed is offset with absurd, possibly-fictional humor: Lt. Col. Jim Burton, the Air Force officer who blew the whistle on it all, wants to prove the ineffective aluminum armor will produce poison gas by putting sheep in the Bradley when he fires a real antitank missile at it, but the cronies of Maj. Gen. Partridge sabotage him by requiring "sheep specs" and creating the Office of Ruminant Procurement to decide what kind of sheep to use. It's an excellent "truth is stranger than fiction" fact-based comedy.

I have been waiting for this DVD to come out for a very long time! It is a hilarious movie based on a true story about the creation of the Bradley war tank. It shows how the promotion system in the military used to push for new war products to be used, even if they were not acceptable for use, and the struggle of one man to do the right thing. You will not stop laughing while watching this movie!

Pentagon Wars is one of the best dark comedies in years. It plays like Catch-22 combined with Ibsen's "Enemy of the People." Basically, the story follows LT. Burton, a USAF pilot assigned by Congress to test the Army's Bradley fighting vehicle. When Burton discovers potentially deadly flaws in the Bradley's design, he assumes the officers in charge of the vehicle's development will be eager to fix the problems before the vehicle goes into production. Instead, he finds that the officers already know about problems, and worse yet, have done all they can to cover them up. You see, the officers believe that getting the Bradley into production will result in immediate promotions--so the sooner Burton signs off on the vehicle, the better. When Burton fails to "play ball" and approve the Bradley as-is, an entertaining struggle ensues between Lt. Burton and the corrupt officers, with Burton cleverly trying to beat them at their own game.

Pentagon Wars is one of the few vastly entertaining movies that is both hilarious and frightening at the same time. Overall, the acting and directing is superb. My only complaint (and it's a minor one) is that the officers that try to thwart Burton every step of the way are depicted as immoral and incompetent goofs, when in reality they were probably very disturbed and evil human beings. Still, the movie is probably more entertaining this way, and it still manages to make the deserved parties look very, very bad.

Overall, this movie is a real winner. I've seen it a number of times on HBO, and I still intend buy it. It's a great depiction of how corruption and incompetence can undermine the best efforts of honest men. But also how one fearless man with integrity can fight the system and set things right--but not without personal consequence. It's a hard-hitting, inspiring movie, but without sentiment or a cop-out ending. It's honestly one of the best (and maybe THE best) dark comedies of the 90s.

My stepson dug back in his archives for this one. It begins in almost farcical manner with Kelsey Grammar as General Partridge doing his best Jack-Nicholson-in-"A Few Good Men" "you can't handle it" imitation. I didn't know the premise of the movie before it started, but as I watched I had the growing realization--this might not be so far-fetched. The Bradley Fighting Vehicle was rattling in my memory--"The Pentagon Wars" is the story of its remarkable track to the field of battle--a track strewn with almost all the seven deadly sins--certainly pride, greed, and envy are in there. It's almost worth the whole show to see the Office of Ruminant Procurement in action--a fabulous parody (I hope) of military procurement. Grammar brings his "Sideshow Bob" voice (the Simpsons episode where he gets ahold of a nuclear warhead) to a live performance. Cary Elwes is appropriately determined and earnest as Col. Burton, and director Richard Benjamin has a nice turn as Reagan's Sec. of Defense Caspar Weinburger. All in all, a very entertaining, while still sobering show.

When I saw Pentagon Wars for the first time I did not know, wther to laugh or to cry. What seemed at first a delightful comedy quickly turned into the tragic story of one man (Cary Elwes) struggling to to his job, with the entire military ( represented by Kelsey Grammer as a bone-headed general ) trying to stop him. The story of the ridiculous procurement tests and developement of the Bradly Infantry Fighting Vehicle may seem hilarious at first, but when one remembers the number of lives hanging on a real life farce like this, the humor will not last. Pentagon Wars is an incredible, but completely realistic account of this true story, depicting the stupidity of military procurement in stunning, but tragic detail.