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Operation Hollywood: How the Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Movies Hardcover – April 30, 2004

by David L. Robb (Author)

22 customer reviews

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The only thing Hollywood likes more than a good movie is a good deal. For more than fifty years producers and directors of war and action movies have been getting a great deal from America’s armed forces by receiving access to billions of dollars worth of military equipment and personnel for little or no cost. Although this arrangement considerably lowers a film’s budget, the cost in terms of intellectual freedom can be quite steep. In exchange for access to sophisticated military hardware and expertise, filmmakers must agree to censorship from the Pentagon.

As veteran Hollywood journalist David L. Robb shows in this revealing insider’s look into Hollywood’s "dirtiest little secret," the final product that moviegoers see at the theater is often not just what the director intends but also what the powers-that-be in the military want to project about America’s armed forces. Sometimes the censor demands removal of just a few words; other times whole scenes must be scrapped or completely revised. What happens if a director refuses the requested changes? Robb quotes a Pentagon spokesman: "Well I’m taking my toys and I’m going home. I’m taking my tanks and my troops and my location, and I’m going home." That can be quite a persuasive threat to a filmmaker trying to keep his movie within budget.

Robb takes us behind the scenes during the making of many well-known movies. From The Right Stuff to Top Gun and even Lassie, the list of movies in which the Pentagon got its way is very long. Only when a director is determined to spend more money than necessary to make his own movie without interference, as in the case of Oliver Stone in the creation of Platoon or Francis Ford Coppola in Apocalypse Now, is a film released that presents the director’s unalloyed vision.

For anyone who loves movies and cares about freedom of expression, Operation Hollywood is an engrossing, shocking, and very entertaining book.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Every year, Hollywood producers ask the Pentagon for help in making films, seeking everything from locations and technical advice to Blackhawk helicopters and nuclear-powered submarines. The military will happily oblige, it says in an army handbook, so long as the movie "aid[s] in the recruiting and retention of personnel." The producers want to make money; the Defense Department wants to make propaganda. Former Hollywood Reporter staffer Robb explores the conflicts resulting from these negotiations in this illuminating though sometimes tedious study of the military-entertainment complex over the last 50 years. Robb shows how, in the Nicholas Cage film Windtalkers, the Marine Corps strong-armed producers into deleting a scene where a Marine pries gold teeth from a dead Japanese soldier (a historically accurate detail). And in The Perfect Storm, the air force insisted on giving the Air National Guard credit for rescuing a sinking fishing boat, instead of the actual Coast Guard heroes. Even seemingly flawless recruiting vehicles had troubles: in Top Gun, the navy demanded Tom Cruise's love interest be changed from a military instructor to a civilian contractor (fraternization between officers and enlisted personnel being a no-no). At its worst, the author argues, the Pentagon unscrupulously targets children; Robb reveals how the Defense Department helped insert military story lines into the Mickey Mouse Club. To help, Robb suggests a schedule of uniform fees by which producers could rent aircraft carriers, F-16s and the like. It's an intriguing idea, though producers can go it alone: as Robb points out, blockbusters Forrest Gump, An Officer and a Gentleman and Platoon were all made without military assistance.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"...a bracing read into the backstory of big studio propaganda." -- Entertainment Today (Los Angeles), May 21-27, 2004

"...a shocking look at governmental interference in the filmmaking business over the past 50 years or so..." -- Tennessee Tribune, July 15, 2004

"...a tour of the integral workings of Hollywood's deal with the Pentagon. Our rating: A" -- Rocky Mountain News, April 23, 2004

"...addresses half a century of propaganda techniques used in Hollywood movies." -- Seattle Times/ Post-Intelligencer, May 30, 2004

"...one of the best I've read in a long time...[Robb's] a great writer and the researcher is far-reaching." -- MovieWeb.com, August 16, 2004

"...tremendous job of documenting how far film producers and television shows bend their vision to the military line..." -- OC Weekly, July 23-29, 2004

"An indignant, unsettling analysis of the military's influence on the film industry." -- Hollywood Reporter, May 13, 2004

"Anyone interested in the truth, in propaganda, movies, or the military should definitely read this book. It's an eye-opener." -- About.com (Agnosticism/Atheism)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books; First Hardcover Edition edition (April 30, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1591021820
ISBN-13: 978-1591021827
Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 22 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,529,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #726 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Journalism
- #1228 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Censorship
- #1568 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Genre Films

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BlacKnight28

A hard hitting book that doesn't let you forget the facts

April 23, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As a military public affairs officer myself, I bought this book thinking it would be a tell-all about the great relationship between Hollywood and the military; however, I was quickly wrong. This book obviously written by someone with a law degree or at least knowledge of constitutional law, makes it very clear his disdain for a decades-old technique for recruiting future service members. Throughout much of the book, I will admit that I failed to see Mr. Robb' s points most of the time, especially considering the millions of dollars of equipment the Pentagon loans to movie makers in exchange for a professional and serious depiction of the military. However, at the book's end, is when I can see the author's points. It does beg the question should DoD have the power to bend facts and rewrite history itself by only allowing what and who it wants portrayed?

Much of the book's examples are from the 1950s and earlier, so it would've been good to have updated stories from the 90s and 2000s...but overall a decent thought-provoking book.

One person found this helpful

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Roadvirus

Five Stars

May 17, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

After reading this book, you will never watch a military-related film the same way again.

One person found this helpful

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F. J. Zubek

Compromising for props

July 5, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is, at its core, what the book is about.

Hollywood makes many kinds of films. Fantasy, science fiction and comedies and war movies. While they can re create many of their own props much of the time, its tough to build a dozen helicopters or even an aircraft carrier from scratch. So in order to properly tell a good war movie, there are times when its very, very cost effective to use authentic machines.

The problem is that the military, while eager to help, ( after all the people in uniform enjoy watching movies too) understandably wants to be shown in a good light.

And that's where the compromising begins. And the drama that happens behind the scenes, in and of itself, makes for some good story telling. Fact of the matter is, it was Hollywood that has done most of the compromising. While we have seen many many moving, dramatic stories of our military in action over the years, Robb reveals in these pages that there were times when story had to be watered down a bit to please the military in order to gain access to the machines it needed in order to put the films on the screen.

If you are a fan of war movies and are interested in what goes on behind the scenes, this particular book might provide some eye opening insight. You may in fact find yourself going back to re watch your favorite war film after reading what Hollywood had to do in order to tell that story. Very good book!

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

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Deborah M. Alexander

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

December 7, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A book that uncovers and describes yet more facts of how taxpayer money goes to pay for propaganda to warp our minds. Truth is stranger than fiction, and maybe always was.

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SparkyV

It's interesting, but the author's even further to the ...

March 2, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

It's interesting, but the author's even further to the Left than I am. The information is very interesting, but when he editorializes, I can finally see what conservatives mean by "entitlement."

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epsilon

An eye-opening book about frightening tactics used by the Pentagon ...

June 2, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

An eye-opening book about frightening tactics used by the Pentagon to control how the military branches are portrayed in films and television shows.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

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E. Alton

Great topic but poor anti-military/liberal slant

March 27, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Gosh I was looking forward to this book. Living outside DC & knowing majority of these films, it made sense I'd enjoy this read. Well from the git-go I knew unfortunately where this one was going. Before Chapter 1, we get a preachy Forward section from some lefty professor teaching "Public Interest Law" (snickers) for nearby GW University. This guy proceeds to lambast the military over its ability to control/monitor how our how beloved armed services are portrayed in film & television. He wants immediate Congressional hearings & investigations - into this LOL! Any lawyer or professor specializing in "Public Interest Law" likely is card-carrying member of ACLU and every other absurd anti-US/Constitution group out there.

So I thought ok - forget the ninny career professor who teaches and doesn't "do - let's get the book. While I admire films that went without military or DOD assistance (Apocalypse Now, An Officer & A Gentleman, No Way Out, Crimson Tide, etc) I FULLY understand our beloved military upper echelon demanding (and not compromising for "artistic differences" to the filmmakers) that our armed services be shown at all times in good standing. Sure we all know there were/are some bad apples out there protecting our country (Colonel Markinson for me was a necessary evil - hated the end of A Few Good Men w/smug Danny Caffee smiling)...its not Hollywood (or anyone's) right to demand full & open access to our planes, ships, tanks, personnel, etc just to tell a good or better story. Were there some examples of a bit "nit-pickiness" yes...but I have NO problem understanding why they're so protective of this...

Sadly the author too ends this drawn-out (and the book really dragged the last 6-7 chapters, couldn't wait to finish it) with the same nonsensical "Congressional hearings" nonsense to help our Hollywood artists be able to portray our armed services any way that they like, WRONGLY claiming we're not a "free" nation - when he doesn't understand even having the ability to make this request & argue the points is freedom in and of itself. Go to Russia and see what they'd do or say lol? Heck if your plot's interesting enough you'll likely have a KGB shadow for life.

Again good topic but would have preferred more balanaced, objectivity from the author. Seemingly ever chapter ended with a dig our govt for not cowtowing to "artistic indepence". What a bunch of hooey...normal, independent person will catch on quickly reading this mush that the author has little respect/admiration for our military and heave this thing. Only thing saving it from 1 star for me was some specific films and relating issues I didn't know prior. Heck doesn't even have many pictures lol...

Pass on this one folks.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

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Erik J. Reynolds

interesting subject, poorly written

January 22, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

If this guy didn't have such a personal hatred of the military, he might have been able to write a decent history of what is a fascinating and deep history between the military and Hollywood.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

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