To Qualify for US Military Assistance, a Movie Has to Meet the Pentagon’s Criterion
An action blockbuster’s production can get pretty expensive. Borrowing military gear from the US armed forces is one way to put cool stuff on the silver screen, at little to no cost. Do you want great shots of Apache attack helicopters nipping around a battlefield, a US carrier task force majestically slicing through the waves, or the newest US Air Force warplanes doing nifty things? The Pentagon is happy to help – provided you make it happy in return. To qualify for support from the DoD, a movie script has to get vetted in advance by its Entertainment Media Unit.
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All will be well, and the Pentagon will offer assistance that can be worth millions of dollars, provided a movie meets some basic criterion. First, the movie has to present the US military in a positive way. Second, the movie has to depict the US military accurately and authentically – with the Pentagon getting to define what counts as “accurate” and “authentic”. Finally, the movie has to have a positive impact on US military recruitment and retention. Below are some movies that met those criterion and got help from the Pentagon, and others that did not and were told by the DoD to go kick rocks.