Hollywood Blockbusters that Served as Military Recruitment Films

"Top Gun" celebrates its 25^th anniversary in 2011. The movie that pushed Tom Cruise to the status of superstar was a real crowd pleaser. Something a little more sinister and disquieting was at work in this ability of "Top Gun" to please crowds. According to an article by Richard D. Parker, the Navy saw an increase of 16,000 in its recruitment figures in the year following the release of "Top Gun." In other words, Tom Cruise starred in the most expensive and profitable military recruitment film of all time. Not that it was the first.

"The Green Berets"

If "Top Gun" represents one of the more subtle pieces of Hollywood propaganda designed to entice young men to join the military, John Wayne's Vietnam epic certainly represents the other extreme. The war was not going well, kids were burning draft cards, and John Wayne was pissed! The Duke got in touch with Pres. Lyndon Johnson and the result was a shockingly high level of support for the production by the U.S. military. From uniforms to artillery, there is certainly a high level of authenticity to "The Green Berets." Unfortunately, what happens on screen bears very little resemblance to what was actually happening in Vietnam. Change the locale and the bad guys and this could be one of Wayne's World War II epics. The most famous thing about this military recruitment blockbuster is the scene showing the sun setting in the east.

"Wings"

The very first movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture was the "Top Gun" of its time. "Wings" features a plot and characters of roughly the same depth as Cruise's flick, but like that '80s icon, the real point of the movie isn't the story, but the flight footage. The main male characters head off to flight school and then overseas to war. While not glorifying war, "Wings" does make sure that its characters are glamorized beyond any recognition of reality. The movie certainly works on the level of recruitment film as a young man attending a screening in 1927 would have been hard pressed not to leave the theater amid dreams of flyboy heroism.

"Casablanca"

"Casablanca" proves that a big budget Hollywood military recruitment film can actually be written, acted and directed with style. You might not consider "Casablanca" to be an example of a military recruitment film done with Hollywood stars and budgets, but it most definitely is. The whole point of this classic piece of cinema is tied to Humphrey Bogart's character Rick Blaine's assertion that "I stick my neck out for nobody." This philosophy is directly antagonistic to the entire ideological structure of the military. By the end of the movie, of course, Rick has sent the love of his life away with her husband and prepares to stick his neck out for everybody who loves democracy. "Casablanca" unquestionably was made at least in part as a way to lure isolationists into the armed services as America first entered World War II.

"Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen"

The ultimate reality is that "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen" has nothing going for it other than its status as a military recruitment film. The Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines all get at least one shot at presenting a commercial for their arm of the military in this movie. You may think "Transformers 2" was created merely to sell toys, but you are wrong. This movie exists to sell young people on the glory of military heroism as much as it exists to sell crap to schoolkids.