Tag Archives: Tom Cruise

Op-Ed: Why does the Pentagon give a helping hand to films like ‘Top Gun’? By Roger Stahl

Hollywood supply the U.S. military and intelligence community with some of their best propaganda. From Roger Stahl at archive.ph:

Actor Tom Cruise in the film "Top Gun: Maverick."

Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in “Top Gun: Maverick.”
(Paramount Pictures)

As this country commemorates Memorial Day, many will head to theaters to bathe in the nostalgia of “Top Gun: Maverick,” which opened Friday. With Tom Cruise on screen, the multiplex will crack with high-fives and roar with F-18 fighter jets, those sleek emblems of American power.
The film’s F-18s and other military gear are courtesy of the Pentagon. This is the job of the U.S. Defense Department’s Entertainment Media Office, which allows use of such assets in exchange for control of the script. Each military branch — except for the Marine Corps, which operates out of Camp Pendleton in San Diego County — maintains satellite offices along Wilshire Boulevard to do outreach with the entertainment industry. The original 1986 “Top Gun,” which was intimately guided by the Navy, has long represented the military’s capabilities when it comes to steering pop culture.

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