By Dr. Edward J. Hagerty
Associate Professor, Military History at American Military University
It is a well-known axiom that our nation’s military forces reflect the society from which they are drawn. Hollywood films about the military over the last few decades have likewise reflected that society, rather than the military itself. War films are rarely just about war. They are instead statements that mirror society’s concerns about war. For historians, this has presented something of a conundrum. Films “based on a true story” often masquerade as history, despite what is sometimes a rather loose interpretation of historical fact. Historians and students alike can turn that conundrum to their advantage by using film as the basis of further discussion. Just as we can learn as much from a bad leader as we can from a good one, we can also learn from inaccurate films as well as those that are historically on target.
Military films can broadly be placed into three categories based on their purpose: films that aim to boost morale and support for a war (propaganda-based); those that aim to accurately document a good war story, heroic or otherwise (historically-based); and those that aim to provide social commentary on contemporary issues about war and warfare (social-based). Historically-based films can be further sub-divided into those that reflect an individual’s personal experiences, those that reflect historically accurate situations and real characters, and those that use real events only as a vehicle for a wholly or partly fictional tale.
The 1940s were the heyday of propaganda-based films, but Hollywood’s support waned quickly after World War II. During that conflict, the film industry threw its support fully behind the war effort. Despite isolationists’ allegations that prior to the nation’s entry into the war Hollywood was attempting to influence public opinion in favor of Great Britain and against fascism, no real evidence was found of such a plot. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, films and even cartoons were quickly produced to enhance morale and boost the war effort. Nonetheless, government oversight of filmmaking exerted a firm influence and ensured that moviegoers got the right message from movies. Serious war films such as 1943’s Guadalcanal Diary, which showed the personal side of war in the Pacific, were balanced with lighter fare such as love stories or comedies like Abbott and Costello’s 1941 film Buck Privates.
The Vietnam War era saw nearly a complete turn of sentiment among filmmakers. With the exception of 1968’s The Green Berets, which starred John Wayne, most films of that period reflected a distinct anti-war sentiment. Still, the plot of Wayne’s film realistically acknowledged waning support for the war and attempted to explain why we were there and what we were fighting for. It was a critical disaster but a commercial success. Few popular filmmakers dared address the war directly or seriously until 1978’s release of two acclaimed anti-war films: The Deer Hunter and Coming Home. The latter, starring notable anti-war activist Jane Fonda, showed the costs of war and the scars of battle that were felt keenly on the home front. The Deer Hunter expressed similar sentiments, but it also relied on a strong metaphor with scenes involving American prisoners of war being forced to play Russian roulette while their excitable Vietnamese captors placed bets on the outcome. The Vietnam War was the controversial film’s context for a broader parable about war’s impact, but nowhere in the movie does the art of filmmaking intersect with the real craft of the historian.
Based loosely on Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, 1979’s Apocalypse Now received critical acclaim that has stood the test of time. Again, the Vietnam War is the context for a commentary on the depravity of war. It is possibly one of the Vietnam War’s most cliché-ridden films, replete with dope-addled soldiers and sailors, cavorting Playboy Playmates, and a contingent of surfer crazed air cavalrymen, including actor Robert Duval’s character who gives voice to one of the film’s iconic lines: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Central to the film’s heart of darkness, however, is the insane, rogue officer, Colonel Kurtz, (Marlon Brando) whose death at the hands of a more rational American (Martin Sheen) stops a further descent into depravity and metaphorically excises it from the American psyche.
Seven years after the release of Apocalypse Now, Sheen’s son Charlie shared top billing in Oliver Stone’s Platoon. It was the first film about the war to be made by a Vietnam Veteran and the focus of the plot is the unwarranted shooting of an innocent Vietnamese civilian and the subsequent American deaths that result, but at the hands of their comrades, not the enemy. The battle scenes are gut-wrenching, and though based on no historical incident, the film probably reflects a closer view of Vietnam’s reality than any of those that preceded it. Its release marked a turning point in Vietnam War cinema. More than a decade after the fall of Saigon, films taking the war as their theme issued forth in quick succession with a mixed bag of themes and purposes: Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Good Morning Vietnam, The Hanoi Hilton, and Born on the Fourth of July among them. Along the way, Vietnam had become the setting for a number of action-adventure films as well.
By 2002, Mel Gibson starred in We Were Soldiers, a film about the first large-scale U.S. engagement in the Ia Drang Valley in 1965. Based on the book written by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and Joe Galloway, the film’s plot involves a reporter who was on the ground with then Lieutenant Colonel Moore. Other than a small number of films based on firsthand experiences (Good Morning Vietnam and Born on the Fourth of July are examples), or those such as Hamburger Hill that were based on real events portrayed through fictional characters, We Were Soldiers was the first major success for a Vietnam War film that strove to portray the historical facts—though in this case with a rather suspect ending. Surviving veterans of Moore’s unit understood that some artistic license was used in drawing minor composite characters, but they recognized the essential facts and verified them as such. Nonetheless, the film was not without its critics.
Historians would likely profess an affinity for historically based films that tell a story centered on actual people and events, and indeed, like We Were Soldiers, films appearing years after the smoke of battle has cleared tend to provide a more balanced view. World War II films such as A Bridge Too Far and the HBO series based on historian Stephen Ambrose’s work, Band of Brothers, are two excellent examples. Other films using fictional characters in actual settings, such as the D-Day scenes from Saving Private Ryan, or those based on individual experiences (Unbroken could serve as a good recent example), would likely be among those next most welcomed by historians. In no way does that negate the importance of the role of popular culture in history, or of the artistic interpretation of themes related to the military and warfare. While the films mentioned here represent only a very small number of Hollywood’s offerings on the topic, historians should generally be grateful for any work that serves to heighten interest in their field. Films that stimulate discussion are a valuable teaching tool for those whose minds are open to various historical opinions and interpretations. From Birth of a Nation (1915) to American Sniper (2014), war films provide the opening for much valuable discussion on multiple levels as art, as social commentary, and as history. All are important to our understanding of the meaning of war and the role of the military in American society.
About the Author
American Military University Associate Professor Edward J. Hagerty received his Ph.D. from Temple University, specializing in American Military History. He also teaches military leadership courses for the USAF Air Command & Staff College Online master’s program in which the use of war films plays a prominent role.
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