David Robb slogged through decades of data--a veritable quagmire of documentation, including production notes, official memos, filmmaker and producer interviews, and screenplay drafts--to write his new book, Operation Hollywood. From the interview he gave to Mother Jones, it sounds like a fascinating story.
That said, the interview gives me an odd feeling that the author--and maybe even Mother Jones herself--might be letting a strong political point of view slip through here and there. Nothing specific, though, maybe it's just me.
I'm sure Operation Hollywood will become the must-read bible for anyone who decided to get into the motion picture business after seeing Top Gun [one hilarious anecdote from the book: enrollment actually shot up after Top Gun not in film schools, but in the Navy. Who'da thought?].
One wee bit of constructive criticism which I hope arrives in time for the paperback edition: In these perilous times, the book's subtitle, How the Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Movies, seems needlessly divisive, by which I mean SATANICALLY UNAMERICAN. I suggest it be changed to How Hollywood Does Its Part To Help Keep The Pentagon's Recruiting and Funding Pipelines Flowing, While Spending Some of That $500 Billion You're About To Vote For In YOUR District, Congressman.
[via GreenCine]
Mother Jones Intern Intern-views David Robb
Support David Robb, the anti-Military Entertainment Complex, and buy Operation Hollywood: &c., &c. at Amazon.
Watch the Pentagon's greatest cinematic success, Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line on DVD. [What? You say they didn't do that one??]
