I mean, I didn't - did we know this was coming out? The Christian Science Monitor is an international news organization offering calm, thoughtful, award-winning coverage for independent thinkers. But the startling thing that I discovered at every level was that the general image that people had then and to this day, that a message with the right code could only come from the president himself, was never true. The war for a good quality troopers-transport vehicle. "The Pentagon Wars" is a made-for-HBO movie, that was originally broadcast in 1998. And one of the bill payers could be that capacity to do counterinsurgency, he adds. Tony Rome. The Pentagon Wars. Military Takes Hit in HBO Movie | AP News Richard Benjamin Directed an Entertaining FILM! The Pentagon Wars - Bradley Fighting Vehicle Scene - YouTube I find it interesting that this movie is classified as a comedy, granted some of the procedures that Col. Burton is forced to go through are comical. But the Nixon administration tried to prevent further revelations from coming out. See production, box office & company info, Tienes que ver esta peli: Juguetes de guerra, Camp Roberts, San Miguel, California, USA. By continuing to browse the site This is FRESH AIR. All rights reserved. DAVIES: You went to work for the RAND Corporation, where you worked on high-level military strategy. Very well written, acted, and direct. So it was to deter it so that no war would occur. This film is a dark comedy describing the development of the M2 Bradley fighting vehicle. They only list 40 rounds for the M1 Abrams despite the fact that the M1A2 can carry 42 rounds. A little footnote here, but once a go message was received at any level, there was no provision whatever for stopping that or rescinding it or bringing it back. Since this is somewhat of a satire, I expect a lot of hyperbole put into this movie. The Pentagon was the first desegregated building in Virginia. The story in the movie about the M-16 rifle was a perfect example. More than 15,000 workers were on site around the clock, and wartime office space shortages meant that workers moved in before the Pentagon was fully finished. having now been 3 years in, i can very much appreciate the humor of this fantastic satire. !This movie should be listed as a drama/comedy but's not a action movie! Trivia IMDbPro All topics The Pentagon Papers TV Movie 2003 R 1h 39m IMDb RATING 6.5 /10 1.5K YOUR RATING Rate Drama History Thriller Defense worker Daniel Ellsberg seeks to publish a series of classified government documents detailing the true nature of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. And I'm sure it was stolen at the time of the turnover of the administration. or call us at 1-617-450-2300. Supreme Court strikes down election theory. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Privacy Policy If youre looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. Ike, Kennedy, Johnson - they violated the Geneva Convention. The humor is good, the dialogues are fine and the actors never overact. Synopsis. During one point of the celebration, the two rappers pointed in unison at a makeshift spaceship, which took off and revealed an image of their fallen bandmate. Latest book reviews, author interviews, and reading trends. also disturbing is the fact that every officer involved in the development of the bradley was promoted and went on to lucrative defense contracting positions while Col. Burton was forced to leave the Air Force. What kind of access did you, as the civilian, have to military personnel? Nonetheless, it does name names and recounts a true story without too much compromise. It would have not passed the committee. And the 689,000 tons of sand and gravel used to make the buildings reinforced concrete including 41,000 concrete pilings came from the nearby Potomac River. Took me months to copy it all. This is totally backwards (and dangerous). . And it's - there are no known device that you can erase a daily newspaper (ph). They knew we couldn't win and still sent boys to die. If demands on the military are to fund rockets and missile defense to help with an island-chain deterrent strategy in the Pacific, then thats where the money will go. WarGames Movie Review | Common Sense Media What did you find? GROSS: So how much of the decision to publish was so that The Post could become a more respected player and how much of it was all the lofty principles about freedom of the press? It is pretty amazing. At a typical news conference earlier this month, for example, the press secretary fielded questions on reports of North Koreas successful test of long-range cruise missiles; accountability for a drone strike meant for an Islamic State operative that accidentally killed civilians, including children; prospects for counterterrorism operations in Africa; response to a measles outbreak among Afghan evacuees; National Guard involvement in a demonstration in support of Jan. 6 Capitol Hill rioters; and concerns that Guinean Special Forces trained by U.S. Green Berets had launched a military coup against their government. What was your style? Select stories from the Monitor that empower and uplift. This is what The New York Times has done. Release date: 28 Feb 1998 Genres: Drama. Amazon.com: The Pentagon Wars : Kelsey Grammer, Cary Elwes, Richard The meetings between Ellsberg and The Washington Post were dramatized in the Steven Spielberg film "The Post." And we had about a $100 billion of television stations that we would have lost. DAVIES: Ben Bradlee was the executive editor of The Washington Post at the time The Post published the Pentagon Papers. We had two fairly large rooms. BOB ODENKIRK: (As Ben Bagdikian) What the hell? It's hard to watch a Senate or House committee hearing after seeing this without laughing and/or grimacing. A book that does much to explain quirks of foreign policy, providing a military context for themand one that makes one wonder who's really in charge. Kelsey Grammer(Maj.Gen. Grammer is the scheming and pompous Army General Patridge (a . Richard Benjamin retells "The Pentagon Wars" story with an HBO budget and a mockumentary style in this examination of one of the Pentagon's more embarrassing faux pas; oversight of the R&D of what's come to be known as the Bradley Troop Carrier and Fighting Vehicle. But you know what? It wasn't my decision. In short, this is a really good film that I highly recommend for anyone who has ever served or cares to see what goes on behind closed doors. Our review: Parents say ( 7 ): Kids say ( 17 ): Although dated in appearance, this clever and suspenseful movie questions both an overreliance on technology and the Reagan-era defense policy. The main objective was a vehicle that could get combat troops into the battle as quickly and safely as possible. Partridge), "New Jersey Turnpikes,",'99, was an Army General who was in charge of a Tank production which had lots of problems and Cary Elwes (Lt. Col.James Burton), "Saw",'04, an Air Force officer who found all kinds of things wrong with the project, which lead to an all out Senate Investigation. If the public ever saw these papers, they would turn against the war - covert ops, guaranteed debt, rigged elections. The Best Early Prime Day 2023 Deals Available Now, You can Stream Are You There, God? Just like the F-35, it would take decades to work out all of the Death Star's software glitches and design flaws. And it was the actions of, you know, operatives of the Nixon administration that led to the dismissal of charges at your trial, because we learned that they, in fact, they planned a break-in at your psychoanalyst's office and some other things too. He'll tell us more about how he leaked the Pentagon Papers after a break. And it actually misses out on a lot of the doctrinal squabbling and political chicanery that fucked up (or at least affected) the Bradley's development. DAVIES: My interview with Daniel Ellsberg was recorded in 2017. DAVIES: You know, this wasn't just a job for you, was it? (Profanity.). The Pentagon Wars - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings - TV Guide In the wake of Vietnam, and again with Americas inglorious exit from Afghanistan, counterinsurgency has undoubtedly become completely unfashionable, he says. I do love the - that sense that you're dealing with important issues and that you're going to be fair and you're going honest (ph), but you're not going to back down. And Im going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in. And on one of those occasions, my children were there. He said, we should've thrown open the safes and screamed bloody murder because that's exactly what it was. Not only was it produced at great cost (over 13 billion taxpayer dollars) but after spending that much money it was an unsafe deathtrap for anyone riding in it, unfortunately it was a troop carrier. And our TV critic David Bianculli will review the new show "Physical." What i find disturbing is this is based on the real true to life development of the bradley fighting vehicle. But I wanted them to know that their father was doing something in a businesslike way, a calm, sober way that I thought had to be done. Clearly i'm not up to date on civic problems. Grammer's portrayal fit my perception of a Pentagon general, but his aides come out as just caricatures. But we also - it was a principle that is really fundamental to a free press. That renovation project? It never really leaves the doctrine. Hear about special editorial projects, new product information, and upcoming events. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. The story of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle is probably not the worst example of military misspending, and the limitations of a feature film require the script to condense its history rather too much. The Pentagon Wars Reviews All Critics . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Then we - for about eight hours we read and then had a news conference and decided what we could publish. DAVIES: Ellsberg, then a national security analyst with top secret clearances, was arrested and tried under the Espionage Act. This movie could have been good to watch on a big screen. and our This is an educational film. They call it the Bradley Fighting unit. As far as I know, that continued. And the research is fascinating, as you describe it. I mean, it was kind of a special place to be. ``The Pentagon Wars needs only reality to create loopy satire, with the kind of high-level scheming, egotism and ineptitude that could themselves be marketed as weapons of mass destruction. In the upper echelons of military strategic thinking, many of the critical lessons of Americas post-9/11 wars are yet to be determined, but will make perfect curriculum for the National War College and other military institutions of higher knowledge, Mr. Cosentino says. unless you renew or By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Liz Truss urges Government 'to have a plan' in case Russia implodes Earlier today, former Prime Minister Liz Truss spoke in the House of Commons, urging the current Government to have a plan in . Is that how the top brass in the US military operates? Billions of dollars (with a "b") are spent on weapons contracts while soldiers are constantly short-changed on a litany of issues important to them. I asked Bradlee why it was important for the Post to publish the Pentagon Papers. Here's Terry. And the question arises then, what about a base commander who has a number of fighter pilots or some aircraft? Cary Elwes back on the side of truth and justice, for which i'm glad, as he has hero quality. And while politicians may shy away from counterinsurgency for a time, the awareness of the importance of winning over civilians in whats known as population-centric warfare is likely to stay with military leadership. The humor in THE PENTAGON WARS, which like many HBO productions is adult in the best sense of the word, mitigates a bitter pill, but that bitterness leaves an aftertaste. General Smith put it the most accurately when Lt. Col. Burton asked him to whom the enemy was when he said "To majors who want to be colonels, to colonels who want to be generals, to generals who want that fourth star, you bet we are the enemy! When they are shooting the TOW missile at the Bradley full of sheep, the gunner says, "On the way," after which the order, "Fire," is given. That added up to an intention in a U.S. first strike, if we preempted or if we escalated a war in Europe, to 600 million dead that they were calculating. But the Justice Department got an injunction against the paper, preventing it from publishing further excerpts. HAIG: Yes. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. Examining the voluminous paperwork on the Bradley, he reads that it has been in development since 1968, during which time it has gone from an economical troop transport vehicle to a monster designed to 3. Until 2011, there was only one passenger elevator in the Pentagon. They really didn't, you know? Politicians may be eager to turn the page on intractable counterinsurgency wars, as they did after Vietnam. And I did let my older son know in particular that it might, in fact, would probably result in my going to prison. For example, in the Iraq War, I think that if there had been an Edward Snowden or - and now that I've met him - at a higher level with greater access than he had - or a Chelsea Manning with greater access than she had in the - 2002, there would have been no Iraq War, no ISIS, no - nothing that we've seen later. There was no stop message. He learned about it in a phone call with Al Haig, who was then an assistant to national security adviser Henry Kissinger. For now, though, the Senate Armed Services Committees Future of Defense Task Force 2020 report warns that China represents the most significant economic and national security threat to the United States over the next 20 to 30 years. Because of its nuclear arsenal and ongoing efforts to undermine Western democratic governments, Russia presents the most immediate threat.. 1 Reviews 500+ Ratings ALL CRITICS TOP CRITICS VERIFIED AUDIENCE ALL AUDIENCE. A caption at the end of the film notes that, despite the monumental waste in the Bradley program, most of the officers involved were either promoted or went on to high-paying defense industry jobs, while the Pentagon (As Burton, however, Cary Elwes looks uncomfortably like Oliver North). In this scene, Ellsberg is hiding out in a motel room with piles of paper strewn about, meeting with Post editor Ben Bagdikian. Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in. Did you insult your opponents in the newsroom? Introduction: The Invisible War on the White House. Builders broke ground for the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 1941, exactly 60 years before the. It's based on events the miltary due with the taxpayers money! Most of it was secret, actually, in RAND. What about the - what about Laird? Du Bois greatest regrets, Digital Dunkirk: With clock ticking, veterans race to save comrades. Under what circumstances might they proceed on their own to launch an attack? Kelsey Grammar plays Maj. Gen. Partridge a man who couldn't care less what a vehicle costs, so long as it promotes jobs and his career. The part of Burton's assistant seemed to me to be well played. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. And you wanted to study how commanders in the military at all levels, right down to pilots, would make decisions on whether to attack Soviet targets in certain circumstances. 1998, Drama, 1h 44m. Were about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, You are bigger and more capable than you realize. By creating an account, you agree to the NIXON: Oh, that. Story of a cover up in the military. But while preparations for such wars in the near future drive a significant part of that increase, a surprising share of it $145 billion, or 17% is . | Jun 3, 2004. I also enjoyed the performance of Viola Davis as the loyal sergeant, "SFC Fanning".
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