A co-worker noted that a lot of Hollywood movies feature U.S. Navy aircraft as their centerpiece (e.g. Top Gun, Stealth) but few movies do so with Air Force aircraft. Why is that? Does the Navy have a better PR department?
Your buddy is forgetting the classic* Iron Eagle series of films, Air Force One, and the Transformers and Iron Man movies which actually had notices at the end that the F/A-22 Raptor’s distinct design is a trademark of Northrop-Grumman (or Lockheed or Boeing or whoever-the-hell). As a former Air Force officer I’ve seen lots of our hardware and uniforms in movies - but you’re right, the Navy gets all the good ones (e.g. A Few Good Men).
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- and very forgettable!!
Don’t forget about Stargate the television series–the Air Force is overwhelmingly represented here.
I did some work for a Navy liason dude. His entire career was working with Hollywood and he said the Navy really went out of its way to be involved early in the process and to make themselves and equiptment available to directors. Much more so than the other branches.
In the IRON EAGLE films it is actually the Israeli Air Force pretending to be the USAF.
“The Navy vs the Night Monsters” was Navy all the way, at least to the degree of relying heavily on outtakes from “Victory at Sea.” The Jolly Jack Tars may have enjoyed Mamie Van Doren’s boobs, too.
While I don’t doubt that the Navy and Hollywood are chummier, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a historic reason for that. Specifically that the Navy simply has more to offer Hollywood than any other branch, and it’s easier to deal with a single group if possible.
They have submarines, they have jets, and they have land troops (like the SEALs.) Everything you want in a single package.
Military base proximity to Hollywood studios, anybody?
Check.
I’ll bet Navy is 5 blocks away.
The big base in the Hollywood area is Long Beach, so while more than 5 blocks, it is close. The Air force has Vandenberg Air Force Base, but it did not appear to have anywhere near as much to offer Hollywood as the many large California Naval Bases. Many films in the 80s had the on ship scenes done in San Diego, the two I am 100% sure are Top Gun and Star Trek IV. Both used the USS Ranger as a stand in for the Nimitz and the Enterprise respectively.
It was the Air Force in Transformers IIRC. Michael Bay I think is on really good terms with the Air Force.
To the point where somewhere in the middle of the series’ run, Gen. Jumper (AF Chief of Staff at that point) played himself in an episode.
The Air Force seemed extremely interested in cooperating with all things Stargate, from what I could tell- shots of facilities, etc…
This is interesting too:
They’re preparing us for the big news.
Using the navy in films, you get to have cool jets(perhaps not the same cool jets as the air force, but cool all the same). As a bonus, you get aircraft carriers, catapults, and those wonderful carrier landings.
Additionally, a lot of the movies you see the navy in are not about wars, but about emerging situations in foreign countries. It makes sense to use the navy in these cases since a carrier battlegroup would be the first major asset on scene.
Unless you specifically need an A-10, the navy is far more photogenic, even when you take the godawful enlisted uniforms into account.
My 2c at any rate.
I read somewhere that in Cheyenne Mountain, there’s a broom closet with the title “Stargate Command” on it. 