Art Imitates Life: The Latest Pentagon Propaganda Film

I joined some friends for lunch at “One Hot Mama’s” barbecue restaurant followed by a trip next door to the movie theater to see Tom Cruise’s new “Top Gun” movie.  One of the friends is a retired Navy fighter pilot who said the flight scenes were about 60 percent accurate.  The F-18s in the movie are real, as are the experiencing of G-forces by the actors.  That’s how we know the Pentagon was deeply involved.

Here’s the plot:  The Navy’s top pilots (the “top guns”) are asked to risk their lives not for their country but for the benefit of “one of our allies” with a sneak attack on a mountain hideaway of an enriched uranium site that, if used to manufacture a bomb, could threaten the “ally.” They succeed of course, igniting a big celebration and of course Tom Cruise gets the girl once again at the end.  My retired fighter pilot friend said that the first “Top Gun” movie caused a huge surge in enlistments in the Navy.  As for the new one, Boobus Americanus is apparently eating it up.  I read that they’ve hauled in over $400 million in the first week or so.

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