War on the silver screen : shaping America's perception of history

201 Pages·2014·1.253 MB·English

by  Jeansonne, Glen, Luhrssen, David

War on the Silver Screen
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War on
the Silver
Screen
Shaping America’s
Perception of History
glen jeansonne and david luhrssen
Potomac Books | An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press
© 2014 by Board of Regents of the
University of Nebraska
Acknowledgments for the use of
copyrighted material appear on
page vii, which constitutes an
extension of the copyright page.
All rights reserved.
Potomac Books is an imprint
of the University of Nebraska Press.
Manufactured in the United
States of America.
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jeansonne, Glen, 1946–
War on the silver screen: shaping America’s
perception of history / Glen Jeansonne and
David Luhrssen.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn 978-1-61234-641-0 (pbk.: alk. paper)
isbn 978-1-61234-642-7 (pdf)
1. War films—United States—History and
criticism. 2. History in motion pictures.
I. Luhrssen, David. II. Title.
pn1995.9.w3j35 2014
791.43'6581—dc23
2014025858
Set in Garamond Premier
by Renni Johnson.
Designed by N. Putens.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
1.World War I (1914–1918) 1
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Gallipoli (1981)
2.World War II (1939–1945) 28
Casablanca (1942)
Saboteur (1942) and The
Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Twelve O’Clock High (1949)
Patton (1970)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
3.The Cold War (1947–1991), including
the Korean War (1950–1953) and
the Vietnam War (1955–1975) 82
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
From Russia with Love (1963)
Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned
to Stop Worrying and Love the
Bomb (1964) and Fail-Safe (1964)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)
4.The War on Terror (2001–) 143
United 93 (2006)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
and Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Notes 165
Bibliography 179
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge Elizabeth Demmers, our original
editor at Potomac Books, for believing in the project. Paul McCo-
mas, Mary Manion, and Steve Spice shared movies and ideas during
the writing of the book. John Jahn was tireless with editorial as well
as copyediting suggestions. Earlier versions of the essays on Charlie
Wilson’s War,United 93, and Zero Dark Thirty originally appeared
in Milwaukee’s weekly newspaper the Shepherd Express and are used
with permission.
vii
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Introduction
Movies about wars have done more to stamp the wars’ images in the
American psyche than the reality of those wars themselves. Who can
ponder the moral consequences of neutrality in the face of Nazism
without remembering Casablanca, the heroism of bomber crews with-
out Twelve O’Clock High, or the morass of Vietnam without Apocalypse
Now? This book examines the often indelible impressions left by the fic-
tional stories told on film. For better or worse the movies have shaped
the American imagination more profoundly than the printed word.
Since 1917 the United States has almost constantly been at war or
anxious over the prospect of war. Wars, past and present, have seldom
been far from the minds of Americans, and movies have often helped
define the public’s attitudes toward them. Some of these wars have
seemed straightforward, with clear objectives such as “making the
world safe for democracy,” ridding the world of dictators, or repelling
imminent threats to the homeland. Some have been more muddled
and have provoked mixed emotions because their goals were ambigu-
ous and their resolutions less definitive. For nearly a half-century the
United States fought a Cold War, punctuated intermittently by the
eruption of “limited” hot wars in Vietnam and Korea. The nation
fought proxy wars, propaganda wars, and a war on terror.
Movies have registered the public’s varied feelings about these
conflicts and have defined the ways we remember them. All Quiet
on the Western Front captured the futility with which many Ameri-
cans regarded World War I, and most films on the subject since then
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