Lights, camera, military action!

Progressive, The, April, 2003 by Andrea Lewis

Profiles from the Front Line is reality television, war movie, documentary video, and military propaganda all rolled into one. Set in Afghanistan with edgy musical accompaniment and no narration, the ABC series has promised to take viewers "to actual battlefields in central Asia" and to "bring home the danger faced every day by America's bravest in the war on terrorism." ABC also proudly states that "the Pentagon and Department of Defense lent their full support and cooperation to this unique production by [Hollywood producer] Jerry Bruckheimer and [Cops creator] Bertram van Munster, which will feature compelling personal stories of America's military men and women and the elite U.S. Special Operations Forces."

During the months when Profiles was filmed, "real" journalists weren't allowed anywhere near the front lines, and news organizations had to survive on a limited diet of highly coordinated military briefings. Meanwhile, Profiles camera crews were given nearly unlimited access to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

"There's a lot of other ways to convey information to the American people than through news organizations," Rear Admiral Craig Quigley told The New York Times about Profiles last year when the show was in development. The gang at Profiles was, as Quigley described, "trooping around all over the countryside--flying on planes, going on ships, going on patrol with the 101st Airborne, [and] living a rugged life."

In the premiere episode of Profiles from the Front Line, we meet some of the soldiers Quigley spoke about. There is Colonel Abraham J. Turner, who emphatically tells his troops that "the American people expect you to be at the point of the spear" in the war on terrorism. Army Specialist Alvin Fields is loving his wartime assignment. "I couldn't think of any place I'd rather be than right here doing my job, knowing I'm doing my part to keep America free," the smiling soldier tells us not long after we see him excitedly handling a new bazooka-like anti-tank weapon.

Soon we meet the "elite soldiers" of U.S. Special Operations Forces. Master Sergeant Mark (first names only for the "Rambo Guys," as they're called) explains that his team's primary mission is to "find and kill Al Qaeda," but says that identification is a problem. "To us, everyone pretty much looks the same." Staff Sergeant Mike agrees: "It's frustrating because you can't kill the guys that need to be killed." At one point the three-man crew begins to drive off with a suspect they've apprehended--an elderly, one-armed former Taliban leader. When the man's fifteen-year-old son starts to run after their vehicle, Staff Sergeant Drew coolly contemplates shooting the teen. "It's pretty easy to pull the trigger and shoot the boy, but that's not what we're there for," he says. For the most part, the military men and women featured in Profiles are good looking, articulate, and enthusiastic about what they're doing. They are archetypes of characters you'd expect to see in a big-budget Bruckheimer film.

Virtually everyone who watches television or goes to the movies has been struck by the lightning bolt that imprints all Jerry Bruckheimer productions. He is perhaps the most successful producer and the most powerful man in Hollywood, with more than $12.5 billion in film, video, and recording receipts. If you didn't see Flashdance or Beverly Hills Cop, you probably caught The Rock, or Con Air, or Enemy of the State. Maybe J. B. reeled you in with his two CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) television series, which are the main courses feeding America's seemingly insatiable appetite for graphic blood and gore.

More than likely, however, it was one of his big-budget war epics that got you. Those films have not only captured the disposable income of millions of filmgoers but, more to the point, the hearts and minds of the Washington establishment. In fact, three of Bruckheimer's biggest war movies--Tap Gun, Pearl Harbor, and Black Hawk Down--were also made with military cooperation.

Pretty powerful stuff for the Detroit native who was born in 1945 to working class German-Jewish immigrant parents. Bruckheimer has described his folks as "very strong Democrats," while characterizing his own views as more right than left. (He acknowledges that he voted for Bush in the last election.) While growing up, Bruckheimer went to weekly film matinees, developed an interest in photography, and got his career start in the world of advertising. One of the ads he produced for Pontiac while still in his early twenties caught the attention of Time magazine, and that led to a job at the high-profile ad agency BBD&O. It took less than five years for Bruckheimer to make his way from Madison Avenue to Hollywood, where he was soon producing films like the early Richard Gere vehicle American Gigolo.

Bruckheimer's partnership with producer Don Simpson led to a string of box office winners, including Bad Boys (with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence) and Crimson Tide, the story of two naval officers squaring off while on the brink of nuclear war (with Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman).