The Pentagon in Hollywood: Ten film tales

Wings This 1927 picture used more than 3,000 infantrymen, pilots and crew and was the first ever winner of the Best Picture Oscar. It symbolized the beginning of the relationship between the War Department and Hollywood. Everett Collection

Top Gun This 1986 film was a recruiting bonanza for the Air Force, which, ironically, had nothing to do with the film, which was about Navy jet fighters. The Navy, however, did also benefit from the positive image conveyed in the film. It was the single biggest booster to recruitment numbers. Paramount / Everett Collection

Black Hawk Down The U.S. Army transported Blackhawk helicopters complete with Army Rangers and pilots who did all the fast-roping from the choppers into the crowded streets of Rabat and Sale, Morocco, for the film. They charged the filmmakers about $3 million for the use of the equipment and troops. The 2001 film made over $170 million worldwide. Columbia Pictures / Everett Collection

The Hurt Locker Initially, the Pentagon collaborated with filmmakers on the story about a bomb disposal squad in Iraq. But differences over the script — namely a scene involving a soldier committing a war crime — ended the U.S. military's involvement in the project. While it won big at the Oscars, the 2008 film was viewed as unrealistic by the military and war correspondents. Summit Entertainment / Everett Collection

Lone Survivor This 2013 film was mainly shot in New Mexico, with the assistance of Air Force rescue teams. The Air Force was instrumental in the real-life rescue of Marcus Lutrell, the only surviving member of a Navy SEAL team sent on a mission to capture or kill an Afghan Taliban leader. Universal / Everett Collection

Crimson Tide The story of this 1995 movie, about a mutinous executive officer and a nuclear bomb trigger-happy captain had 'two fundamental showstoppers' — a mutiny and the compromise of communications — that led the Pentagon to turn it down. Buena Vista Pictures / Everett Collection

Apocalypse Now The Vietnam War classic, released in 1979, was made without the U.S. military's help after officers objected to the storyline — that a U.S. Army captain would be sent on a mission to kill a renegade U.S. Army colonel who had set himself up as the head of a native tribe. United Artists / Everett Collection

The Transformers series Every service of the U.S. military is involved in the making of these films — aircraft carriers, fighter jets, army tanks and more. The movies, including 2009’s 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,' above, grossed over $700 million worldwide. Paramount / Everett Collection

Jurassic Park III For this 2001 film, the first in the series to not be directed by Steven Spielberg, the Pentagon asked filmmakers to change the identity of one of the characters from a Marine officer to a civilian scientist. They agreed. The Pentagon offered to provide a Marine rescue team at the end of the film, which the filmmakers accepted. MCA / Everett Collection

Platoon Labeling it 'dead on arrival,' the Pentagon refused to be part of this 1986 Vietnam War movie, which focuses on a village raid in which civilians were killed. 'I'm told the Army wasn't pleased with the notion that this was the kind of thing you would expect on every combat patrol,' says Pentagon entertainment liaison officer Phil Strub. Orion Pictures / Everett Collection