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HomeMovies about Public Affairs and Mass Media

 APAA Professional Development Reading/Watch List

Movies              
Why we like it



Control Room



This documentary is based on video clips taken in the MOC during the early stages of Gulf War I. Much of it centers around a series of conversations between a public affairs officer, Marine Lt. Josh Rushing and Al Jazeera. Interestingly, Rushing left the Marine Corps after the war to work as a journalist for Al Jazeera English. This movie is highly relevant to the Army Public Affairs mission and there are a lot of media do’s and don’t throughout the movie. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.


Control Room is a rare film that is timely and timeless: timeless because it explores the ancient and complex relationship between the Western and Arab worlds, timely because it reveals how satellite television has changed the way wars are reported.


     
Good Morning, Viet Nam
   This movie is a public affairs classic that everyone should see at least once. Robin Williams portrays Armed Forces Radio deejay Adrian Cronauer whose manic morning show incites laughs and controversy in Vietnam. Fun Fact: There is a framed Armed Forces Radio vinyl album in one of the DINFOS studios autographed by Adrian Cronauer.

     
 Wag the Dog

 

This hilarious movie breaks every rule of public affairs.


A tale of politics, power and Hollywood so outrageous it could be true! The President of the United States is involved in a sex scandal. His advisors call in a political consultant.


     
 84 Charlie Mopic

   84 Charlie Mopic is the operational call sign of the Motion picture unit assigned to a reconnaissance patrol in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The Mopic unit is making an Army documentary whilst tagging along with the patrol.

The movie is filmed purely through the lens of the camera following the small group of men as they are air lifted in to their mission and finally out again. Along the way a wonderful story unfolds.

     
Citizen Kane

   Orson Welles' masterwork dazzles anew in a superb 70th-anniversary digital transfer. Chronicling the stormy life of an influential publishing tycoon, this Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winner is rooted in themes of power, corruption, and vanity.

     
     
The Public Eye

  This is a story about a street crime photographer and there's a scene in this movie that I frequently use as an example in my KLW judging comments. It's also a great story.

New York City, 1942. Prowling the crime-ridden, midnight streets of the city, freelance shutterbug Leon "Bernzy" Bernstein (Joe Pesci) captures life's seamy side in his lens and dreams of the day his pictures will be recognized as works of art. Then, ravishing nightclub owner Kay Levitz (Barbara Hershey) lures Brenzy into investigating the thugs trying to muscle in on her business. Before he knows it, he falls for the unattainable Kay and plunges camera-first into a treacherous realm of black market scams and mafia gang war. Now, Bernzy's either going to take the fall or take the one-in-a-million shot that could change his life forever.

     
 All the President's
Men

   Reporters Woodward and Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Nixon's resignation.Starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford.


     
     
     
     
 

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If you have a recommendation for our
professional development reading/watch list, please send an email with a 'why I like it' comment to:

treasurer@armypublicaffairsassociation.org.
Recommended content must be appropriate to the Army Communicator's mission.