meddlecore "The Pentagon Wars" is a made-for-HBO movie, that was originally broadcast in 1998. It is based on the account of Colonel James Burton (also the main character, played by Cary Elwes), a former military man who found himself up against a wall of ambition, when tasked with vetting the field effectiveness of the Bradley Military Vehicle. A number of high ranking and highly influential military minds had already invested their careers, reputations and billions of taxpayer dollars into the Bradley project- with little-to-no results. What was originally supposed to be a personnel transport device, found itself constantly being redesigned, until it was a hybrid scout/personnel transport/tank that was rather ineffective at carrying out any of the tasks it was meant for. The whole thing ended up too slow to operate as a scouting vehicle, too bulky to carry a significant amount of troops, and too weak to go up against any sort of anti-tank defences. But too many people had invested too much in this project to admit defeat. So, despite the fact that such a vehicle was absolutely unfit for the field became irrelevant when weighed against the egos and ambitions of those behind the project.Hence, when Colonel Burton shows up to test the field effectiveness of the machine, he finds it to be lacking, and questions whether it should be put into production. His investigations reveal that a conspiracy has been undertaken to cover-up the vehicles shortcomings- including fraudulent tests used to determine it's safety and effectiveness in the field.Instead of just acting as a whistleblower though, he decides he needs to do everything by the book...convincing the soldiers that have been helping carry out the tests to change their ways, as opposed to just leaking the story to an outside media outlet. Burton does manage to convince congress to initiate an investigation into this $14 billion dollar con that was to see an overweight and overly explosive aluminum can be sent out into combat situations...with soldiers inside.Despite this, the actions of this unsung hero would force him to resign from the military, while he watched those behind this bloated failure of a project move up the ranks.This film is both entertaining and educational. While shot to be a comedy, this is a very revealing story, with very serious implications. It goes to show the kind of crap that the Military Industrial Complex is able to pull off, unbeknownst to the public, on a regular basis. And it has a great cast too: with the likes of Kelsey Grammar, John C. McGinley, among others, in supporting roles. This is a film that reveals the American Military's macho posturing for what it really is....posturing. Worth a watch if you are looking for an informative laugh. Would make a nice double-feature with "The Doomsday Gun", another made-for-HBO movie. 6 out 10.

david-bacon First of all, I've read some comments saying it's not funny and even one comparing it with a Steve Martin movie. It's a sarcastic and ironical humor, and if you only like Three Stooges only( people may like it and also like other type of comedy) type of jokes, don''t watch it, you'll miss the funny parts. Now reviewing it : I'm Brazilian and knowing how politics works down here it's very believable whats happening on screen. Which makes it funnier. The tests and the hearing are hysterical, I coudn't stop laughing, the general explaining himself to the senator it's worth the movie. And to think that this movie was so low profile when it was delivered, it makes me sad. It's a must see, if not for the funny parts(not everyone has a sense of humor), at least for the message: watch your government very, very close, they usually screw up.

eric-young First I want to stress how wonderful Kelsy Grammar is as a pompous, self important, dilettante pentagon bureaucrat general, and how a lesser actor would probably been unable to portray a character sharing so many character traits with a character he is best known for (Frazier Crane), while creating a totally distinct individual character without a scene that the other character creeps in a little. Gen. Partridge is a classic privileged twit of the first order, and I never confused him with Frasier for a second. Richard Schiff is equally good as a career officer trying to hold his wits together without jeopardizing his career. He watches his simple, common sense defense department project spiral out of control into one of the most publicized and outrageous examples of the military industrial complex run amok in recent history. What makes this so relevant today is the attitude of "we'll fix the problems in the field" and the casual disregard for life and limb of the troops who face death of injury due to the decisions of those at the highest levels of power. Our current leadership had an agenda to go to war in Iraq from it's outset, but neglected to ramp up military production of armored Hummvees, body armor, etc. in the 2 years from when it took power until the Iraq war started. Whether you support the war or not, this is troubling, especially when you take into account that large portions of our defense budget went to develop a missile defense shield system that shows little progress, does not address the most likely threat we face, but puts billions of dollars into the hands of a company with close association with a secretary of defense who told troops "you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want." Both sides of this issue can find source for outrage.

monos00 I find it interesting that this movie is classified as a comedy, granted some of the procedures that Col. Burton is forced to go through are comical. What i find disturbing is this is based on the real true to life development of the bradley fighting vehicle. Not only was it produced at great cost (over 13 billion taxpayer dollars) but after spending that much money it was an unsafe deathtrap for anyone riding in it, unfortunately it was a troop carrier. thankfully we did not have any conflicts requiring the use of the vehicle until most of the defects were fixed. also disturbing is the fact that every officer involved in the development of the bradley was promoted and went on to lucrative defense contracting positions while Col. Burton was forced to leave the Air Force.