
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 28, 1991                   TAG: 9103280074
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                                LENGTH: Short

NFL FILMS OUT TO SCORE WITH WAR FOOTAGE

NFL Films is going beyond the league's playing fields, all the way to the Persian Gulf.

Operation Desert Storm, a war described in football terms from the start, will be the subject of a 60-minute documentary produced by NFL Films.

The war highlight film, a joint venture with the U.S. Department of Defense, is to be released by late summer.

"I don't want to say that war is the same as football," Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films, said Tuesday. "But our talent as filmmakers can very easily be transferred to this sort of venture."

Sabol said the lush production will feature orchestral music, declassified military footage and booming narration.

"Football is obviously the military's sport of choice," Sabol said. "The television newscasters certainly portrayed it that way, and you heard references to football throughout the war. President Bush even called it "his Super Bowl."

For the past six months, NFL Films producers have been in Saudi Arabia, interviewing the troops.

The video, which includes footage of bombing missions and ground assaults on the Iraqi army, will be sent to more than 700,000 Operation Desert Storm troops.

Robin Templeton of the Student Coalition Against Apartheid and Racism, said the NFL was trivializing the issues behind the war.

"I think it's the most beautiful example of U.S. propaganda yet," Templeton said.

by CNB