Editing John Frankenheimer (section)

===Air Force Film Squadron: 1951–1953===

After graduating Williams College, Frankenheimer was drafted into the Air Force and assigned to the [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps]] (ROTC), serving in the Pentagon mailroom at Washington, D. C.  He quickly applied for and was transferred, without any formal qualifications,<ref>Pratley, 1968 p. 18: Frankenheimer's coursework at [[American University]] included speech and TV producing, which the USAF accepted as "qualifications."</ref> to an Air Force film squadron in [[Burbank, California]]. It was there that Lieutenant Frankenheimer "really started to think seriously about directing."<ref>Pratley, 1968 p. 18: Frankenheimer's remarks in quotations. And p. 21: Years in the Air Force, 1951-1953.<br>Barson, 2021: "After making training films for the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, Frankenheimer decided to become a director."</ref>

Frankenheimer recollects his early apprenticeship with the Air Force photography unit as one of almost unlimited freedom. When he was a junior officer, Frankenheimer claimed, his superiors "couldn't have cared less" what he did in terms of utilizing the filmmaking equipment. Frankenheimer reports that he was free to set up the lighting, operate the camera and perform the editing on projects he personally conceived. His first film was a documentary about an asphalt manufacturing plant in [[Sherman Oaks, California]].<ref>Pratley, 1968 p. 18: Frankenheimer states repeatedly that "nobody cared [or could care less]" what he did. He took the equipment home on the weekends to "shoot all manner of stuff."</ref>
Lieutenant Frankenheimer recalls moonlighting, at $40-a-week, as writer, producer and cameraman making television infomercials for a local cattle breeder in [[Northridge, California]], in which livestock were presented on the interior stage sets. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) terminated the programming after 15 weeks. In addition to mastering the basic elements of filmmaking, Frankenheimer began reading widely on film technique, including the writings of Soviet director [[Sergei Eisenstein]].<ref>Pratley, 1968 p. 19-20: FCC objection was the excessive commercial content, not sanitary issues related to cows.<br>Baxter, 2002: "joined the US air force in the early 1950s. Put in charge of a film unit, he immersed himself in amateur movies, training documentaries and local television work [and read] classic texts on cinema theory and practice.</ref>
Frankenheimer was discharged from the military in 1953.<ref>Pratley, 1968 p. 21</ref>