DENVER -- The Air Force Academy's "Bring Me Men" sign, removed four years ago as the school tried to recover from a sexual assault scandal, will return next year for a movie based on the lives of the academy's first female cadets.

The film, also called "Bring Me Men," is the story of the young women and men in the class of 1976 through the eyes of a fictionalized female general looking back at her time there. It is the first feature film to be made at the academy, located outside Colorado Springs.

The phrase "Bring Me Men," spelled out in large metal letters above a ramp at the academy, once greeted thousands of cadets upon their arrival at the school. It was inspired by an 1894 poem that begins, "Bring me men to match my mountains, Bring me men to match my plains."

The sign will be temporarily reinstalled or recreated for a scene showing women arriving for basic training, co-producer Charles Morrison and producer-director Frank E. Johnson said Monday.

The pair are with SummitWorks LLC, an independent film company from Park City, Utah, and both have military backgrounds. Morrison served as a fighter pilot and Johnson was an Air Force cameraman who shot the Apollo 11 capsule recovery.

Johnson said photos of young women with suitcases standing below the sign in 1976 helped tell the story of what they faced at the school, which had been all-male since its founding in 1955.

"It's just the excitement, the worries and what's up that ramp," Johnson said.

Academy and Pentagon officials approved the concept and the title for the movie, academy spokesman Meade Warthen.

In 2003, some female cadets came forward to say they had been sexually assaulted but had been threatened with punishment for minor infractions like drinking alcohol.

The Defense Department's inspector general found top academy commanders failed to recognize the severity of the problem. The academy's top leaders were replaced, new policies were put in place, and the sign was removed.

A new sign says, "Integrity First. Service Before Self. Excellence In All We Do," which academy leaders say better represents cadets' values.

The film, written by Linda Morris, will cover only the journey of the class of '76 and doesn't touch on the scandal.

Johnson and Morrison said the film will depict hostility women faced from some male cadets, although they said their interviews with cadets from that time -- which helped them create the film's fictional characters -- didn't uncover any physical sexual abuse.

Morrison said women were called names, and Playboy magazine photos were placed on some walls, but the women countered with photos from Playgirl.

"We did not shy away from the difficulties that these women had to get through in a program that women hadn't been allowed to apply for before," Morrison said. "It's about perseverance, it's about setting a dream and hanging on to that dream with all your heart."

The bulk of the filming will start in June, after graduation. SummitWorks shot some scenes at Saturday's Army-Air Force football game.