I’d like to hear from others their favorite films featuring aircraft. Now that we have the ability to stop frames and even print them, it’s now possible to get really authentic research info on old planes from a new, unimpeachable source. There is one film called “Toward the Uknown” starring William Holden and Lloyd Nolen which was, I think, made in 1954. It all takes place at Edwards AFB and every cool X-plane and prototype from that era is featured. I don’t know if it’s on DVD or VHS. It starts off with the XF-92 taking off and gets better from there. Closeups of X1E, X-3, YB-51, prototype F-101, lots of F-100s, etc. The Hunters is an outstanding Korean War film based on a novel of the same name by an F-86 veteran of the war. The Bob Wagner character is based on him. Great flying footage. “Strategic Air Command” you’ve all seen, and it has every detail of a B-36 you could want. And the B-47 formation shots are great. (Jimmy Stewart was current in the B-47 in real life). “The Bridges at Toko Ri”, also with Bill Holden, is one of my favorites, both for flying footage and closeups of F9F-5s and early choppers. Someone give me some more, please. Superscale used to make a sheet for the F9F when Monogram kit came out and it included Holden’s Panther from the fictional Dragons squadron in the movie. It even has his character name on the canopy frame. Don’t know if it’s still available.
Tom
It’s not a wholly accurate movie, but it’s entertaining nonetheless: Memphis Belle (Okay, okay, I’m biased toward the B-17!)… Apparently, the B-17s were painted with different Nose art on each side so that each plane can double as another. Plus, P-51Ds in 1943? Come on… Aside from that you get a faithful rendition of B-17 Exteriors (The interior shots were built on a set, but look realistic enough), and where to add weathering.
The movie “Men of the Fighting Lady” was another wan that had a LOT of shots of US Navy planes during Korean War. I forget which plane it was because I’m not that familiar with the korean war, but if i’m not mistaken, they’re also F9F-5s. [:D]
Even though it only deals with a few aircraft, “The Right Stuff” isn’t bad. X-1, obviously, F-104A (at the end), Alan Sheppard in an A-4 landing on the Lexington (VX-5 markings)… Just my [2c]
“The Blue Max” comes to mind right away.
Memphis Belle is another ONLY because they went out of thier way to have all of the little bits and pieces lying around inside the A/C.
Strategic Air Command has been mentioned
The Great Waldo Pepper
Magnificent Men And Thier Flying Machines
Thats all I can think of, its just to early in the AM.
Steve
I have seen “The Right Stuff” a dozen times and read the book a half-dozen times. It’s Tom Wolfe’s journalistic masterpiece and the best history of that period in aviation ever written. However, Philip Kaufman’s movie, though absolutely stunning to look at, makes a mockery of that history. The real story as Wolfe told it had enough drama, laughs and just plain interesting history without putting in BS stuff like Chuck Yeager taking out the NF-104A without authorization on his famous flight, that pseudo-mystical stuff with the aborigines and John Glenn’s famous “fireflies”. I could go on and on about the silly fake technical dialogue, etc, but now I just turn the sound down and look at The Right Stuff. The photography is breathtaking.
A footnote: The FAA wouldn’t let them strap an X-1 mockup to FeeFee (the B-29) so they used the real Confederate Air Force plane edited in with models.( I was working at CAF when Right Stuff was made and I came to work one day and FeeFee had a black underbelly and a stork painted on the right side.) For the F-104 taxi shots, they showed a real clean USAF 104G the Air Force was using to train NATO pilots well into the '80s. For the aerial shots, they made a bunch of models and simply shot them into the air with slingshots. Sure looked real, and this was before computer FX were even making a dent in the movies.
True with the history details, but at the same time…and yes the 104 was the G, but hey… there are SOME decent shots from my DVD…
I’m partial to Panthers, so I like the Bridges at Toko-Ri. They also have the Sikorsky
S-51 and some Spads.
For WWII RAF, ‘The Battle of Britian’ is great. Nice He-111 shots, too!
My all time favorite aviation movie is “Twelve O’Clock High”. True, its not full of striking aircraft shots, but what a great film. And does anyone remember that scene in “The Best Years of Our Lives” where the guy can’t get the war out of his mind and visits his old ship in a HUGE boneyard full of B-17s? I wonder where they shot that. Imagine all the beer cans that were made out of those planes.
Reminds me, Commemorative Air Force (nee Confederate) has a great collection of nose art cut from the planes (all B-17s and 24s, I recall) in those postwar boneyards. I wonder who the far-sighted person (people?) was who thought to save those panels from the smelter? God bless 'em. If only there’d been more like 'em, we wouldn’t be without examples of so many historic flying machines. I saw that there are only six B-66s in all versions left in static displays. And D-M I heard is down to two Thuds.
I’d have to say that one of my favorites is “Strategic Air Command”. I think “Flight of the Intruder” wasn’t bad, it’s about like “Top Gun” not really very accurate but some great a/c shots. “Bat 21” doesn’t have a ton of aircraft in it but you do see alot of the O-1 Birddog. “Midway” has some good stuff in it… and I always liked John Wayne in “The Flying Tigers”. I can’t think of any others right this moment.
If you’ll entertain the opinion of an Armor dude who happened to see the post title in the index,
I don’t know if anyone has seen this, it’s not a movie, but a short by Steven Spielberg a long time ago for TV. I think the show was Amazing Stories or something like that.
Anyway, it was a B-17 crew over Germany with a belly gunner who was the good luck charm and a cartoonist. They get attacked by a 109 which is hit by the waist gunner only to have the wreck crash into the 17s fusilage. The nose and engine rest right above the escape hatch for the ball turret, trapping him.
The remainder of the story has to do with the return flight with bad landing gear as they all say goodbye to the doomed man, even handing hime a 45 to take care of himself.
It was so well done and really paid attention to detail…
Until the ending, where the cartoonist draws a big dopey wheel and the plane lands on it and everything is OK. I hated Spielberg for this kind of thing. Never liked his work again until Private Ryan.
But the first 45 min were excellent.
‘12 O’clock High’ would get my vote.
How come nobody mentioned ‘Midway’, in sen-surround.[;)]
Cuz ‘Midway’ is quite possibly one of the worst war flix ever made, that’s why…
I have only one word, albeit repeated over and over:
TAKA-TAKA-TAKA-TAKA-TAKA-TAKA!!!
And then there’s:
Repeat Please…
Fade to Black…
By the way, I too liked that Spielberg program about the B-17 with the ‘toon’ wheels. I’m a stickler for historical accuracy, but I do like a bit of fantasy now and again.
Speaking of fantasy war movies, I kinda liked ‘Memphis Belle’ too… [;)]
Fade to Black…
Don’t forget: ‘First of the Few’ starring Leslie Howard
For fun value: ‘The Final Countdown’ ; 'Alert One - Splash the Zeroes" [:)]
Then there’s Hot Shots with those beautiful Gnats
War of the Worlds with the XB-49
There was a couple of English shows that I caught on PBS and if they’re ever aired again I’m going to record them. The first one was “piece o’ cake” about a Hurricane squadron during the battle for France and up to the Battle of Britain, it was actually fairly good. The other didn’t have a lot of planes in it but there was a few quick shots of a Spitfire, but it was still a good show and that one was Danger: UXB.
Battle of Britain is great for Spitfies and 109’s. The final countdown has some great shots of USN jets. Dark blue world was full of Spits too-worth checking out. Who can forget Reach for the sky? A true “classic” movie.
There was a late 1960’s movie that was about the Red Baron. The movie was not so good but it had alot of fyable WWI birds in it. I’m dying to remember the name of it.
The actor who played the Baron was the blind Angel in ‘Barbarella’ and the young Russian sailor who falls for an American girl in ‘The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!’ (both late 60’s films).
Everytime I reply to one of these threads, I too will list “Bridges at Toko Ri” up towards the top. My dad was on a Essex class carrier in Korea and would always tell us how that movie captured the true feeling of what it was like to be on a carrier during that time.
Another one I liked because it had a lot of action with B-25s (and Leslie Ann Down) was a low acclaimed Harrison Ford chick flick “Hanover Street”. It would be more accurate if they had used B-26’s instead, but a B-25 is close enough.
Then the 1982 film “High Road to China” with Tom Selleck. Kinda had the same “Waldo Pepper” feel to it and was 2 hrs of pure flying action with two old Tiger Moths.
Lessee, going back…that was my favorite episode of Amazing Stories. I confess I liked the dopey ending. And speaking of B-25s, has nobody remembered the film version of Catch-22? They had to come up with a bunch of them and painted 'em desert pink to make that film in 1969-1970. In “Fail Safe,” they kept showing all the different a/c — B-58, B-52, F-101A or C, F-102 in arty negative shots, which was annoying.
I am aware that this is a very politically incorrect thing to admit on a site like this, but my all time favorite movie of any kind is “Dr. Strangelove.” You gotta admit, the B-52 refueling scene at the beginning with the beautiful music during the opening credits is a true classic.
Regarding “Piece of Cake,” it’s based on a great book, though very long. It’s available in paperback. I wonder if it’s on video. I’d love to see it again. “Danger, UXB” is based a much slimmer book that is also good. I happen to have that one still, if you want it.
Tom
Gotta lump me in with the ‘Battle of Britain’ crowd, the aerial shots are just incredible, they hold up even today! When are we gonna see that many ex-Spanish Hispanos doing their thing as Luftwaffe aircraft again? Probably never…
No one has yet mentioned my personal favorite-“The War Lover”
Very good B-17 footage (I think they used 3 aircraft, one later broke a tail wheel and was written off) and featured Steve McQueen & Robert Wagner. Came out about 1961-2?. But the real feast is all the authentic A-2’s and B-3’s walk’in around that film! Great stuff- check it out.