true… I would probably go see a remake of Midway even if it DID have Leo in it…
The only director in Hollywood I would consider to do a good Midway remake would be Steven Spielberg. After seeing ‘Empire of the Sun’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Schindler’s List’ and the series ‘Band of Brothers’, I’d say he’s got the best contemporary approach to showing the human side of war for both sides of a conflict. Now if I could just get ‘1941’ out of my mind I wouldn’t have any reservations at all.
Considering what the Battle of Midway ment to the US in WWII, I’m dying for some one to do it better than the ‘Sensoround’ version. Any body else remember seeing the original movie with that gimmick?
I thought Baa Baa Black Sheep used planes without numbers so they could be used episode after episode without aircraft ID problems. That sound right to anyone else?
I am going to see The Aviator and Flight of the Phoenix. Aviation films are few and I see them all. I think that, as modelers, we owe it to ourselves to view these flims to see the filmakers modeling, and as aviation enthusiasts, to see a good yarn as both HH and the story of FotP are known. Regardless of the actors. Not even Flat Affect, uh, excuse me, Ben Affleck can be blamed for all of the Pearl Harbor shortcomings.
As for the Tommy Lee Jones movie on Howard Hughes, I worked for Tallmantz Aviation during the filming and was very impressed with him, and not at all with the airplanes. In the case of the new HH movie, the modeling looks great and the people working on the CGI are getting better all the time. Working with the experienced group at the Planes of Fame museum helps, I’m sure. We are getting better airplane and flying scenes today.
One thing I don’t like in the Pearl Harbor movie ( well, besides about all of it) is the overly fast speeds of the airplanes. Zero’s and P-40’s only go about 300 to 330. The hyper video game look was ugly to me. In fact, the gaming programs I have seen are much more realistic than that movie. Hopefully this will improve in The Aviator.
Chris…
PS About Blacksheep Squadron, yes the airplanes didn’t have numbers. The filming was done in just a few weeks and the stock film was used for years. A cameo airplane filming would be done every once in a while. The one I remember most was Frank Tallman’s Grumman Duck being used in a story. For more Duck footage, see Murphy’s War.
Yeah. I saw the trailer for Flight of the Phoenix and have no desire to go and see it. Looks more like trash the story. Even with Leo atleast TITANIC told a story. They rarely make movies like that anymore. Todays “actors” [term used loosely] don’t have what it takes compared to Bogie, Hepburn, Tracy,etc.