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So what IS the most accurate war movie about aircraft in War?


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1- "Bridges at Toko-RI" despite the fact that in the book, the squadron was operating Banshees, is a five stars movie for me, whit a very atypical end for a movie of those years.

2- "The Flight of the Intruder" I have the book too, despite the movie is a very very very condensed version of a much longer story.

3- "The Dambusters"

4- "Dark blue World" A "low profile movie" but very accurate in the moment represented when foreing pilots join to Spitfire squadron in the RAF at the begining of the war.

5- "For those we love" A rare masterpiece about the air war from the japanese side.

Edited by Python
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I'm surprised "Airplane" hasn't been mentioned. Yeah... that movie is really accurate :) Just like Airport 79' and all dem utter Airport movies....

For those interested in the the back story behind "The Bridges Toko-Ri", the book "Such Men as These" is a must read. It describes how James Mitchner got the idea for his book.

If I recall in the opening scenes of the Bridges at Toko-Ri, there is at least one grey top Panther on the deck. I don't think that colour scheme was introduced until a few years after the Korean War.

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Starfighters!

That is, if you want to know about inflight refueling...

Haha! You beat me to it! :thumbsup: Now would that be the theatrical, or MST3K version? ("Welcome to minute six of the "glorious" in-flight refueling scene....") :cheers:

I'm gonna have to go watch that now, hahaha....

Edited by Skyraider Maniac
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One I've always loved is Empire of the Sun. The whole story itself is inspiring but the efforts they made to ensure accuracy was commendable. I know the Japanese aircraft were the old standby converted Harvards, but there was a B-29 (radio-controlled but convincing)and the Mustangs. That attack on the airfield still gives me goose-bumps. "Cadillac of the Skies!" That slow-motion shot is probably for me the best scene from any movie (although as disappointing as Red Tails was, that scene of the Mustangs skimming the tops of the clouds is classic too.)

Richard

Agree love the scene from Empire of the sun.

I would say something like Strategic Air Command is the most accurate war movie about aircraft in war. It also gave civilians of the time a pretty good Idea of what the cold war/ USAF was about.

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Agree love the scene from Empire of the sun.

I would say something like Strategic Air Command is the most accurate war movie about aircraft in war. It also gave civilians of the time a pretty good Idea of what the cold war/ USAF was about.

In the same line : "A gathering of Eagles" whit Rock Hudson

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Flight of the Intruder was indeed pretty good although the book was better IMHO, save one thing... Danny Glover as Frank Camparelli, the black Italian third generation Mafia squadron CO. :D I really wish somebody would offer a deluxe Flight of the Intruder DVD with behind the scenes stuff on the work that was done. Willem Dafoe's characterisation of Tiger Cole seemed a bit odd as I pictured Cole in the book as being a bit younger and not really a maverick flyer with a past.

Agreed about Stephen Coonts, he certainly can write. I believe his first books is probably the PRIME reason we got a decent tooled 1/48 A-6E from Revell in the 1990s as all we had before that was the ancient Fujimi kit in that scale.

Deep Blue World I have never seen, but I would like to as I remember the buzz generated by the trailer when it was first announced. It reminded me a little of the vibe I got from "A Piece of Cake". I know that miniseries is controversial to this day (as is the book which I have read), although it did show an element of RAF fighter command not often talked about (the slightly cocked up element during the "phoney war" and early hostilities) in a fictionalized fashion. Maybe the stereotypes were taken a bit too far, but they seemed to work for the piece.

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Disagree with this. Tora Tora Tora, was based on Gordon Prang's book "At Dawn We Slept", a history on Pearl Harbor. Now, that being said, there was little artistic license used in this film. It covered the major historical characters and events very well, both sides. They painstakingly did what they could in making the Japanese aircraft look as close to the real thing as possible. It is in my honest opinion, probably the best Air War movie made bar none.

First off forgive me if I get some of the facts wrong about the movie... I haven't watched it in over a year...

I agree that the film's accuracy with aircraft and the link was fairly good. As a depiction of a combat event, it was top notch... though it had some inaccuracies that I can completely forgive. I think the hour or so they spend on the actual battle is the best part of the movie.

Really the issue I have is that its depiction of the political events leading up to the crisis was just plain uninteresting and slightly less accurate... I felt how it handled the issues and personalities was superficial and just seemed as if people were cardboard cutouts reading me a basic history of the crisis. There were so many great personalities that could have been explored: Hull, Kimmell, Marshall, FDR.... yet you didn't really get any sense of them, just some bland, mechanical presentation of their policy issues.In a way it was too bad the book didn't really come out three years later... it might have been influenced by Janis Irving's Groupthink theory and treatment on the subject. Exploring that would certainly make it more interesting.

I actually think that the Japanese side of the conflict actually has a bit of the opposite problem. It was significantly better portrayed in theme and characters, yet slightly less accurate on facts. You really get a sense of the heady optimism possessed by a number of the staff, fresh off of victories in China. The problem is the film's attempt to portray Yamamoto in a sympathetic light, which is understandable but possibly misguided. It was the Naval staff pushing for the southern invasion on the rich colonies in South East Asia, not the Army. They had lost their influence as a result of the Khalkin Gol Campaign vs the USSR and Mongolia in 1939. However that wasn't well known in the West at the time and only really emerged in due to Coox's fantastic work Nomonhan. Looking back, the Japanese side of the film really represents the IJN's view (pushed by Genda and Fuchida), and does a good job of shifting blame to other parties (The Army.) That's why Yamamoto is rehabilitated in this film.

I'm not saying that Tora Tora Tora needed to be "jazzed up" ala Pearl Harbor. Rather the issue was that they attempted to cover too much ground and the actual storytelling suffered.... particularly the American side. Has it been more interested in the personality dynamics like with the Japanese, it might make the film age better, even if contradictory facts emerge over time. It also might make it more interesting.

Sorry for making this a long diatribe... its kinda takes some time to explain my view on it.

Edited by -Neu-
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Agree love the scene from Empire of the sun.

I would say something like Strategic Air Command is the most accurate war movie about aircraft in war. It also gave civilians of the time a pretty good Idea of what the cold war/ USAF was about.

Wow, I must look for that, looks like a very good movie.

I would really like to see another mini series from Dreamworks/HBO along the lines of Band of Brothers and The Pacific but based on the air war...

Edited by Charlie Cheetah
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Nobody mentioned Dive Bomber?

The story was terrible (Though no worse than Flying Misfits/Baa Baa Blacksheep/Blacksheep squadron). However the visuals of the aircraft (and the leading actress) were stunning.

Midway has to be my favorite to despise. They just spliced together random aircraft without any attention made to type or period. It was like a film from high school amateur hour.

If the visuals of correct period aircraft like Dive bomber could have been applied to Midway, it would have been a real winner.

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I thought TORA TORA TORA was near to the mark but maybe I am way off the mark..

anyway I was speaking to MY 90 year old Aunt and she said she remembers as a child watching the silent movie WINGS.. with her Dad,

and her husband MY Uncle Clifford who served in Africa during WWII { He was a LAC}also loved the same movie...

so I dug around on the search engine and I cannot believe that they are bringing it out again...{But MY Aunt does not have a DVD or a BLu-ray...nor do I}.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018578/

..if you click on the trailer, the clip is impressive.. :coolio:

HOLMES

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Agree love the scene from Empire of the sun.

Man, I haven't seen this movie in a long time! One question about this scene. At the very end it shows him drop bombs from about 25' or below, would they really do that? Seems a little dangerous to me. Awesome scene regardless.

Bill

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A big +1 on Flight Of The Intruder--filmed in large part aboard USS Independence and with VA-128. Also helps that it was based on a novel written by an A-6 Driver, and a big chunk of it all except the rogue mission by Grafton & Cole actually happened, whether to him, his squadronmates, or other Intruder crews on Yankee Station. The way Coonts writes, you almost feel like you're ready to take one up yourself, you're that immersed in the cockpit experience...

there's more right about that movie than most folks will ever know in their own lifetime.

gary

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There are several that I don't think have been mentioned yet (my apologies if they have):

Air Force (1943) Not very accurate, but interesting because of the time, 1943, and it showed the crew modifying their B-17 in the field, installing a tail-gun. Thrilled me when I first saw it at age 9 or so. Made at the height of the war it has a clearly propaganda aspect to it that is an interesting look at the time.

Catch-22 (1970) A group of B-25's star in this one. The intense satirical commentary of this film might take it out of the traditional war film realm but the planes and their part in the film feels real.

There was the original, Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, made during the war for the Army Air Force in 1944 was a documentary depicting the 25th mission of the Memphis Belle the first AAF bomber to complete 25 missions was shot with 16mm on actual missions. In typical Hollywood fashion, some liberties were taken with different planes and crews to get a composite of shots for the film. I remember seeing one shot of an incoming Me-109, with flashes from the front of the plane and realizing that this was guy was shooting at the photographer! I think that's pretty accurate! Also of interest, the director of this film, Wm Wyler's daughter, Catherine, was the producer of the 1990 Memphis Belle.

Ken

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Be aware that the air war portion of "Empire of the Sun" is only a really tiny bit. It is mainly about the Japanese invasion and occupation of China from the perspective of an English boy who got seperated from his parents. So don't go into it expecting you'll see a lot of air combat or ground combat as you will not. A good portion of the film takes place in the civilian prisoner of war camp with the English and American civilians who were unable to leave in time. It is more a story of what you do not see in a war picture. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a powerful film and a good one. But it is not what you might expect.

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Man, I haven't seen this movie in a long time! One question about this scene. At the very end it shows him drop bombs from about 25' or below, would they really do that? Seems a little dangerous to me. Awesome scene regardless.

Bill

Is an awesome scene, Being a majority of people on here love aircraft, this is a very touching scene through a kids eyes.

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