Best & Worst Mil Aviation Film and Why
 

Dambusters & Peal Harbour

Dambusters a well directed and acted flim which bore good reflection to a heroic tale.

Pearl Harbour a well filmed piece which fell down with the portrayal of the USA winning the Battle of Britain, much like U-571 distorting history for Hollywood purpo$e$

Pearl Harbor was a hideous remake of Tora! Tora! Tora! which imo is excellent.

'Pearl Harbour' holds a special place somewhere or other for me. It is the only war-ie aeroplane (or should that be 'airplane'?) movie I have ever sat down to and given up five minutes into the battle scenes, which were so badly CGI-ed, they were almost as bad as the Godawful script and appallingly shallow characterisations.

I thought I might put up with it for a while if I could get a few more long lingering looks at young Kate in her overtight nurse's uniform or that great floral number she wore in the movie trailer, but the rest of the movie was so bad, I even 'forewent' that pleasure. The DVD has sat, unwatched and never likely to be watched, somewhere on my shelf since then.

How did the movie end - can I assume the bloke with the ten thousand hour 'bash' in his hat and the Rayban sunglasses shot down so many Japanese aircraft with the endless supply of .50 cal his trusty P40 was carrying that we now know why the Japanese cancelled their second wave - there simply weren't enough aircraft got back to the carriers to mount the second raid?

There may be a worse aviation war-ie flick out there somewhere - (Did Erroyl Flynn ever do a flying war-ie? God, I hope not.) - but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find one.

Best? I haven't given it a lot of thought, but given how soon after the war it was made, and how the producers still needed to tread lightly on the sensitivities of many wartime USAAF people who were still around, I thought the Yanks did an admirable job with Gregory Peck's '12 O'Clock High'.

Both probably wouldn't translate well to film, but I'd love to see someone make an attempt to make a film of Len Deighton's (fictional) 'Bomber', and perhaps even moreso, John Beede's true to life 'They Hosed Them Out', a warts and all story of the life of an RAF tail gunner. (Do yourself an enormous favour and get your hands on the book - It's recently been re-released under the new title, 'Rear Gunner'. http://www.biblioz.com/main.php?acti...76679&record=2 Written in the early 1950's, it ain't a pretty picture of the RAF that he paints.)

Dawn Patrol (1938) with Basil Rathbone and David Niven. One of his best efforts and not a female appearing on screen.

"Dr FOD and the Wayward Body" - had a couple of very nice points in it.....:E

Worst films? Anything with totally unrealistic CGI in it.

Ah yes!
 

But only one I can think of was an Oscar winner...
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The incomparable....
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TOP GUN!!

(In fairness, it was Oscar for "Best Song" but anyway.....)

Forgot Ms York then BEags?:confused:

I'd go with Top Gun as the best aviation movie ever, if only for (1) the authentic dialogue - 'I'm in a flat spin, heading out to sea' - and (2) for Kelly McGuiles (sorry if the spelling is wrong here) who has lovely legs. Did I mention the dialogue?:)

12O'clock High was a good movie for its day. They used it as a teaching aid when I did OT. Most things were in black and white then, so it didn't look dated.

Worst, remember the ones with the cloud background on a moving backdrop? Wasn't there one with someone walking passed?

I know there was a Morcombe and Wise sketch of that scene.

Was it the worst or the funniest?

I agree about Pearl Harbor now I saw Tora Tora Tora with its embedded subtitles and additional subtitles in Greek!

For one of the best how about Kenneth Mores portrayal of Douglas Badar in 'Reach for the Sky' (it won a BAFTA for best British film 1956).

Pearl Harbour.....enough said already :suspect:

Best film?
 

'BAT 21' (Gene Hackman, Danny Glover) was a pretty good effort, I thought.
Also Mel Gibson's 'We were Soldiers Once' (Air Cavalry - definitely Air related!) ranks pretty highly for me despite what some might say (yes I have read the book and yes I know the film isn't totally true to the real events but it's still bl00dy good!).
Honorary mention must also go to 'Hot Shots'. An absolutely legendary piece of film-making and probably quoted more on a daily basis than the eponimous 'Top Gun'.
Officer and a Gentleman? The list could go on.
Worst film.....
.....hmm, I'll have to give that one some thought and get back to you!
BV:)

"From Hell to Victory", starring the incomparable George Peppard. If there's a category for "So bad it's good", this would be the winner. You name it, it's got it, but very badly. A must-see for all aviation type persons.
I never saw Pearl Harbour, because it's in the category Americanbasedonatrueevent. In this case - There was a war. ......... The Americans won. Fill in the dots with anything you like.

Len Deighton's 'Bomber' was done as a Radio play, a good effort but not a patch on the book. The play tried too hard to separate the 'toff officers' from the 'salt of the earth' NCO aircrew, & to introduce a post war guilt appraisal of the bombing effort through FS Lambert's questioning of targeting.

Not strictly a flying film, but flying related - David Niven in 'A Matter of Life & Death'. Same chap, with Errol Flynn, in the superb 'Dawn Patrol'. What about the 'Battle of Britain'? Great flying sequences, tremendous score (music, not how many we shot down in the film!), the greatest collection of WW2 aircraft for any post war film (at the time it amounted to the sixteenth largest air force in the world I believe!) & not a bit of CGI. Saw it at the cinema in 1970, wanted to fly from that moment on! 'The Sound Barrier' saw us going supersonic before the Yanks, or so many of the viewing public over there believed, & we did it by 'reversing the controls'! - classic. I enjoyed 'Memphis Belle' too, for once a story correctly populated by an all American cast. '633 Squadron' just for all those Mosquitos, likewise 'Mosquito Squadron', although both lost it on the ground. Enjoyed 'The Blue Max' too.

On the bad side, any of the 'Airport' series, especially 'Concorde' - seeing off the F4 by barrel rolling whilst firing a flare gun out of the open DV window to decoy the missiles! Hope no one in MOD sees that & develops a 'new' DAS suite for us! I never watched 'Pearl Harbour', put off by the trailers & the reviews so can't really judge that one. I enjoyed 'Top Gun' when it came out by it's way too corny & just too gay with hindsight.

Best - Top Gun, it's cheesy but still very cool, with some great flying shots, oh and a Gpz 900.

Worst - Pearl harbour, oh and wasn't there a complete hash of a Biggles film in the 80's?

Best Factual Film
 

The Arrow made in 2000 staring Dan Aykroyd. That aircraft would of been a worldbeater. Great film and also a great aircraft. Still have my copy on video - never seen the film released on TV...!!!!

I think ' rear gunner ' must be one of Graham Norton's efforts, so won't be bothering with that one...

633 Squadron gets a thumbs up from me, and Pearl Harbour IS truly pants!

I was just about to.

'Battle of Britain' is number one for me without a doubt.

As an obscure alternative, and better than Top Gun, I'd say 'The Hunters', with Robert Mitchum and Robert Wagner, great late 50's colour film about F-86 Sabre pilots in the Korean War.

Worst......not seen Pearl Harbour, didn't want to then still don't want to now, so has to be worst then.

Wiley

I think you will find that Mr Flynn "starred" in "A Yank in the RAF" circa 1940 when he won the B of B before setting off to liberate Burma.

Strategic Air Command with Jimmy Stewart.
Magestic sequence of B-36 at altitude with appropriate lilting music.

Fantastic movie, but you mean there were actually aeroplanes in it? My main recollection is of Susannah York in her suspender belt and RAF-issue bloomers. Set the blood coursin' through the veins and showed us all what the chaps were fightin' for.

Re Erroyl Flynn: I had forgotten 'Dawn Patrol', where I understand more stunt pilots died than the USAF has suffered casualties in some recent wars. The final scenes in 'The Great Waldo Pepper' were set in very similar circumstances. (Not a war-ie, but having sat through TGWP again recently, it still stands as one of the better aviation movies I've seen.) I was thinking more of Erroyl Flynn's utterly awful efforts to boost the war effort in WW2, particularly that one set in Burma where he showed that Bill Slim and the whole 14th Army could have stayed at home in Blighty for the duration, 'cos Erroyl cleaned up the entire Japanese Army all on his own with that inexhaustible magazine he had on this Thompson Gun.

The best thing in 12 O'Clock High is the opening sequence. They actually land a B17 wheels up for, and close to, the cameras. Also other boys in the circuit rolling out on "final" at about 20'. But for me its The Way to the Stars.

Good: can't decide between Dam Busters (un abridged) and Appointment in London

Bad: Airplane. One or two bits were very unrealistic.

Agree thoroughly. I first saw it in 1955 and was blown away by the shots of the B-36's contrailing into the sunset with all ten engines running.

I recorded it to my TV/DVD recorder and will post some appropriate awe inspiring screen shots in due course.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...dSreenShot.jpg

A bit about the base at which the film was shot can be found here:
http://www.7bwb-36assn.org/b36genhistpg3.html

War Films
 

My fav - We were Soldiers
I think that Finding Private Ryan went a long way in trying to introduce the true realism of battle.
Worst - Behind enemy Lines - Just how long did that air to air missile fly for and make 90 degree spot turns? Oh and Gene Hackman (was he the Admiral?) shouting the guys name down the microphone and then saying "Oh I shouldn`t have said that should I". Groan.

The Best?
 

..its got to be The Final Countdown. F14s V. Jap Zeros......quality!

Smudge

Wiley

Susan Hampshire was actually Susanna York and I don't think they were issue panties!

You are right about getting the blood coursing though.

With the BoB and Dambusters My other favourite film is The Bridges at Toki Ri. Panthers off an Essex carrier, great special effects (mostly) and Grace Kelly in a swimsuit.

Anyone remember the film 'High Flight' starring Anthony Newley which follow the progress of RAF ab initios through Piston Provosts and Vampires to flying the Hunter?
Terrible storyline but worth seeing for the flying sequences and hearing that wonderful bluenote.

I think Pearl Harbour might possibly be the worst. Can't be sure as I got p*****d off after the first half hour and consigned it to the bin.

Mr Wiley, you appear to be geographically challenged. York not Hants.:)
Unfortunately, entirely the wrong shots here.:( I understand that the rest of the film was about aeroplanes or something.
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/york.jsrpa...s2/2sylbob.jpg

Poor dog can only be called Trigger these days.:{

without doubt the battle of britain, if that film fails to stir then somethingis wrong with you...

although black and white films, angels one five is a favourite of mine

I've always had a soft spot for Clint Eastwood in Firefox, the thinking man's aircraft! That and the recruiting film with the Vangelis soundtrack (12 Sqn Buccaneers?) got me to sign on the dotted line.
CB

I'm with GeeRam: The Hunters has some excellent F86 stuff in it.

CG

12 Sqn Buccs is good and still available (on ebay!) but no one has mentioned The Right Stuff - Well the first half anyway with actual footage of Glennis!- the space bit gets a bit tedious later.

Regards
Xraf:ok:

....I can't believe no one has mentioned the Iron Eagle films yet :}

F-16's with about 400 bombs and 57 missiles on a rescue mission to save his dad all whilst listening to Queen with a cassette player strapped to his leg. Magic :D

Coastal Command
 

B/W War documentary from about 1942...

my favourite bit:

As the Eng is struggling to plug a massive fuel leak in the wing root of a Sunderland, one of the Wop/AG's in the vicinity has to to told to put his fag out!!!:):):)

I wondered when someone was going to mention Iron Eagle. The old joke still stands : 'Have you ever seen a worse film than 'Iron Eagle' ?' 'Yep, Iron Eagle 2, 3, 4, 17...'

The fighter world's answer to Police Academy.

In trying to educate our US colleagues out here in sandy places, I showed the The Dambusters (1955 version) just yesterday over a pizza and nea-beer! Despite much gnashing of teeth when forementioned hound made his first appearance the concensus was 'brilliant', 'awesome' and 'best flight movie I've seen'.

Not sure if these foreign votes count against the survey or not, but the Dambusters gets my vote every time!!!

Another magic film sequence is Steve Mcqueen beating up the control tower with a B17 in The War Lover.

Also, if you have the Battle of Britain on DVD, try stop framing the moment that the attacking Hispano (Me109) passes over the airfield fence in the early part of the film. I estimate that the prop tips were less than two feet clear of the top strand! Awesome!

A few people have mentioned the movie ‘Memphis Belle’, which, while an enjoyable piece of fiction, was a crock and bore no resemblance at all to the actual events it is supposed to portray.

Has anyone seen the original ‘Memphis Belle’ documentary made by Howard Hawkes in 1943, when he and his film crew accompanied the crew of the ‘Memphis Belle’ on their 25th mission over Europe? (They were the first USAAF crew to complete a 25 mission tour with the 8th Air Force.) It has some very good air to air shots of contrailing B17s in mass formation and Bf109s making quarter attacks on the aircraft carrying the cameras – and not staged either, but for real. However, what was really outstanding was the way the very young captain managed his crew during the fighter attacks. Professional in the extreme - it was like watching a really sharp crew handling a really tough sim. session and getting nothing wrong.

Here is my opinion, I know you've all be waiting for it:

best: Battle of Britain

worst: Top Gun - that film we all love to hate.

I think Hotshots is an underdog, I've seen it two or three times and only just noticed that there little in the way of continuity in the way of aircraft, even in the same flight sequence