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Aero-Views by Kevin R.C. "Hognose" O'Brien

The movie reviews continue…  In case you missed it, See Part One.

6. 12 O'Clock High -- two Oscars -- Short years after the war, one of the best war films was made. It isn't for the flying scenes, unfortunately -- they all came from wartime gun camera or combat camera reels -- but for the interplay of men's characters under stress. Gregory Peck supported by an incredibly good cast. The story is an old one -- new leader has to come and whip a discombobulated unit into shape -- but it holds up well.

7. The Bridges at Toko-Ri --one Oscar -- William Holden as a reluctant reservist who is hauled out of the arms of Grace Kelly (reluctant, who could blame him?) and shipped to USS Boat off Korea, where he dices with North Korean anti-aircraft guns, and death. Some of the helicopter stuff with Mickey Rooney as a brawling helicopter pilot is a bit lame, but the jet flying is intense and well done. The Navy provided massive support to the film, and it shows. The book by James A. Michener is great, and it's from the leading edge of Michener's career, where the brilliant writer still wrote concisely.

8. The Battle of Britain --  The mother of all air war movies, this tells the story of the German assault on the island nation in the summer of 1940. Every actor, it seems, in all England got into this one. The movie's actions are quite accurate historically, but so much happens that it is well to refresh one's memory with a book on the battle first. The scenes of German infantrymen taking, and then stacking, life vests that bookend the aerial action skillfully bring home just how important this air battle was. The aerial scenes not only are stirring and well shot, they are also responsible for the survival of most of the CASA Buchón "Messerschmitts" and all of the Heinkel 111s in the world today, as well as a significant number of British types. When the movie began filming in 1968, all these types were routinely being scrapped. Some of the model scenes are painful to watch in these CGI days, but hey, it was almost forty years ago.

9. The Aviator -- If you missed this film, that's one thing, but if you missed the publicity juggernaut, well... congratulations on your release from prison. Martin Scorcese and Leonardo diCaprio earned their pay on this one, and it's a sympathetic, spectacular portrayal of one of the larger than life figures of aviation. And Alan Alda, whose normal metrosexual personality makes my skin crawl, shows that he has acting skills far beyond the chick-flick ghetto I've mentally consigned him to. The flying, a perfect combination of models, CGI and real aircraft, brings the airplanes of the era to life, and there's enough flying to please a fellow.

10. Strategic Air Command -- Jimmy Stewart (again) is hauled out of reserve status and the arms of June Allyson (didn't that just happen to William Holden?) and sent to shape up a unit (oh, man, deja vu all over again) to meet the demanding standards of the eponymous organization. Curtis LeMay is said to have had a plaque on his desk that said. "To Err is Human; to Forgive, Divine. Neither of which is the policy of the SAC." Incredible cinematography, of an era of aviation which is no more. Stewart is great as a bomber-flying colonel -- which, as a reserve officer, he really was. Alas, it's only available in a crummy VHS version. Boo, hiss.

Honorable -- and Horrible -- Mentions

What did I leave out? Some movies that stink, like most of the jingoistic hoo-ahh films of the eighties (Top Gun has its moments, alone in that crowd). I don't care for period pieces which anachronistically impose modern views on the characters: fie on the dreadful Richthofen and Brown (pee-yew), and the ghastly Pearl Harbor, which could have been improved by giving the director's chair to legendary hack Ed Wood. And he's dead.

And there are some good films that just didn't fit... Tora, Tora, Tora is one of those. And some films that I haven't seen lately -- the movies based on Ernest K. Gann's novels are among those. I also left out disaster films (Airport and its sequels) and comedies (Airplane). I also left out Vietnam flicks Flight of the Intruder (book's better) and Bat-21 (ditto). The Flight of the Phoenix (the original one, not the atrocious recent remake), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, oh, there are a few. Considering how much aviation has changed the world, not so many, really.

FMI: www.imdb.com