Warbird Information Exchange

I took the family to see it last night on opening day. I expected something spectacular and I was not disappointed. The special affects are excellent and I especially liked the zeppelin sequence. It's also nice to see that the characters in the movie (for the most part) were based on real people.

John

Yesterday I was reading a movie review in the Denver paper which was pretty negative. I think he was not a pilot or at best flew some nosewheel job. All the pilots I have talked to seem to like it.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Yesterday I was reading a movie review in the Denver paper which was pretty negative. I think he was not a pilot or at best flew some nosewheel job. All the pilots I have talked to seem to like it.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Well, Bill if ya were reading the Rocky Mountain news, you were probably reading Robert Denerstein's review (I'm guessing) and I doubt he's ever seen a movie he liked...

M

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Mark Morris

Just got back from seeing it tonight...

Overall, a good movie. I had to laugh, though...someone posted that they'd seen a preview showing where the director had commented something to the effect that he challenged anyone to pick out which scenes were CGI and which were real.

To my eye, it was pretty obvious. The CGI folks still don't have a good grasp on what it looks like when two aircraft (or more) are maneuvering against one another. The aircraft sure look realistic -- and the movement of the flight control surfaces was pretty cool, too. It was more the way that they flew through the sky, turned, climbed, etc that looked quirky.

It also annoys me that filmmakers don't show what it's really like flying around in an open cockpit -- loud, windy, cold. People can't have a conversation with each other between cockpits, nor shoot a pistol from one cockpit into the other with any accuracy!! I think that knowing just how miserable it was in those cockpits makes the story that much more amazing.

What I really did like was seeing characters that weren't 2-dimensional. Plus, it doesn't have a tidy ending where everyone goes home a hero and the guy gets the girl.

Just got back from a Date Movie (Flyboys) with my understanding wife. We both enjoyed ourselves and the movie. CGI and all it does look good on a b-i-g screen...watching this on the set in your living room won't look this good.

Actually, did not really expect it to be as good as it was. Compared to most of the drivel that is on screen today (What was that thing with Jude Law last year, Sky Captain? or some such BS), this was most enjoyable.

However, here in the Greater Beantown area, fewer than 50 people at the 4:15pm showing on the first weekend is not a good sign for Flyboys income...nor is it good news for finding funding for future aviation motion pictures.

I'm looking forward to seeing it, but the trailers make it look like another Pearl Harbor

Lynn

Didnt get to see it tonight
Went to see Fearless instead

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The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. - Gus Grissom

the french treated the u.s. black soldiers 1st class in ww 1, better than we did! i'm ashamed to say!! however, they should take a refresher course in appreciation as we bailed them out of 2 world wars & we were left holding the bag in vietnam. i'm not trying to stir up a bee hive, but they should reflect on the help we have given them with gratitude as we thought enough of them to stand behind them. their current government lacks reciprication as to the long standing value of our friendship.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Geez.

Look up WHY it's called the Lafayette Escadrille*. Oh, and where and why the Statue of Liberty came from and is about. It's funny you should be accusing them of short memories.

Freedom includes the right to disagree.

Let's keep the politics out of this Forum please.

*After Frenchman and honorary American citizen Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de La Fayette (or Lafayette).

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Raven

We just got back from the movie. It was two hours of my life that I wish I had back! Flyboys has all the elements that are needed in an aviation movie. All the Germans fly planes painted like the Red Baron's except one. The really bad German flys a black airplane and has a menacing snear that makes it obvious he is bad. This movie had the larger than life Texan that used to be a rancher, the black guy that has been treated bad by the white folks, the love interest, the coward that gets brave at the end, the guy that can't quit flying until he dies, the religious guy and the spoiled rich guy. If they had just fit in Snoopy and his dog house, it would have been a better movie.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have just stayed home and watch "The Blue Max".

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Brad

The talking part I'll give you but I think Roy Brown would disagree with you about taking a shot. Fly-by shootings started wayyyy before drive-by shootings...

There's more than enough ignorance these days to go around on both sides, unfortunately.



I certainly didn't enjoy the film because it was a realistic portrayal of the first American fighter pilots, nor had a deep thoughtful complex plot, nor engaging characters that I really cared about. I did enjoy it on a saturday-night-TDY-nothing-else-to-do level, though. It is equivalent to a saturday afternoon black-and-white cowboy matinee, in reality. I like your Snoopy vs the Red Baron analogy.

I have to think that it was done in the name of dumbing-down the complexities of aerial combat for a non-enthusiast, general public audience. The "standard" personalities made it a little easier to sort out for the layman.

I'd like to see anyone whip a pistol out with their right hand, fly perfect formation with their left hand (the one that's not used to holding the stick), while sticking their arm out perpindicular to a 69-knot wind, and take an un-aimed shot that goes through the other guy's eye 30 feet away.

I have a fair amount of time looking down the sights of rifles and pistols, as well as flying formation in airplanes...and I sure as heck couldn't have made that shot, even if I weren't flying the airplane. The complexity of aiming with the very strong direct crosswind is in itself something that would be difficult to deal with.

in my last post of this thread i was only trying to convey that the french government hasn't been to supportive in our world affairs as of late & since the time when prez reagan authorized the bombing of libya, when they denied us use of their airspace to conduct the mission, we had to take the long way to achieve the goal. the french are good people, but their govt needs to remember a loyal long standing friend.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!