Warbird Information Exchange

I saw "Red Tails" just a few hours ago.

"Band of Brothers" it ain't. The dialogue is a little (ok, a lot) stilted in places, and there are the typical war movie stereotypes (The showboat, the conflicted leader, the country bumpkin, etc). There was a total disregard for national insignia placement and style on the aircraft. The movie began in 1944, but the planes just had the circle and star on the fuselage and later had the stars and bars on the wings at the same time. Silver B-17s at the end of the film had insignias with red surrounds.

The airfield set was very detailed and fantastic. aerial sequences are well done, but others have noted the "B-17 wing syndrome", and thats true.

Not as bad as Pearl Harbor. Not too preachy, but pretty wooden over all. Final verdict: Even with my very low expectations, it didnt suck as much as I was afraid it would.

I saw a packed matinee showing, and will probably pick it up for cheap on DVD.

I haven't seen an aviation film with dialogue so full of cliche's since, "Airplane!" Honestly, at any moment I expected the late Leslie Neilson to appear thanks to the magic of CGI and say, "We're all counting on you, good luck!"

One subtitled example spoken in German by the very aryan flight lead with the evil scar running from his ear to the corner of his mouth who, by the way, is capable of flying at bomber altitude, where the time-of-useful-consciousness is mere seconds, without the benefit of his oxygen mask (gee, maybe they really were the master race) and who can also coax his ME-109 to perform a 15G manuever which would pull the wings off any other aircraft is:

"Die you foolish African!" Ugh!

And puhleeeze, Mr. Lucas. Really? Was it really necessary to steal a scene shot-for-shot from "The Great Escape?"

Egads, boys. Save your money and avoid this stinker.

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Craig

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Saw it last night. Something's amiss for sure when, in a movie rife with old airplanes (virtual or otherwise), the most entertaining element is a storyline involving a romance! As someone else stated (either here or on Key, I forget), that bit of plot was made mildly comedic by the opaque language barrier between the pilot and the Italian lass.

I hope Lucas' target audience is reached, and I know I'm not it...a 46-year-old white-as-bleached-flour Canadian! By happenstance the minister at my church was in the same audience. He's a Cajun originally from East Texas, whose dad fought in the Pacific in WWII; he had some of the same comments to make afterward about horrid scripting and cliches. I think most of the (modest-sized) audience was of similar opinion. As I expected, HBO's TV-movie is still (and will probably now remain) the best filmed version of the Tuskegee story.

I'd never have guessed several actual Warbirds were used in the making of "Red Tails"; even the handful of shots that did depict the real thing seemed to have been doctored somewhat to make them match all that videogame CGI. And what's up with the virtual P-40s? Were they modeled on those hilarious wooden mockups from "Flying Tigers" with John Wayne? I kept muttering things like that under my breath through the course of the film. Ultimately I think my assessment comes down to one syllable. "Meh"...

(I asked the pastor if he had seen the HBO film. He hadn't yet, but, having an interest in history, he's borrowing the DVD of it from the local library. Maybe that will happen a fair bit, and if it does, at least the people who see both films will get a somewhat clearer view of the double war the Airmen had to fight.)

S.

No it's just as stupid as the first time.

How many movies from WW2 on have covered white soldiers? Hundreds? A thousand? Now how many have covered the experience of black soldiers? I can think of 3 at the moment. Lets see, they were covering the white soldiers of WW2 from during the war on, covering specific units etc. It took til 1996 to get a single film on a black unit made? And somehow they're getting too much coverage as being too important?

Should we go down the list of specific units covered since WW2? How bout the last week? Lets see, we had SPR on tonight, that pointed at the 2nd Rangers, and had a 101st airborne element. Guadalcanal Diary was on tonight. That's the 1st Marines isn't it? Thirty Seconds over Tokyo was last weekend and that's a specific unit. Hmmm Flying Tigers have been covered. 8th AF Bombers more then once with the 91st BG usually showing front and center, whether it be Memphis Belle or 12 )' Clock High. Throw in The War Lover as well. The list goes on forever.

So again tell me how the 332nd has been made more important then the others again? Maybe the question you should have asked, considering the uniqueness of the story, why it wasn't done many years ago. But then again we don't want to go there do we?

Misread a comment. Nothing to see here...

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Curator - EAA Aviation Museum, Oshkosh, WI
"Let No Story Go Untold!"
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From what I have gathered from Lucas being interviewed about this movie, the aim was not to produce an exact retelling, bio-drama, as something like Band of Brothers, which could have been done, but in this case that was not the goal. Instead, the vision for the movie was to make it something like the classic WWII-era flying movies - Flying Leathernecks, Flying Tigers, Air Force, etc. - where they chronicled a specific flying group or group of flyers, but did it in a non-biographical way, with fictional characters based on real-life people, with easy to identify "good guys" and "bad guys". There are some that have pointed out that they didn't like the perhaps "hokey" dialogue at times, especially that of the German pilots, but this had to have been very purposefully done in the way it was - remember how "hokey" the bad guys were in movies like Flying Tigers or God is My Co-Pilot? The same can be said for the intent to make the movie's storyline rather predictable, as the old wartime movies tended to be. Lucas' idea for Red Tails, as he has described, is that it is to be like a movie that was made during WWII, but was lost to time until now, so there should be noticeable attributes throughout the movie that are of that 1940's war-movie feel, including a heavily patriotic theme and easy to recognize heroes and villains.

Yes, $20K for an authentic full size WWI replica is laughable...at that price I'd take two...an SE5a and DR-I please!

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Thanks for the heads up guys, the trailer was enough to dissuade me from paying to see it. However noble the subject (or righteous the countering of the topic on both sides) if it’s badly made film then it’s a badly made film ...

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Okay, $20K may be on the low side, but you must admit building a "new" S.E.5a out of wood and fabric is lightyears easier and faster to complete at much less cost per example than a single P-51 or even P-40. If I remember correctly, Mr. Jackson's group turned out all of the aircraft for "Crossing the Line" in less than a year. Try doing that with a P-51 starting with nothing but plans and maybe a single example Merlin.

I think Dan Johnson II should be banned from this site.
Calling others stupid is uncalled for.
VL

The WW II movies may have been hokey, but you would think that because they are out dated they would learn to write better scripes today.

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Calling the comment stupid should result in my leaving? Wow. What word would have been more appropriate?

Well my Family went an saw the movie, and we enjoyed it very much, we know the History and The Real Tuskegees, they where American Pilots that needed to be Recoginized for their Service during WWII. The CGI was a bit to much but was still enjoyable, their where a couple of Mustangs that where flown for the Movie and also the ending scene was made possible by a Very Generous Donation of P-51 Owners at the Duxford Airshow this past year that Most people don't know about. I liked the Movie ..!!!

Thanks to The Red Tail CAF Squadron for all they do and Cuba Gooding Jr. For all the Promo Work this past Summer, an continuing their Presentation this summer at Airshows and Schools to Educate the young people of our Aviation Future to come.

This Forum and Most of the People Here NEVER Change, Wonder why Warbird Owners Never Post here. They just read this stuff and Laugh ...!!!

Now Admin. ..... LOCK THIS THREAD or Delete It ..!!!

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FLY SAFE--FLY FAST
F4U Corsair Historian
Mint Moore III

The CAF Red Tail squadron does a fantastic job telling the story. Maybe this movie will get younger folks into the story more. I just wish more of the details were in it. By details I don't mean B-17 markigns and such, just more about the real men.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager