Fighter Squadron

I enjoyed this movie as an AF veteran and a nephew of a fighter pilot who flew in an England based squadron. I am not sure if I would have enjoyed the movie as much without that personal investment. The production is not that impressive. The story of the maverick fighter pilot having to accept responsibility after being thrust into a leadership role was fairly predictable, in 2006. Maybe it was new and refreshing in 1948, but this is not a classic, must have, multifaceted war classic. However, it is a good viewing, once every few years, if you are a WWII buff. The inaccuracies and location problems are lost when I view the actual combat footage. The personal stories are consistent with reality, even though not told well.

P-47 "Thunderbolt" pilots during WWII were a very brave bunch--and they suffered amazing combat-fatigue due to the style fighting they often did. While the P-47 was a great fighter plane, it was also an amazing ground attack aircraft and eventually that became its main role in Europe--destroying ANYTHING that moved on the ground. Trains, trucks, tanks and especially ground troops were its targets and apparently the pilots suffered because they could see their victims--up close and personal. Well, although "Fighter Squadron" is about the P-47, you'd think that the pilots loved this sort of duty and you never hear them talk about this aspect of their jobs. Instead, the film is pretty clichéd and mostly the men are upset that they can't kill more Germans. In fact, this is all fun, as you hear the hero (Edmond O'Brien) rattle off James Bond-like banter each time he blows up a train or building or mows down a company of men or shoot down a plane (filled, by the way, with pilots who yell 'schwein' all the time they're on camera).

Now this isn't my only complaint about the film. Some of the complaints are about sloppy continuity such as the use of Japanese planes as fodder for the 47s--even though this took place in the European theater. Another sloppy bit is seeing O'Brien's plane bedecked with victory symbols for downed German planes--and yet when this plane makes a belly landing, it has entirely different paint--and no victory symbols. Just a bit of concern about continuity could have easily taken care of these problems. However, I could ignore that all the German fighters were actually American P-51 fighters, as flyable German planes just weren't available for the shoot. The other major complaint I allude to above--the movie has little depth--it's all good fun as well as arguing with the higher authorities to let them do more. And, the characters all seemed more like caricatures than people.

This isn't to say the film is all bad. Most of the stock footage is pretty good and the battle sequences are pretty good. Also, the acting (when people aren't yelling) is decent. Not a great film by any standard but one of the few to talk about one of the most important planes and group of men from WWII.

If what you want is a thoughtful, authentic war drama, look elsewhere. This one's hilariously typecast, predictable, rigidly rah-rah, and ... gorgeous in Technicolor. The side story about the conniving sergeant is amusing, but distracting. The dialog is delivered with rapid-fire precision by the accomplished cast, so don't sneeze or you'll miss something.

The star of the picture is the combat footage. Lots and lots of great color footage of planes, some of them making emergency landings and airborne kills.

Oh, and look for a mighty young Rock Hudson in the squadron.

Directed by Raoul Walsh this movie is built around actual war footage. Air battle scenes are some of the best ever. The Third Fighter Group of the Army Air Force stationed in England pave the way for V-E Day by dueling with the German Luftwaffe. Along with the great camera footage is the background score of Max Steiner. A very good cast that features:Edmond O'Brien, Robert Stack, Tom D'Andrea, Shepperd Strudwick, James Holden and the one-line debut of Rock Hudson. This memorable film is even better in tandem with another Walsh war flick OBJECTIVE, BURMA!(1945). Sometimes predictable, but very worthwhile.

The first thing that struck me about this movie was the quality of the color, which was excellent. It looked more like a movie made in the 50's than 1948. Like Mr. Padilla, who's informative review also appears in this database, I was momentarily baffled when the enemy planes first appeared in the movie. What's this?, I thought. I know those aren't Messerschmidts, and I recall the Stukas weren't that sleek-looking. What we have here are Mustangs in drag, as it were. I suppose the production company may have used whatever war birds they could lay their hands on. Chaulk one up for artistic license.

Once I got over that, I enjoyed the movie. Hollywood must have made a blue million war movies during and after WWII, and I own copies of at least 50 or so of them, but here's one I'd never seen before, nor even heard of. Most of the actors were pleasantly familiar, with Robert Stack being much younger here than I have before seen him. But towards the end of the movie, when all the pilots were gathered in the Ready Room before a mission, I had to do a double take as I looked at the members of the squad in the background. Is that who I think it is, I thought. Sure 'nuff, after the flick ended I came to this website to check the cast list, and there he was, listed as an unspoken actor, Rock Hudson.

I haven't yet searched to see if this movie is available on VHS or DVD, but I will. I'd like to own a copy.