Bombardero B-52

Interesting as well as tedious film at times , though . The picture contains a silly and boring love story ; being designed to showcase the US Air Force's brand-new B-52 Stratofortress bomber, including actual footage of jet plane and as such the studio received complete cooperation from the Air Force . As the B-52 Stratofortress bombers weighed 500,000 pounds and could fly at a speed of 650+ miles per hour and travel 17,000 miles without having to land and they could refuel in mid-air . This aerial drama deals with Sgt. Chuch Brennan (Karl Malden who steals the show as expert sergeant) always disliked playboy and hotshot, Col. Jim Herlihy (Efrem Zimbalist , he replaced Tab Hunter) . Now Chuck has even more reason to, Jim is dating his daughter, Lois (Natalie Wood ,during shooting, she was named "Miss Stratosphere of 1957" and "Sweetheart of Castle Air Force Base") . This movie's dedication shown at the end of the film states: "With grateful appreciation for the cooperation of the United States Air Force we proudly dedicate this picture to the crew chiefs and ground personnel , the indispensable men who contribute so much to our airpower."

This is a family drama , including an usual love story between a pilot colonel and a gorgeous young with her sergeant father objecting , interwoven with nice aerial footage of B 52 maneuvers . This film is a Warner Brother official studio tribute to the B-52 Stratofortress bomber air craft and the United States Air Force. This was apparently the first film in which the US Air Force's new B-52 Stratofortress bomber was featured. It appeared in a number of films afterward, notably A Gathering of Eagles (1963), Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), and By Dawn's Early Light (1990). Good quartet protagonist as Karl Malden , Efrem Zimbalist , Natalie Wood and Marsha Hunt . Although Natalie Wood received star billing with her name above the title, she actually only had a minor part . Fine plethora of secondaries , many of them uncredited , such as Ann Doran , John Doucette , Stuart Whitman , Bing Russell , Will Hutchins and recently deceased Juanita Moore . Colorful cinematography in Cinemascope by William H. Clothier , John Ford's usual , it was shot on location in in Merced County (California) Air Force base . Thrilling as well as rousing musical score by Leonard Rosenman .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Gordon Douglas. This is one of various and professional works of his long career as filmmaker . He was a Hollywood veteran director, directing early movies such as ¨Little rascals¨, ¨Spanky¨. He was an expert on adventures genre as ¨Black arrow¨ and ¨Fortunes of Captain Blood¨ , both starred by Louis Hayward ; but he's mainly specialist filmmaking Western , his first was ¨ Girl rush (1944)¨ and in the 40s directed ¨Doolins of Oklahoma¨ and ¨The Nevadan¨ for duo Harry Joe Brown-Randolph Scott . He went on directing Alan Ladd's vehicles as ¨Iron Mistress¨ and ¨The fiend who walked west¨ which resulted to be a Western rendition to ¨Kiss of death¨. In the 50s he proved his specialty on Western in the films starred by Clint Walker as ¨Fort Dobbs¨ ,¨Yellowstone Kelly¨, ¨Gold of seven Saints¨ and about legendary bandits as ¨Doolins of Oklahoma¨ and ¨Great Missouri raid¨ . After that , he filmed ¨Chuka(1967)¨ that bears remarkable resemblance to ¨Only the valiant¨ , the remake ¨Stagecoach (1966)¨ , and the superior ¨Rio Conchos¨. Douglas usually worked for Frank Sinatra in various films such as ¨Lady in Cement¨, ¨Tony Rome¨, ¨The detective¨ , ¨Robin and the 7 Hoods¨. Bombers B 52 , rating : Passable and acceptable , 6 . Well worth seeing .

I was stationed at Castle AFB from 1956 to 1960 (93rd Field Maintenance Squadron) and watched the filming of the flight line segments. I even have some black & white pictures of Natalie with some of my squadron mates. The high point was the low altitude flyover of a flight of B-52s. The segment where the landing gear is jammed was done in our maintenance hanger with the bomber on jacks with wheel well doors open. An iris on the lighting gave the impression of the wheel well doors opening as the iris was opened. In the finished film it looked very realistic. My one complaint was the scene of a B-52 flying with it's gear down after being refueled by a KC-97, that just wasn't done.

i just saw this from the DVD release.Its an enjoyable movie,as long as one doesn't ask too much.This is a simple story of a career technician of the air-force,and his problems with his daughter and a Colonel who dates her and whom he knew back from the Korean war.Natalie Wood who plays the daughter is in her blooming youth here. Malden is a pleasure to watch in his simple working man role,also his life doesn't look half-bad,he has a lovely wife and daughter and a job he loves and he is really good at.In fact,the America in the 50's look in beautiful widescreen and Technicolor,is the main the thing i liked about this movie. The subplot is about the B-52 bomber of course,and the movie shows in detail this huge aircraft.Its not really a plane very suited for movies,unlike fighter planes,but for airplane fans its interesting. All in all,i think its a decent movie but mostly for people who like airplanes.

This was a popular and often-run feature in the late 50s which had the advantage of a good cast in Karl Malden, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Natalie Wood.

"Flight" was very popular science in the 50s and the subject matter produced many films with big stars (Jimmy Stewart played in more than one of these, "Strategic Air Command" and "Spirit of St. Louis" to name a couple).

"Bombers B-52" and "X-15" (with Charles Bronson) shared double bills in my neighborhood on more than one occasion, as these films were likely to draw in a good crowd of young and enthusiastic boys who were probably building the plastic model kits at home as well.

Disappointing compared to for example The Hunters and rather in the manner of the made for TV programming sponsored by large corporations in the 1950's and '60's seamlessly wholesome, moderate and reassuringly affirmative of worthy values - of patriotism, of the decency of the military, of family, of duty and of hard work being its own reward. The aerial photography lacked the supreme vividness of The Hunters. Also the B52 was not as photogenic or exciting as the F86 - similarly Karl Malden compared to The Hunters star hero Robert Mitchum. Nevertheless the script called on Malden to do what he does supremely well - play the decent simple unglamourous man. The two women play very conventional roles - supportive nice looking wife, pretty, innocent and well-behaved daughter. Other women are simply described as "blonds" or "brunettes" - enough said. The greatest object of passion was the new B52 - the "biggest, fastest, highest flying, longest range bomber in the world" - passion which in movie terms sounds cheesy but in reality the chance of working on the best, the latest, fastest, most advanced etc etc is the lure which captures and retains the most skilled designers and engineers worldwide.