Above and Beyond

I give this 9 stars but by today's standards it won't make sense. It makes sense to me because I heard about this from my father who was over in Okinawa flying bombing missions (he was in charge of bombing and photography when he had a free hand in between cigarettes) I loved hearing from other reviewers that this was more factual and less yahoo cowboy Uncle Sam (Like most of the other movies depicting the end to the war and the Japanese surrender. They didn't glamorize it just as my dad always minimized any of his heroics that earned him the DFC with cluster) But this is what my dad didn't know either -he wasn't told just like the majority of servicemen weren't told. Even those on the plane itself weren't notified until the mission was under way. Wow. I believe it. All my dad knew was the celebratory "The Japs surrendered !" Pardon my use of an abbreviation that sounds derogatory. But this is the reality of the times-reflecting how well our government continued the demonization that a surprise attack on our naval bases in Hawaii understandably ignited. The mixed emotions of those privy to the enormity of the undertaking's results were brilliantly portrayed, less in words than in their anguished faces -never exaggerated either. A history lesson and a perspective forced upon so few who must have felt the impact for the rest of their lives. The greatest generation indeed and we need them if just a grand glimpse like this one. .

I knew of Wendover Airbase long before seeing this movie. Although the movie infers that Tibbets picked the field for its isolation (true) it was also where they taught heavy bomber crews during WW2. So the field hardly had to be developed for the special mission of the 509th.

And today it has another famous reason - it is the site of many movie scenes, such as Independence Day and ConAir.

In fact, when I went to visit the site - right on the Utah-Navada border, they were filming ConAir.

Today all one sees as a reminder of its importance are the old concrete foundations of the many wooden buildings - with signs telling you what each building's purpose was.

But to the movie - I know that the main points were factually correct - right down to the flight time a B29 required flying from Saipan or Tinian to Japan - and back.

14 hours.

It seems that the secrecy at this base was as stringent as Los Alamos, where the Bomb was developed.

Besides being an entertaining movie it is educational.

This film tells the story of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Pilot Tibbets is played by Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker portrays his wife. The rest of the cast includes a bunch familiar faces, but the performances are standard. Taylor does a particularly good job as the officer tormented by the morality of his task and the disintegration of his marriage.

This film has some good moments. One of them is uncharacteristically humorous. The colonel comes home one afternoon to hear sounds from the kitchen. His wife tells him that she has found someone to fix the plumbing. "Who?", enquires Taylor. "One of the sanitary engineers", she says, referring to the men in white coats she pointed out to her husband upon their arrival. The plumber turns out to be one of the scientists with the Manhattan Project. "He is very nice," she says, "but he's very smart."

Another powerful moment is when the "Enola Gay" drops the bomb on Hiroshima. There is one word of dialogue in this scene. Taylor looks at the mushroom cloud and says "God." The enormity of this moment does not need words, and the film delivers.

The film makes a sincere effort to deal with the morality of the bomb. In one scene the general questions Tibbets' feelings about his mission. If I wasn't concerned about what I'm about to do he says I wouldn't be much of a man. After dropping the bomb, he angrily responds to a reporter's question about how he feels about killing 80,000 people by saying "How do your reader's feel?" When his wife hears what he has done she retreats to her room in silence, ignoring the eager reporters.

I found the scene in which Tibbets is selected for his mission to be problematic. It is hard to buy in to the premise that an officer would be rewarded for insubordination by a top-secret assignment.

This film was a bit too long, but it is well worth watching. It may not be fun to watch the story of the atom bomb, but it is a story that deserved to be told. The movie does a credible job with it and should be recognized for that.

The actual development of the atomic bomb was documented in films like The Beginning or the End and in Fat Man and Little Boy. Above and Beyond concentrates on the pilot of the B-29 that actually did the deed.

Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker play Colonel and Mrs. Paul Tibbetts who's marriage was put under an incredible strain due to the security surrounding his assignment. Taylor was between his marriages to Barbara Stanwyck and Ursula Thiess and was involved with Parker at the time Above and Beyond was being filmed. Probably that helped a lot during the romantic interludes in the film.

Because this film sticks to the personal story of the Tibbetts marriage and avoids all the debate about the use of the atomic bomb, it still holds up well for today's audience.

In the supporting cast I would have to single out James Whitmore who plays the security head at Wendover field where Tibbetts is training the potential crew for the mission as the most outstanding. He's virtually the only one Taylor can bare his stoic soul to with the assignment he has.

Even with the debate over Hiroshima still raging I would still recommend viewing this film.

This movie is the best production of the first A-bomb attack. Though Hollywood produce another shortly after the war and despite the cast, Brian Donlevy, as General Groves, and Robert Walker it was highly fictional.My late uncle served with Colonel Tibbits in the 509th and he said that Robert Taylor captured the colonel exactly. James Witmore is very effective as the security officer whose task is as difficult as Taylor's. The film captures the enormity of the task of developing the A-Bomb in almost total secrecy from the public and the enemy.The grimness of this is clearly shown throughout the movie. There is very little flag-waving in this picture and one does not fail to realize that the bombing was necessary to prevent a greater loss of life if the Japanese homeland was invaded.