Fortress

and the dialog is just too modern. this is a very poorly directed movie too. but the worst thing in this movie is the sound track, the music to support the movie simply carelessly and mindless broadcast its own tune that got nothing to do with the storyline and the plot. the cgi of the first air sortie at the very beginning was also poorly crafted, it looks just too fake, the b-17s in the sky were just like a kid's drawing, the air battle also look very disconnected. what bothered me most was the music during the air raid, it played and played so loud, not just blocked the dialog but also further ruined the realistic feeling of the movie itself. then the whole movie suddenly aground on the airbase, those young actors were just poor 3rd rated non-talents. their acting simply further ruined the already too bad movie. i really doubt that people would have the patience to watch along and finish it. this is a poorly produced movie that should not put into production in the first place. if i have to use one word to describe this movie, it would be: "BORING". there's no sense to sit through the whole nine yard to the end. it's a b-movie's b movie, not even worth paying $1.00 to rent the DVD.

July, 1943. US bomber squadrons are bombing Sicily in preparation for the Allies' invasion. One such bomber is the Lucky Lass, a B- 17. When her commander is killed, the co-pilot, Lt. Wally McAllister, is given command of the plane. A rookie co-pilot, 2nd Lt. Mike Schmidt, joins the crew. Schmidt immediately alienates himself by not joining in and making some very basic errors on missions. Now he must regain their trust and support...

Amateurish in just about every way. Story is quite basic, clumsy and predictable. Direction is paint-by-numbers stuff, with no attempt at engaging the audience or anything approaching grittiness. Performances are hammy at best, and generally quite cringeworthy. Even the CGI, which in 2012 should be an easy tick, feels like something from a video game, and not a very good one.

However, decent enough battle scenes though, and a reasonably powerful final few scenes, make this not a total write-off. Still not worth watching though.

I realize that this was an extremely ambitious project produced on a shoestring budget. Allowing for this, is it too much trouble to find somebody who knows somebody whose cousin knows somebody that had even the slightest knowledge of Army Air Corps uniforms? Find a book with pictures of aircrew from that theater of the war. NO PILOT WEARS HIS WINGS ON THE FLAP OF HIS KHAKI SHIRT POCKET. All other flying crew (and especially the CO) would be wearing the appropriate wings for their specialty. The wings are worn directly above the pocket on the left side of the khaki shirt. Every single leather brimmed officer's hat was screwed up. When you take out the cap spring to get a 50 Mission Crush the sides of the had are pulled down over the band on the side from wearing earphones over the hat. It looked like there was a box of wadded up hats dumped on the set and everybody just grabbed whichever one they could get and slammed it on his head. Overseas (Cunt caps) hats are not tucked into the epaulets when indoors, they are slipped into the belt. And for god's sake have everyone get a haircut that would make them appear they were in the military. These are all cost free items that make the production look cheaper than necessary.

It's also unlikely that there would be a large B17 group based in Africa. Most of the units there were equipped with the B24 and they were painted in a desert tan paint scheme. All in all lack of attention to small no-cost details detracted from this movie.

The short and skinny here is, if you like war films (i.e. Memphis Belle (1990)) and want to kill 90 mins or so, this movie will do the trick. The writing isn't terrible...the story is acceptable...the actors are all unknowns (except Chris Owen, "The Shermanator" of American Pie fame) but manage to hold their own and deliver their lines convincingly enough. There were a few scenes where the the backgrounds were a little weak (poor green screening), but they weren't very long and weren't game-breakers. I have seen many, many B-Rated movies and this one was a surprise in that it succeeded in not being an A rated film, and at the same time, better than most B rated films. It's a diamond in the rough, but entertaining enough to not be a total waste of time.

If you like flying movies or World War II movies, I don't think you can go wrong with Fortress.

The movie is about the crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress flying out of North Africa during World War II, during a time of very high casualties. It centered on the crew of one plane, as they fought and as many of them died.

It was generally quite good. On the up side, they had a credible, real story and a pretty good set of actors. The special effects were generally pretty good. They didn't make any historical errors I spotted either.

It wasn't perfect. Some parts were predictable and there were lapses in special effects. But it was good and I definitely enjoyed it. Give it a try and I think you'll enjoy it too.