Águias Americanas

As a child, TV I watched "Air Force" and other war films some consider WW II "propaganda" on TV. As a young man, after a night of carousing, I'd come stumbling home and, if a channel were showing these types of films, I'd watch them on the Late, Late Show. Now, I watch these films for the excellent acting, action, and for their historical content significance as "propaganda" films during the dark part of WWII for the US and its allies. When it seemed as if Japan and Germany were conquering the world. And I could also enjoy the action and danger vicariously.

Don't kid yourself that Hollywood no longer makes "propaganda" films. They are making them now more than ever. The films are just a different type of "propaganda".

The "Got him!" dogfight in Star Wars was practically cut-by-cut from Air Force (just as Indiana Jones lifted the Big Round Boulder scene directly from an Uncle Scrooge comic, but that's another review). Air Force's Dying Pilot scene (check-listing his crew for takeoff, job by job, and they respond) is almost unendurable to any man who has worked in danger and loss with other men. The crew's field-modifying the pre-G-series B-17 to equip it with an effective tail gun, (and stripping hulks for usable parts!) helped prepared me as a boy of the 1950s for my young manhood up on the high banks of Talladega and Daytona, and for business and traffic today. I trust our current young soldiers have found their own examples for courage and resourcefulness as they defend us today.

I've seen this on cable dozens of times and almost never turn it off when it comes on. Some of the comments about the racist terms are simply naive. Trying to judge a movie 60 years later using political correctness as a measurement is like trying to compare Slater Martin with Michael Jordan. Air Force was released in 1943 meaning it was written and produced shortly after Pearl Harbor. So, the terms "Fried Jap" are understandable considering the times. Yes, the death bed scene was sappy. But the scene where the "Mary Anne" is trying to take off just one step ahead of invading japaness troops is exciting. The special effects are good (again, considering the technology 60 years ago) and although you can point to problems here or there, I think Howard Hawks and a great cast make this a movie people will enjoy for many more decades.

Great is over used a lot of times to describe something pretty good or even mediocre, but I think this movie, taken in context, IS great. I didn't see the racism that Sargebri@earthlink.net saw, but after all the movie was made in 1943, we were at war with Japan and since they started it, it is understandable that our attitude toward them was pretty edgy.

I always look at characters and the kinds of feelings they create and whether a movie can develop a mood. I think the characters and the mood in "Air Force" do that very well. It shows what a downer war really is (it doesn't make any difference if you are right or wrong)and how much people lose during war. It also emphasizes the futility of it all sometimes when you know you're going to die, but you are willing to do your job anyway. Have to hand it to those guys at Wake Island.

I saw this movie for the first time way back in the 50's and had the pleasure of seeing it again recently. It's STILL a great movie. James Brown who was Tex Raider the pursuit pilot (played Lt. Rip Masters on the TV show Rin Tin Tin) and John Garfield who was Joe Winocki are my favorite characters but like Sargebri it was a hoot to see George Tobias as a young man.

One of the great things about motion pictures in this country is how they change with the times. Take this picture for example which came out in 1943. The U.S. was in the thick of the war and this was a film like many made during that time to stir patriotic fever and make Americans "hate the evil yellow enemy" (and the Nazis too!). It's full of everything to make the viewer feel good about our boys who are doing the fighting. A B-17 bomber crew where there seems to be no problems, only the desire to "Shoot down Japs" Now go forward about six years to 1949 and "Twelve O'Clock High" and watch that film about B-17 Bomber Crews. Could "Air Force" have cut it with movie goers any time after 1946? Could "Twelve O'Clock High" have made it with a 1943 audience? Probably not. So watch this picture and remember when it came out and what the mood in this country was and you'll truly enjoy it. Also don't forget to see "Twelve O'Clock High" as well, maybe right after seeing this one.