Águias Americanas

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.

I was stationed at Hamilton Air Force Base from November of 1966 till March of 1970. The movie starts off with a teletype message coming through ordering the B-17 group to proceed from Hamilton Field California to Hickam Field Hawaii for two weeks of annual training . I was stationed at the same base years later when it was a fighter plane base. I saw lots of old photos from the days when Flying Fortress B-17's flew off the same runway. Even though the special effects are not up to todays standards, I still enjoy watching this movie every time it is on TV . As a military photographer, I can only imagine what it must have been like to capture the chaos going on that Sunday morning in 1941. My first two years , I used a Speed Graphic just like those used back then so I have insight into how they worked .

I gave this an enthusiastic 6, and that's not said sarcastically. If you accept it for what it is, a WWII propaganda film, it is (except for the last half hour) very well done. It was made within the constraints of being a propaganda film, the necessity to maintain dramatic flow, incomplete knowledge at the time of all the facts, and the availability of aircraft that the Army Air Corps could provide. The aircraft are clearly the best thing about the film, though Harry Carey came close to stealing the movie. The aerial battles were staged by Paul Mantz, who was THE best in the business. There were two major weaknesses. The first was the frequent references to 5th column activity. Except for one minor incident in the Kauai area, the Japanese-Americans in Hawaii were singularly loyal to the U.S. The biggest weakness was the totally fictitious battle in the last 30 minutes of the movie. It never happened. The only sea battle in that area during that time frame was the battle of the Java Sea, which was a disaster for the U.S. and Dutch forces. Rather it seemed to be an enhanced composite of the attacks on Japanese convoys in the New Guinea/Solomon Islands area, and the battles of Coral Sea and Midway. We had nothing like the forces portrayed available at that time. The fighters shown at Clark Field were Bell P-39s. They were very pretty little planes, but were such a disappointment they earned the nickname Iron Dogs (all metal and "dogs"). But they still would have been far superior to what was actually available there. Sharp-eyed viewers would see that they were also used to stand in for radial-engined Zeroes (P-39s had liquid-cooled engines), along with radial-engined American trainers in the battle scenes. Also, I am practically certain B-17s didn't have the range to fly from Hickam to Clark with only one refueling stop, but that is justified by the necessity for dramatic flow. One more note - the dramatic picture of the capsizing battleship near the end of the movie was not a model, but rather a film of the Austro-Hungarian Szent Istvan sunk in 1918 during WWI.

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.

Air Force is Howard Hawks's ensemble salute to the Army Air Corps. Though John Garfield is in it and he was a major star at Warner Brothers, he really is part of an ensemble cast. Hawks meant this as an ensemble piece and you know that by the billing where the crew of the B-17 nicknamed by the crew the Mary Ann is in rank order. Tail gunner Garfield is down the list.

The plane leaves 12/6/41 for Hickam Field in Hawaii and we know what happened the next day. The Mary Ann lands and takes off and makes a bunch of stops where the Japanese are attacking. In the end they are part of a nasty battle.

Warner Brothers special effects was at the top of its game. The cast is perfectly suited for their roles right down to a dog that gets hostile at the name Moto. Captain John Ridgely's death scene is the dramatic highlight of the film.

Air Force got an Oscar for film editing. It's a wartime flag waver to be sure but it still holds up well today.