Os Paraquedistas Estão Chegando

Being an aviation enthusiast, but not a jumper - I was drawn to this movie. Burt Lancaster plays "Mike Rettig" in the sort of role he is best at, plenty of action, with an eye for a pretty face. The pretty face in this case being Deborah Kerr. Miss Kerr was approaching 50 years of age when this movie was made, but was able to been seen close-up and naked with Burt Lancaster in what what must be one of the few (if the only) scenes where Miss Kerr reveals all. A far cry from the many Nuns she has played in her career. Compare her in this with "Heaven knows, Mr Allison" with Robert Mitchum. Gene Hackman provides good support as the reckless carefree "Joe Browdy", seeking out the local haunts for loose women. William Windom brilliantly plays Kerr's isolated and betrayed husband. A good film that happily TCM repeats regularly - thank goodness!

John Frankenheimer's drama of itinerant skydivers intersecting with small town doldrums is heavy on atmosphere but frustratingly ambiguous in its storytelling.

Not having read James Drought's source novel, it's hard to say just what went wrong here. Perhaps in an attempt to avoid conventional melodramatics, adapter William Hanley's script was kept as low-key and naturalistic as possible, to the extent that all of the silences and unspoken words end up conveying practically nothing of the characters' motivations beyond a kind of inchoate yearning. Usually I'm all for scripts that don't shout and scream, that rather rely on subtlety and restraint, but this one is so elliptical that its own best intentions are undermined. The ending seems flat and pointless. Yes, a death has occurred, but has anyone in the story really changed?

It's particularly frustrating given the talent involved. Stars Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, with support from younger players like Scott Wilson, Gene Hackman, and Bonnie Bedelia, give strong and convincing portrayals. Add to that some remarkable aerial photography of skydiving derring-do -- plus a love scene which features the beautiful Ms. Kerr's bare breasts -- and you probably won't feel you've wasted 2 hours. But if only there were more.

Not a 'lost treasure' of Frankenheimer's, Lancaster's and Kerr's careers, but an intriguing, minor footnote.

Actor & director combo Burt Lancaster and John Frankenheimer team for this appealing film that explores the lives of three sky divers, played by Lancaster, Gene Hackman, and Scott Wilson. They come to a small Midwest town named Bridgeville where they stun the locals with their aerial feats. Meanwhile, they affect the lives of some of the local woman. Mike Rettig (Lancaster) finds himself falling for Elizabeth Brandon (Deborah Kerr), who happens to be the aunt of Malcolm Webson (Wilson).

Fundamentally, this is a good story (scripted by William Hanley, based on the novel by James Drought) well told, and it's punctuated by absolutely dazzling sky diving footage. Some viewers may wish there was more of this type of thing in the movie and less romance. The film flirts with melodrama (such as a back story involving Elizabeth) but Frankenheimer and the actors help keep it on an even keel.

It's the cast that makes this worth watching. The majority of the performances are agreeably subtle, with the exception of Hackman, who's playing the extrovert of the group anyway. Lancaster and Kerr have a very alluring sex scene; both actors look incredibly good. Hackman strikes up a relationship with a hottie waitress (Sheree North) while Wilson is attracted to the college student (Bonnie Bedelia) who's boarding with the Brandons. North absolutely sears the screen. William Windom is good as Kerrs' husband whose aloof nature is a factor in her being turned on by Lancaster.

Frankenheimer gets great use out of the real Midwestern locations (this was filmed in various parts of Kansas); the movie is definitely a real slice of Americana. Overall it's endearing enough and exciting enough to make it an okay view; it's ultimately rather predictable, but it remains watchable throughout.

Seven out of 10.

As a very young boy in El Dorado, Kansas, I marveled when the film crews came to town from Hollywood to shoot this film, what is considered John Frankenheimer's `lost classic.' The story is sub-par: three barnstormers stop at a small Kansas town to put on a show and get involved in a less-than-intriguing soap opera with the occupants of a house where they are staying. What makes the movie work for me is the reoccurrence of so many memorable images from the town where I grew up, but for outsiders, the essence of small-town Kansas life is captured so purely you'll be transported to the peacefulness of a world where the arrival of daredevil skydivers is a Big Event.

Most interesting to note in this film are the back-stories. Scott Wilson was called in to replace an injured John Philip Law, who was originally cast as the young daredevil. Gene Hackman was still a fledgling, relatively unknown, and yet he managed to steal most of the scenes from the established Burt Lancaster. For the locals, this film still lingers in the memory. The Victorian home where the barnstormers stay still stands, and the screened in porch on the house's north side--built exclusively for this film by the visiting film crew--is still referred to by locals as the `MGM porch.' The fight song that the marching band plays throughout this film is still the fight song of the Butler County Grizzlies, the athletic team of the local community college. And even today, old-timers wonder whether or not that was really Deborah Kerr in the buff … or if a body double was used. Either way, you'll get a real feel for this community, an interesting first look at up-and-comers Gene Hackman and Bonnie Bedalia, and a fascinating series of sky-diving sequences that set the tone for many such scenes to come.

This movie is an overlooked gem, and deserved better than what it got. I remember it coming out in theatrical release in the late 1960s, and it received very good reviews but for some reason it quietly died off; or so it seems. The director, in the commentary on the DVD, tells why this occurred and that was basically due to a change of management at MGM shortly after this movie was released. Now, it can be appreciated with the new DVD technology.

The technology used to film this movie was very sophisticated for its time and gave results that would challenge the technology of today. Film cameras instead of video cameras were used by the skydivers; nevertheless they obtained tremendous aerial shots that are thrilling even today. It is hard to believe that these scenes were filmed thirty six years ago.

The documentary film on the DVD about the making of this movie is absolutely essential to fully enjoy and understand the skydiving associated with this movie; including the "Bat Wing" stunt skydiving that forms a sort of particular drama with this movie. A better film documentary film about this movie, which I doubt exists or will be shown, would be about the making of the love scene between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. The had a love scene, of sorts, in the 1953 movie, "From Here to Eternity". That scene, on the beach, is quite well known. However, due to the Code restrictions then not really that much could be shown.

I believe that one unspoken reason this movie was made was to allow a reunion between Lancanster and Kerr. Also, she was willing to be naked in a movie, very rare for the late 1960s. Those would be the primary reasons why she was in the movie as she was actually somewhat miscast due to her accent; a definite British accent in Kansas is somewhat incongruous (nowhere in the movie are we told that she is, say, a war bride or a British girl who somehow otherwise married a Kansas man).

Having said that I am actually very glad they cast her! Nowadays I look a lot like her and worry about whether or not I can find another husband (divorced and looking). Debby showed that a girl could still get a gorgeous hunk like Burt even when she was 48! You guys just can't imagine what us middle aged gals feel when we see Debby and Burt finally doing the wild thing in that living room! It gives us hope that we can still get a man! Deborah Kerr still had a great body at 48, and that is why I think she did not mind doing the nude scene. I think she was not near as nervous showing off as Burt was and certainly not near as nervous as the director. Her performance was certainly a highlight of this movie.

Puzzling was the performance of William Windom; who portrayed her husband. His role is somewhat out of place; and I don't understand why his fine acting skills weren't use more than they were. His role is disjointed at best and it is hard to understand how the character is supposed to fit within this movie. There are absolutely no husband-wife dynamics shown between him and Kerr. Even in the most disjointed of marriages (such as the second of my two marriages) there is generally some sort of attachment between the two even though they may both be in the divorce court! Interestingly enough, when Lancaster was on this film he had just gone through a divorce. His wife was upset due to all the flings he had been through while married to her. Well, it is easy for this gal to see why he was not totally loyal to his wife; he had all those sexy women throwing themselves at him! And, if I had been around that area when this film was being made I would have been one of them! He was a good looking fellow then! Debby, you were a lucky gal!