Le tigre du ciel

I read up on the real Captain McConnell and after watching the movie, I wanna read some more. No, it isn't because he was such an interesting guy, but it's because I found the entire first portion of the film ridiculous and impossible to believe. No soldier could have been THIS bad without spending significant time in Leavenworth, the way he meets his wife is stupid and it all seemed like one cliché after another strung together to make an eye-rolling film! It's sad, as Joseph McConnell was a true war hero...and this part of the film makes him seem like a horse's butt! What follows is his career as a bomber navigator on B-24s*, his entry into pilot's school after the war and his becoming the world's most successful jet pilot ace during the Korean War.

Apart from seeming unreal, most of the rest of the film is pretty much by the numbers...not terrible but also not all that involving or good. It's interesting that they chose June Allyson to play the wife, as she would soon go on to playing a VERY similar role in the air film "Strategic Air Command". Otherwise, a film that just should have been better...much better.

*The film used some very grainy stock footage. The worst of it was McConnell's B-24 bomber....in the film it was a B-17...a very, very different looking plane. It wouldn't taken much effort to use the right footage...just a desire to at least get SOME of the film right! Fortunately, the Korean War sequences were better with the use of actual Soviet MiG-15 footage as well as American F-84s doubling as the MiGs (since none were available to the film crew, this was about as close looking as they'd be able get to the enemy planes).

This film is based on the life and war career of Joseph "Mac" McConnell, as played by Alan Ladd, and June Allyson plays his wife, of whom he nicknamed "Butch." "Mac" was a much-decorated jet fighter of the Korean War. But the facts don't make the film and are not the crux (focused on) here. Even from the very beginning we are drawn in, as Mac is on the run from and wanted by the MPs, because he went flying during his Army tour. Immediately, we see the man, as Alan Ladd shows him to be a dreamer and a man of action. On his flight from them, he is given a ride by a stranger and tries to go out his kitchen window, when cornered by them, only to have June Allyson catching sight of him at the window. She of course think he's crazy and proceeds to turn him in with the MPs, only to find him gone when she returns to the kitchen. The obvious happens: he is taken by her and she succumbs to his charm. While we see him evolve into the jet pilot and fighter he will become, we are brought into their inner circle of love. Because she loves him, she tries to get him out of the line of fire and at a desk job, but like usual, a wife's attempt to change her husband doesn't pan out. Because she loves him, she worries about him, not only when he flies, but when he's gone to the store, when he's crossing the street, because that's what you do when you love someone. The love and warmth and feelings shared here are almost greater, than in any true-to-life movie she made with Jimmy Stewart. By the end of the film, we have felt much for these people, as we know them very well. "The McConnell Story" has become obviously one of my favorite Alan Ladd and/or June Allyson films. The life and war service of Joseph McConnell is depicted here, but the love he and his wife shared is what we remember from this film - one of the best biography-pictures (bio-pics) you're ever likely to see - "The McConnell Story."

Not a GREAT film, but certainly watchable. You could easily swap June Allyson's "stalwart wife" performance here with her roles in STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND and THE GLENN MILLER STORY. Alan Ladd was an excellent choice for the title role as you can see at this site: www.acepilots.com/korea_mcconnell.html. Sadly, the ending of the film had to be re-written when Captain McConnell was killed during a test flight of an F86 at Edwards AFB in May of 1954 while the film was still in production. Of Note: McConnell was indeed shot down himself, but he managed to not only nurse his plane to where he could eject and be rescued at sea ("I barely got wet"), he also shot down the Mig (piloted by a Russian "Ace") that had gotten him! He last three kills came on his final day of combat missions whereupon his commanding General ordered his top ACE home.

Even for a 1950s "wave the flag" movie, this film's plot is just, well, very bad. It is cliche ridden and inaccurate. The real Capt. Joe McConnell, Korea's highest scoring ace, got all his 16 air to air victories in just the last six months of the Korean War, and was shot down once himself. This could have made for an exciting docudrama. Instead, the director chose to do something less than a high school drama presentation showing June Allison flittering around with her screechy dialogue and Alan Ladd wearing his G-suit too low on his waist. (Never mind the inaccuracies like showing Ladd in a B-17 in WW 2, when McConnell was a B-24 nav).

The "aerial combat sequences" were laughable, especially the F-86s waltzing to AFN radio.

A much better period piece is "The Hunters" with Robert Mitchum.

I started watching this movie without knowing anything about the characters. I fell in love with it almost immediately! In fact, I watched it a second time with my husband. The story line is easy to follow and is faithful to Joe's real life story. The fight scenes when he's serving in the Korean War were well done, in my opinion. This movie made in 1955 only a year after his death was faithful to their lives together.