B-17 la forteresse volante

After a string of stinkers out of Hollywood lately, I wasn't expecting much from this film, with its cast of little known actors. And at first I thought it was living up to my expectations, with a few glitches here and there dragging my attention out of the story. But it kept pulling me back and I found at the end that I was thoroughly absorbed. It hammers a few points perhaps over-strongly, where subtlety might have been more elegant, but it had an honesty that overlaid that.

It isn't gung-ho like a 60's war movie, and it isn't ultra-realistic like a modern battle film, it's somewhere in between and has a charm and compulsion of its own that made me very pleased to have watched it.

Forgive it its few faults and it will reward you with a good watch!

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.

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.

I hate seeing people unfairly underrating films because they are not happy with seeing unknown actors and graphics that don't reach super tech status...give them a chance, these guys have created an enjoyable b movie that easily equals anything that a more known actor can make. Why do you all down talk graphics and special effects? its not always the graphics that make the film,do you think you can do any better? ...i didn't think so or you'd have done it by now....this movie was better than many i have seen so far these last few months and as it was based on true facts i wasn't expecting anything overly exciting to happen but was impressed by the story and will happily watch it again another day with my partner.

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.