"The only trouble with this war is it begins too early in the morning"...so says Captain Buzz Rickson of the 8th Air Force and the hot shot pilot of an B-17. The year is 1943 and American daylight raids are taking a toil not only on the enemy but bomber crews as well. The movie focuses mostly on one crew of "The Body", for the magic number is 25 missions to go home in one piece. I found Steve McQueen's role as Captain Buzz Rickson spilt, either he grates on you or you root for his swagger but at times insubordination toward higher authority, as in his "I'll show them" attitude, while the same time performing reckless endangerment to his crew. Buzzing the field after dropping propaganda leaflets was one such stunt, any real pilot would of been grounded immediately for mental evaluation and sent packing for good. The triangle love story was ok, with Lesley Anne Field as Daphne Caldwell, was delightful to watch but it simply slowed down the movie I thought. The real action was at 30,000 feet, while taking on enemy fighters and flak, with real combat footage mixed in. But the movie was rather uneven at times and nothing I would nominate an academy award for. This was a British production and based on the novel by Robert Hersey, while filmed in black and white and also stars Robert Wagner. But certainly not one of McQueen's best roles. Reviews have varied from thumbs up to thumbs down, but I am somewhere in the middle, so I'll give this movie 2 stars out of 4.
****SPOILER ALERT**** Did a B-17 or any bomber fly headlong into the White Cliffs of Dover during the war like in the final scene? I liked 633 Squadron much better.
I got The War Lover from Netflix and watched it over the weekend. It's been quite awhile since I saw it last, maybe 40 years or so. And I thoroughly enjoyed it, better than I remembered it. As far at B-17 movies go, it was one of the better ones I believe. Better that Memphis Belle, but all the while not implying that Memphis Belle was a dud. And I forgot all about Shirley Ann Field. Now she was a knockout! Hubba hubba. The B-17 scene as it crashed into the White Cliffs of Dover was a bit lame by today's standards, but that was all they had to work with in 1962. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what is worse, lame antique special effects or over done CGI by computer nerds. In the pre-mission briefing scenes, you see Burt Kwok in there as a USAAF bombardier. He's better known as Inspector Clouseau's Chinese butler and martial arts sparring partner in the Pink Panther movies. Now I had to get my hands on 633 Squadron and watch it again and see what I remember about it. It's probably been 40 or so years since I've watched that one too.
A elderly vet told me once about a B-17 from his group full of people on leave who flew into a Irish hill, but that was in extreme fog conditions.
nice...burt kwok. edit- must add: the canadian version of netflix is...horrible. think cbc radio on tv. full of programming. hollywood dies, composts into netflix. ugh.
I still have the old Netflix with the DVDs selected online, then wait for the USPS to deliver them. Drop them back into the mailbox for the return, then they send me what's next up in the Que. I have the 4 DVD at a time program.
