# movies?



## Aggie08 (Apr 19, 2005)

I'm trying to find some good world war two aviation movies, I'm looking for memphis belle, I've got pearl harbor (not entirely nonfiction but cool nonetheless), I've seen tora tora tora and the Battle of Britain, any other suggestions?


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## Royzee617 (Apr 19, 2005)

633 Squadron! Plus maybe the sequel.

There is a great TV series called Piece of Cake based on the Robinson novel of the same name... both are superb! Try Ebay.


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## Royzee617 (Apr 19, 2005)

Oh, and to risk the wrath of the multitudes herein, try The Final Countdown - Tomcats vs Zeros! Wacky but fun.... no less stoopid than Top Gun IMHO.


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## Brunner (Apr 19, 2005)

That's the movie where USS Nimitz appears somehow near Pearl Harbour in December 1941? It was weird one. well I like wxperiments, but that one was a bit too much  

Aggie, try also battle of midway, classic one.
Recently there has been one interesting Czech movie: "Dark Blue world" or something like that.


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## mosquitoman (Apr 19, 2005)

There's a film called Mosquito Squadron that's quite good


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## Brunner (Apr 19, 2005)

I think I saw it long, long time ago. Wasn't it something with skip-bombs?


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## evangilder (Apr 19, 2005)

Look for the original Memphis Belle documentary. It's 45 minutes, done by William Wyler. Well worth a look. Battle of Britain is well done. Of course, Saving Private Ryan is a good one, tough to watch in parts. The HBO series Band of Brothers is one of my favorites.

For aviation I also like 12 o'clock high, Command Decision and the Tuskegee Airmen. There are many others that I am sure will come up through this thread. 

Enemy at the gates is good, but like Pearl Harbor, is riddled with inaccuracies.


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## Royzee617 (Apr 19, 2005)

Yeah Tuskeegee Airmen - brilliant! The Red Tails were the preferred escorts to B17s.

I saw a crappy USAAF B17 type film a while ago on Nat Geog Channel around Xmas but can't recall its title... used models and stock footage so for purists only.

Mosquito Squadron is I think the sequel to 633 Sqdn.

IMHO Band of Bros is so much better than SPR... tedious except for the first bit on the beaches.

Not much of the air war in BoB tho.

Good for Mustangs is the JG Ballard book film...Empire of the Sun.

In the factual arena get to EBay for some bargains! There's a good doc on Liberators called 'Raid on Ploesti' or some such....

Of course there's always:
The Dambusters
Hells Angels
Reach for the Sky
Target Tonight
One of Aircraft is Missing

Iron Eagle... Blue Thunder... Hot Shots.... The Right Stuff.... The Peacemaker.... etc Dr Strangelove if you like B52s... there's also a good one on B47s but can't recall the name... Bridges at Toko Ri.... that Vietnam one... Flight of the Intruder.... Bat 10.... the one about CIA airlines over Laos with Mad Max in it... Always - great low flying of firefighters...

Mitchells Do Fly in IMC is brilliant about getting the B25s ready for Hannover Street (yuck)....

Catch 22 is also about B25s... weird but worth a look...

Phew that's enough for now.... maybe we should have an archive on this site...


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## evangilder (Apr 19, 2005)

Catch 22 was actually very good. It is different though, I will give you that.


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 19, 2005)

THE BATTLE OF BRITIAN - I THINK ONE OF THE ALL TIME CLASSICS FOR ATTEMPTING TO "GET IT RIGHT" Too bad they could come up with any JU-88s!


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Apr 19, 2005)

and the stukas were obviously remote controlled..........

but the dam busters is one of the all time great war films surely........


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## Aggie08 (Apr 19, 2005)

cool, i'll be sure to give those a look, i just got pearl harbor, it was funny how 5 zeroes couldn't take down two p-40s... the movie is sort of ridiculous but im a sucker for the special effects. Also, i can't say because I don't actually know, but just judging from the guncam footage ive seen planes don't disintegrate with several .50 rounds. Even when he was fighting in britain, the he-111 he took down in his spitfire blew up after one pass and the me109s just fell apart like they were made of cardboard. Am I right or completely wrong about this


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## Royzee617 (Apr 19, 2005)

Please don't let us revisit the topic of fighter armamanets... an octet of 303s vs a barrage of fifty cal... cannon etc... argh. One thing is for sure the Zero was a lot more frangible than the P40 etc.

I like the BoB film - seen it loads of times and have just bought the DVD so I can hear the commentary.

I reckon they did a great job with the limitations of the time. Not sure I ever liked the arty farty musical dogfight interlude though.... 

IMHO PH was a load of disappointing tosh for a million reasons... 

Enemy at the Gates was almost as bad....

What a shame, what a missed opportunity.


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## Royzee617 (Apr 19, 2005)

Maybe I will make a short clip of Piece of Cake so you can see how it should be done...


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## reddragon (Apr 19, 2005)

I thought Memphis Belle was a pretty awful movie. Sure, the reenactment of her final raid over Germany is very good, but that first hour is pretty much a dog, in my opinion. It's kind of like Pear Harbor where the scene about the attack is very good, but you've got to sit through about 2 hours of garbage to get to it and I think about another hour of garbage after it. I've just gotten Twelve O'Clock High but I haven't seen it yet, so I can't tell you what it's like, but I believe it's a pretty good movie.


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## Nonskimmer (Apr 19, 2005)

I own the Memphis Belle documentary that evan was talking about, and I found it extremely interesting. The events as depicted are a bit of a cry from the eighties Hollywood production, I can tell you that.


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## evangilder (Apr 19, 2005)

Interestingly, it was William Wyler's daughter that made the 80s movie. It is more of a composite of the whole BG than the individual airplane and crew. I did enjoy the flying scenes in the movie though.


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## Medvedya (Apr 19, 2005)

The thing is, a movie has got to stand alone as a piece of enertainment. 

As Evan says, it was probably lots of different stories (soup flask, 109 chopping though another B17) that are also true, but happened elsewhere and at another time. 

Was it entertaining? 

Does it give people an general idea of what it was like? 

Would it encourage people to go out and hear the real stories? 

Yeah, I think so. So it was a good film. 

I only take issue when war films are wildly off what really happened - but I won't mention _that_ film.


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 19, 2005)




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## Medvedya (Apr 19, 2005)

I was lucky enough to go aboard the Sally-B (the B-17 used for Belle) when it was at Duxford several years ago. Stupidly, I didn't take any photos.

Anyway, here's something I found.


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## Nonskimmer (Apr 19, 2005)

Oh, I entirely agree. Most of the war movies I've seen, I've enjoyed. Memphis Belle was a good little story too, and I also enjoyed the flight sequences evan.
And Med, if _that_ film is the one I think you're referring to, I didn't like it either. 

Jon Bon Jovi is *not* a submariner!!


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## evangilder (Apr 19, 2005)

Here you go, Med. I took some shots of Sally B at the RAF Mildenhall Air Fete in 1986. I need to rescan these. These were with my old crappy scanner. But they show the old paint scheme used before they filmed Memphis Belle.


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## Royzee617 (Apr 20, 2005)

I agree but there's entertainment and then there is artistic licence... then there's Hollywood... I think they are carrying on the great tradition of propaganda in WW2.

I recall Memphis Belle's director (?) Puttnam on TV saying he'd wanted to do a film about Bomber Command but no one would back it...


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## Royzee617 (Apr 20, 2005)

Oh yes we should also mention the brilliant B17 sequence in the film of The Twilight Zone.... laugh? I nearly did.


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## Wildcat (Apr 20, 2005)

Some other movies are The Blue Max (awesome aerial scenes), the flying leathernecks, the flying tigers(both with John Wayne), dawn patrol, fighter squadron, A yank in the RAF, Patton(a few good scenes with He111's) Murphy's war, and Aces high. There are plenty more that I can't think of right now.
My favourites are-
Tora Tora Tora
Midway
Battle of Britain
12 O'clock high and a great doco called The Fighting Lady


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## Royzee617 (Apr 20, 2005)

Why does Mr Wildcat sign off with a Wirraway (?) or is it a Boomerang... and not the Grumman Martlett etc?

BTW if you like Daks then the ITV series Airline was good...


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## Royzee617 (Apr 20, 2005)

Strictly speaking most plane movies will be a disappointment for one reason or another...
better to read a good book, fiction or otherwise, like 'Goodbye Mickey Mouse' or 'Piece of Cake' etc. Oops maybe that's getting off the subject and grounds for a separate post...?


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## Medvedya (Apr 20, 2005)

Cool! Thanks Evan - I've just remembered that I do have one picture of the Sally-B taken at the end of the runway - I'll put it up when I can scan it!


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## Wildcat (Apr 20, 2005)

Royzee617 said:


> Why does Mr Wildcat sign off with a Wirraway (?) or is it a Boomerang... and not the Grumman Martlett etc?
> 
> BTW if you like Daks then the ITV series Airline was good...



Because I didn't want to call myself Boomerang.


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## evangilder (Apr 20, 2005)

Medvedya said:


> Cool! Thanks Evan - I've just remembered that I do have one picture of the Sally-B taken at the end of the runway - I'll put it up when I can scan it!



I am looking forward to seeing it. 8)


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Apr 20, 2005)

Royzee617 said:


> Why does Mr Wildcat sign off with a Wirraway (?) or is it a Boomerang... and not the Grumman Martlett etc?



yet you do not question the siggys of others??


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## Nonskimmer (Apr 20, 2005)

Pssst...look at the flag in his profile. :-"


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## Brunner (Apr 20, 2005)

shhh, Nonskimmer, do not prompt


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## Nonskimmer (Apr 20, 2005)

I never prompt. I just make light-hearted conversation. 
If Canada had built our own design during WWII, I'd probably use it.
But we didn't so I can't.


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## Brunner (Apr 20, 2005)

Oh, but the post war Arrow (btw one of the main designers was a Pole) compensates it.  

Poland built some planes before the war, so my next siggy will be one of them. I'm searching for some interesting shots 8)


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## Nonskimmer (Apr 20, 2005)

The chief test pilot on that project was of Polish descent too, I believe. Janusz Zurakowski. 
It's a real shame it couldn't go into production. It will always be remembered with both great fondness and sadness in this country.
I will now observe a moment of silence. 
















































Thank you.


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## Brunner (Apr 20, 2005)

You're welcome. 8) 
yes, Żurakowski was involved too. As far as I know there were many Polish engineers both in Canada and USA involved in aviation industry. One designed a gun bay of F4 Phantom, another was participating in the works on f14 Tomcat, etc etc. In NAM war there was one Polish pilot flying f105 Thunderchief with a white eagle painted on the fuselage. I think his name was Kutyna. Later he was in NORAD centre.
Not to mention Gabby, American of Polish descent


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## Brunner (Apr 20, 2005)

Hey, I've just reached 100 posts, beer to everyone


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Apr 21, 2005)

congratulations and liking your new siggy............


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## Wildcat (Apr 21, 2005)

Brunner said:


> Hey, I've just reached 100 posts, beer to everyone



I still haven't got that beer yet!  

Anyway back on subject, some more movies to look out for are - Captains of the clouds(one for Nonskimmer!), A wing and a prayer, I wanted wings, Airforce, wings of eagles and Appiontment in London.


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## Brunner (Apr 21, 2005)

Wildcat it's beeing shipped to Australia  

Hey, I didn't know most of these movies, really  I will have to go and do some shopping on EBay or something, because it's almost impossible to get this kind of stuff in my country


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## Nonskimmer (Apr 21, 2005)

Wildcat said:


> ...Captains of the clouds(one for Nonskimmer!)


Ha! Good one! James Cagney as a Canuck bush pilot!


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## Aggie08 (Apr 23, 2005)

I just saw Fighter Squadron, an old movie from 1948 about the Air force in britain pre- d-day. Pretty much all p-47s. Pretty cool, they use lots of color guncam footage. This could go in the crazy captured planes conversation, the me-109s were p-51's in german paint schemes. A pretty good movie overall.


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## Maestro (Apr 23, 2005)

Royzee617 said:


> I recall Memphis Belle's director (?) Puttnam on TV saying he'd wanted to do a film about Bomber Command but no one would back it...



Damn ! I hope it's not the same thing with book publishers...


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