Flyboys (2006)

Director: Tony Bill

Writers: Phil Sears, Blake T. Evans, David S. Ward

Composer: Trevor Rabin

Starring: James Franco, Scott Hazell, Mac McDonald, Philip Winchester, Todd Boyce, Karen Ford, Ruth Bradley, Abdul Salis, Jean-Philippe Ecoffey, Tim Pigott-Smith, Tyler Labine, Gail Downey, David Ellison, Jean Reno

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  Inspired by a true story

Plot:  The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

The aerial dogfights elevate this by the numbers, war cliche of a film.  It feels like a throwback to the films of the second world war but those at least have some charm when viewing them today.  Taking that vibe and dropping it into a contemporary film, albeit one set a hundred years ago, is difficult to pull off and FLYBOYS doesn't make it work.  They tried.  The romance stuff fares poorer than the rest of the film with the plane fights taking the cake for the best parts of the film.  Fortunately there are a lot of aerial scenes.  Some actors can pull off corny, cliche'd dialogue and some can't.  You'll find mostly the latter in this picture.  It's a shame that there are so few WWI action movies from the past hundred years.  The MGM DVD has a nice anamorphic widescreen image and the only extras are a commentary with the director Tony Bill and producer Dean Devlin and four trailers for films that aren't this one.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Director: Lewis Milestone

Writers: Erich Maria Remarque, Maxwell Anderson, George Abbott, Del Andrews

Starring: Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, Ben Alexander, Scott Kolk, Owen Davis Jr., Walter Rogers, William Bakewell, Russell Gleason, Richard Alexander, Harold Goodwin, Slim Summerville

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  At last....the motion picture!

Plot:  A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes!

What a powerful film.  It's violent and it hammers home its message without apologies.  War is hell.  This is one of the most brilliant anti-war films I've ever seen (if not the most).  Antiquated acting style aside, even if you look at this through modern eyes, it's still a kick in the guts.  That last scene had me tearing up.  Man, it's bleak.  I can only imagine how audiences felt when seeing this 86 years ago.  I guess it would be akin to how we took in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) during the opening D-Day Invasion sequence.  The action scenes are brutal and so much so that I'm sure veterans of the Great War reacted very emotionally upon seeing this.  Wow.  Reportedly Universal took a huge gamble spending $1M+ on making this in the beginning months of the Great Depression.  It paid off and audiences have been better for it.  I had no idea how heavy this picture was.  Unfortunately the Universal DVD I have (now had) has lousy sound and sketchy picture quality.  I hear there's a much better version out there.  The only extra on my DVD is the theatrical trailer.  This one definitely belongs in my collection but only the restored version.

Aces High (1976)

Director: Jack Gold

Writers: Howard Barker, R.C. Sherriff, Cecil Lewis

Composer: Richard Hartley

Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Christopher Plummer, Simon Ward, Peter Firth, David Wood, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, Richard Johnson, Ray Milland, Christopher Blake, Gilles Behat, Elliott Cooper, David Daker, Barry Jackson, Jacques Maury, Ron Pember, Tim Pigott-Smith

More info: IMDb

Tagline: High above the trenches 14 days is a long life...This is the 15th day!

Plot: A naive young officer straight from school arrives on the Western front to fight the air war against the Germans. However, the life expectancy of green pilots is not very good.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Sadly, there are too few movies about the first World War.  I Guess it's because WWII was a lot sexier and fun (not really but it's perceived that way) and it overshadows the previous one.  Regardless, I'll watch anything related to it.  The cast is quite good but the mood of the film is largely dreary, just like the scenery and the look of the film.  I don't know why that soft film look was popular during the 1970s and 80s.  I'm not a fan.  It's rarely worked for me.  Regardless, I think it hurts this picture, especially when you add it to the pacing that moseys along but picks up from time to time.  There is a bit of aerial dogfights which is welcome but there's nothing terribly exciting about them.  I'll say this, the ending caught my by complete surprise.  Didn't see that coming.  ACES feels like it's trying to remake THE DAWN PATROL (1938), starring Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone and David Niven), a MUCH better picture in every way.  I couldn't keep myself from thinking about it at just about every turn...not a good sign.  Still, it's worth checking out but do yourself a favor and get your hands on THE DAWN PATROL.  You'll be glad you did.

The African Queen (1951)

Director: John Huston

Writers: C.S. Forester, James Agee, John Huston, Peter Viertel, John Collier

Composer: Allan Gray

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull, Theodore Bikel, Walter Gotell, Peter Swanwick, Richard Marner, Errol John, Gerald Onn, John von Kotze

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The greatest adventure a man ever lived...with a woman!

Plot: In Africa during WW1, a gin-swilling riverboat owner/captain is persuaded by a strait-laced missionary to use his boat to attack an enemy warship.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

For as long as I can remember the AFI top 100 film list showing up with this on it, it was one of the few (and, ultimately, the last) movies on it I hadn't seen.  Now I have.  It's a good picture.  On a road trip recently I listened to a lot of Lux Radio Theater broadcasts that starred people like Bogart, Flynn, Cagney, and Robinson and this was one of them.  It's essentially the same story but condensed for a 45 minute radio broadcast.  So when I fired up Netflix streaming to watch it I was well aware of what to expect.  I dug it.  Rose (Hepburn) is WAY too uptight but then she is a staunch Christian and it is one hundred years ago.  Charlie (Bogart), on the other hand, is a great guy, my kind of guy, except that he's WAY too forgiving and accommodating with Rose.  When she pours out his last two cases of gin into the river I can't believe he didn't flip the fuck out.  Hell, the very next scene he's praising her for it.  The hell?  I assume a few days had gone by and he was sobered up and lonely as hell since she wasn't talking to him.  Shit, maybe it was the constant exposure to the hot jungle sun.  I'm going to chalk it up to that. At least leave the brother one bottle.  Geez.

The ending was fun.  I would give this a higher rating if they'd actually been hung after all.  That would have been a great, balls-out, insane ending.  I guess the Germans didn't earn their reputation for efficiency until after WWI.  Regardless, how amazing would it have been if this didn't end happily for our two lovebirds?  Hepburn wrote a book about her experiences making this picture (which I've had for 25 years and have never read).  I think it's time I dusted it off and give it a shot.  Speaking of shots...where's that gin?

Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962)

Director: Martin Ritt

Writers: Ernest Hemingway, A.E. Hotchner

Composer: Franz Waxman

Starring: Richard Beymer, Diane Baker, Corinne Calvet, Fred Clark, Dan Dailey, James Dunn, Juano Hernandez, Arther Kennedy, Ricardo Montalban, Paul Newman, Susan Strasberg, Jessica Tandy, Eli Wallach, Michael J. Pollard

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The hungers of a young man's Springtime...

Plot: Young and restless Nick Adams, the only son of a domineering mother and a weak but noble doctor father, leaves his rural Michigan home to embark on an eventful cross-country journey. He is touched and affected by his encounters with a punch-drunk ex-boxer, a sympathetic telegrapher, and an alcoholic advanceman for a burlesque show. After failing to get a job as reporter in New York, he enlists in the Italian army during World War I as an ambulance driver. His camaraderie with fellow soldiers and a romance with a nurse he meets after being wounded propel him to manhood.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Maybe it's because it was made in '62 that it's a rather dry and innocent look at a boy's rite of passage but then again, maybe it's just not all that interesting.  I didn't think so.  It's got some good performances, I reckon, but the interesting characters are found in the great actors that Nick (Beymer) comes across but he's never interesting. Intentional?  Beats me.  Ricardo Montalban kicks some acting ass, Pollard is always fun to watch but for me it's Paul Newman and Juano Hernandez that have the best segment and scenes.

 L to R: Newman, Hernandez and Beymer

The Battler (Newman) is a sympathetic former boxer who's had one too many punches to the head and Bugs (Hernandez) is the man who has somehow found himself the Battler's only friend and caretaker.  The Battler, though, has moments of violence so he doesn't work well with strangers.  Newman's performance is strong as he brings out the simple humanity of the character while thrusting himself into instant bouts of anger.  Hernandez is underplaying his role to show controlled patience and force when necessary.  It's a great scene and it's almost worth watching the film just for it.  The picture has its moments but there aren't enough to illicit another watch.

The Roaring Twenties (1939)

Director: Raoul Walsh

Writers: Mark Hellinger, Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Robert Rossen

Composers: Ray Heindorf, Heinz Roemheld

Starring: James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, Gladys George, Jeffrey Lynn, Frank McHugh, Paul Kelly, Elisabeth Risdon, Edward Keane, Joe Sawyer

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The land of the free gone wild! The heyday of the hotcha! The shock-crammed days G-men took ten whole years to lick!

Plot: After the WWI Armistice Lloyd Hart (Lynn) goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally (Bogart) turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett (Cagney) becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes!

Warner Bros. sure made some great gangster pictures back in the day.  This one is one of three pictures Cagney and Bogart made together and it's fun.  You can tell right off the bat that Hally (Bogart) is bad news and is going to ultimately lead to some serious trouble for Eddie (Cagney).  The picture is one of those 'rise to the top only to be taken down' types.  The performances are great, the music, the sets, the camera work, the whole nine yards.  It's great entertainment.  It's lighter than ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (1938), with ANGELS being the better film bar none, but it's got the incredibly charismatic Cagney doing what he does best.  I love that guy.

The Blue Max (1966)

Director: John Guillermin

Starring: George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Jeremy Kemp, Karl Michael Vogler, Anton Diffring

More info: IMDb

Tagline: There was no quiet on the Western Front for the heroes and cowards who flew to their rendezvous with Hell!

Plot: A young pilot in the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and un-chivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yeah.


Movies about the first World War are hard to come by. Like Hollywood, the sequel (WWII) was even bigger with more explosions. I guess that war overshadowed it's primitive effects predecessor. Regardless, Hollywood has favored the sequel when it comes to making movies which is too bad. I find WWI a fascinating subject with tons of stories yet to be filmed. Now, go back 23 years when I was in college and first heard Jerry Goldsmith's MAGNIFICENT score for this picture and that set in motion my desire to see this flick. It took a while but I believe I saw it a few years later on laser disc. My feeling about the film hasn't changed in the 20 years since. THE BLUE MAX is a marvelous picture, but...


It's missing that little extra oomph. Know what I mean? Maybe it's Peppard. I liked him but I can't help but feel he didn't give as much to the character as he should have. It's that little extra that could make the difference. Maybe it was the constant overcast skies (I'm sure it was really like that but it does dampen the look). The film makers did a marvelous job of making it look and feel like WWI era France (though shot in Ireland). Maybe it was the more than two and a half hour run time which could have been a little too much, especially considering the casual pace overall. That could have been the direction. I'm not really sure.


What I can tell you is what it wasn't. Goldsmith's score definitely added life to it. From the deadly serious themes of war to the lighthearted theme variations for the party and playful scenes, this is one outstanding soundtrack! The fugue he created for the final battle is outstanding. Here's one cue that's loaded with balls.

Another thing that really propels this flick is the aeriel photography of the dogfights. Just seeing real bi-planes swarming the skies (and in conjunction with the massive amount of troops on the ground) is great fun and it makes me long for SOMEONE with a passion for this sort of thing to make a good modern WWI story without mucking it up. I remember seeing the trailer for FLYBOYS (2006) and buried my face in my hands it looked so ridiculous. I got that "it's the PEARL HARBOR (2001) of WWI movies" vibe. I could be wrong and should probably check it out just the same.



Anyway, having Ursula Andress in a state of undress (surprise!) is usually a plus. Fortunately there's just enough of a love interest going on (which, it turns out, plays a VERY pivotal role for Sachel) that it's at the cusp of being too much. I'm glad they didn't overplay it. I hate it when war movies get bogged down in the love story aspect. Egad! So often it just doesn't work.




The finale IS FUCKING BADASS!!! And one more thing...the director, John Guillerman, also helmed a kick ass Tarzan picture with Sean Connery called, TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE (1959). So there you go. I really enjoyed it but there's something (or more) that's holding it back from being a fantastic, must-see many times kind of picture. It's worth watching for the bi-plane action and Goldsmith's score alone...but you'll end up staying to the end because it's a good story with an even better conclusion.