Customer Reviews

Great Waldo Pepper [VHS]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This movie has special significance for me because I first saw it as a teenager. Yet it holds up as a great movie for me 28 years after it was made (unlike some others I could name).

I like Robert Redford in almost anything, and he's at his best here as a barnstorming pilot in the 1920s who pretends to have seen more action in World War One than he did. He made me feel for the character when he said, "It should have been me" after rival flyer Axel Olsen exposed him as a "four-flusher" for claiming he was a key figure in a famous battle.

Pepper finally gets his chance to go up against the German World War One ace Ernst Kessler (perhaps loosely based on the real German ace Ernst Udet) as a stunt pilot in a movie crew.

The dialogue scenes between Pepper and Kessler leading up to the climactic dogfight are the best part of the movie, even though Kessler's lines seemed to be written more in the interest of serving the plot than in serving the character.

The idea that Kessler was a man who only felt at home in the air, for whom nothing worked out well on the ground, resonated with me, as it did with Pepper, who felt the same way.

In closing, I'd like to mention the beginning of the movie when Waldo Pepper lands at a small town in Iowa to offer airplane rides. He promises a free ride at the end of the day to a boy named Scooter if he will tote a 5-gallon gas can back and forth from the filling station to keep Pepper's plane fueled.

The song that plays over the opening credits during this sequence has stuck with me for 28 years. I heard it again in 1992 while attending a boot camp graduation ceremony at the Great Lakes Naval Recruit Training Command and remembered it from the movie. I don't know the name of it, but I love that song.

Anyway, at the end of the day Scooter asks for his free ride and Pepper says he only promised that to get him to haul gas. He never takes kids for rides. Whether the character is kidding or not isn't clear, but it certainly seems that Scooter (and his dog) get the best ride of the day.

That sequence establishes Pepper as a decent, if somewhat slippery character and gets the movie off to a good start.

I made my dad take me to see this as a 7th grader back in 1975, and I snapped it up on impulse when I ran across it in a store. The aviation sequences are superb. Redford must be a pilot himself as some sequences clearly show him in a plane that is actually flying. The character of Ernst Kessler is loosely based on the real life Ernst Udet (whose picture appears in the opening sequence), a German WWI ace who had the words "Not you again!" painted on the tail of his airplane. A real treat for any early aviation enthusiast as the various reproduction aircraft look amazingly accurate. One thing I liked about the flying sequences was the lack of any soundtrack, just the sound of the vintage engines. Also featured is a young Susan Sarandon. DVD doesn't have any extra features to speak of (not even a trailer) but is priced right. Too bad they didn't do it in widescreen. A few things to look out for: When Olssons wheels fall off his plane at the beginning of the movie, look for tiny castors mounted on the bottom of the planes axle, that's how the stunt pilot was later able to land. The crash into the pond was filmed later. During the wingwalking scene where Pepper attempts to rescue Olssons girlfriend, the two planes nearly collide. Watch the cameraman's reaction to the near-collision.

I Don't often give movies a five star rating but this one really deserved it. Robert Redford did an excellent job as a World War I flying ace being forced to adapt to a civilian life style after the war and at the same time watch the world, as he knew it, slip away.

This happens to many of us as we grow older and the world around begins to change. Like Reford in The Great Waldo Pepper you try and grasp onto what your most familiar with. The world and it's changes leave you behind. What do you do? In this well made, well filmed and well acted movie you will find out about the life and dreams of one man placed where there is no return.

The Great Waldo Pepper Has some of the most beautiful flying scenes that you will see anywhere. It turns back the pages of time and gives you a little glimpse of what flying was all about in its infancy. My suggestion: Buy it.

I'm not going to re-review this movie because the almost universal raves say it all. The true tragedy is that this magical movie's exceptional flying sequences are muddled in this terrible full screen transfer. Watching this in full screen is like watching Lawrence of Arabia or Dr. Zhivago in full screen ... pointless. Please give this movie a new widescreen transfer ... it more than deserves it.

This is a lovestory about airplanes and flying, about a life in the sky. It is powerful, emotional, adventurous and above-all chivalrous. I watched it as a lad and then went on to make my life as a pilot in the world beyond the silver screen. This DVD takes me back to my beginnings.

This is a moving tale of a daredevil hero ace from aviation's early days who can't accept changes in the field during the post-War period. Beyond that, Redford's Waldo Pepper is a tragic hero of mythic proportions, determined to fly too close to the sun. The bi-plane sequences are breathtaking, and George Roy Hill's direction is what you'd expect from the maker of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Sting." Unfortunately, Goodtimes Video's policy is to release films "enhanced to fit your TV screen" and the power of this film's visual majesty is severely diminished. It's another case of a distributor who just doesn't get it. (Memo to Goodtimes Video: America has big screen TVs now.)

Considering the original release was from Goodtimes, it's probably not a bad thing that this movie isn't available cause Goodtimes $#%^$!

Redford plays a former WWI flyer addicted to the skies and forced in to barnstorming after he comes home from the war, only to find that the gubment is now dictating who/when/where you go in your airplane via the newly formed CAB (now the FAA) whose local rep is a former pal/acquaintance of Waldo, who eventually grounds him after an accident, causing him to seek stealth employment on a movie set where he finds former combatant and German ace Ernst Kessler.

The aerial scenes are incredible, the best this side of the Blue Max. Terrific supporting cast that includes Bo Svenson, Susan Sarandon, and Geoffrey Lewis but this flick is all Redford. A hint of mystery overlaps the straight ahead action because we dont know a lot about Redford's character. That's OK, it all works. 5 Scarfs

This movie is a winner. For History buffs, it will take you down "memory lane" or show you how it was during the great

barnstorming era. Robert Redford is the Great Waldo Pepper, a World War I "flying ace," who never saw combat because of his value as an instructor, thus he missed the actual fighting. He yearns for the chance to use his skills in combat against Germany's ace, von Kessler. Coincidently, Kessler is in America and it so happens he flys action scenes for a movie company, based on his life as a fighter pilot. Pepper befriends Kessler on the movie set and both face each other in "actual combat." The finale is not only thrilling, but touching.
Buy it, see it, enjoy it.

From a time when movies were more good acting and less special effects with shock factor.

Wonderful movie if you are a pilot or just enjoy areoplanes. Good film in general. I wish they would re-release this so its not so hard to find. As of right now beware DVD's as they are likely poor quality rips.

Its the kind of movie that leaves you feeling good at the end.

This movie is pure pleasure for young, old, male or female. It would be nice if movies like this would come out in widescreen DVD for those who appreciate what movies were intended to do. ENTERTAIN. The flying sequences are marvelous. Redford is great, as always and the storyline is wonderful. Let's get this released in widescreen ASAP please.