40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Historically Accurate; watch it for the aircraft, May 21, 2003
For many of us, the cold war now seems impossibly far away. However, for those of us whose fathers were in the military during the peak of the war, the concern was always that we could be attacked at any time by the Soviet Union.
Our first line of defense, before our missiles became more accurate, was huge bombers. When these huge aircraft flew, their power and size seemed awe-inspiring. Looking back at this movie, the B-36 now seems ungainly and incredibly complex. The B-47 seems less ungainly, but technology has clearly superceded both these aircraft.
This movie comes across as a recruiting film for the Air Force, and to a certain extent a patriotic film justifying our strategic air forces. The plot is relatively simple, and trying to spice it up with a sub-story regarding Jimmy Stewart's career as a baseball player and his relationship with his wife becomes a distraction. The focus of this movie is flying big bombers.
What gloriously complex aircraft these were. The scenes showing the takeoff of the B-36 were incredible. For airplane enthusiasts, the portion of the film focusing on the reading of the checklist is unusual (because for most people it would seem boring) and unique. Watching how the plane is powered up is nearly worth the exercise of watching the film.
Later we get to watch as the B-47 is transitioned into the active military. We watch as the B-47 is flown in poor weather conditions, and watch the fatigue and boredom set in as the crews flew incredibly lengthy missions.
Some of the most interesting and now somewhat anachronistic parts of the movies are those portions dealing with the functioning of Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases. These bases were very highly protected, and exercises were continuously run to assure that saboteurs or an enemy invading force would be repelled by base security forces. During their period of duty, crews were either in the air or standing by on alert, ready to jump in their plane and be airborne in less than 15 minutes. I remember well an exercise called a "total recall" where every member of the base is called to duty to be prepared for a possible enemy attack.
While the parts of the movie dealing with Jimmy Stewart the baseball player and husband are relative distractions, they do point out the sacrifice that many people made to be in the military at that time. Military aircraft were huge and complex, and tended to break down a lot. The missions were incredibly long, and the flight systems relatively crude, requiring fatiguing concentration. For all the hardship of flying, the pay was low, and often the working conditions including the noise and cold (military aircraft are generally not well-insulated - note how the flight crew is dressed; it was cold up there) were uncomfortable to say the least.
This movie is a rarity that is close to being a historical artifact. While some of the operational details are simplified, in general the scenes depicted are relatively accurate. Further, the scenes with the aircraft are rare and detailed. Forget the plot of this movie; it's about the airplanes, Jimmy Stewart's love of flying and a time that was not so far away.
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A patriots movie with historical flare., October 15, 1999
By A Customer
This is a movie that really "waves the flag"; and rightly so. I was a member of SAC, worked and flew in the B-36. The photography is second to none. Turn up your sound system and "live" being in or around a B-36 during a take-off. There is no sound like "6-a-churning and 4-a-burning". The scenes inside the B-36 are great and gives me a chance to relive my times "bouncing" around inside a B-36.
Harry Morgan had one line that will live in an Airman's heart. "One on the ramp and one in the hanger". How many of us lived this condition? I had three children (AF brats).
Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson played roles that can bring back true memories of SAC and Gen. Curtis LeMay. It took this type of person to take the rituals necessary for the day.
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Baseball and bombers -- Cold-war patriotism at its best!, April 5, 1999
Although the interactions between Stewart and Allyson can get pretty sappy, the aerial footage is well worth the investment. And surprisingly enough, the ending is not as happy as one would expect -- a rather bitter-sweet commentary on the sacrifices that these folks made during the Cold War.
The movie appears to portray life on a SAC base in the mid-fifties pretty accurately. I got a kick out of the SAC Commander, a not-so-subtle caricature of real-life SAC visionary General Curtis LeMay, the guy who inspired the George C. Scott character in "Dr. Strangelove".
Before the B-52 became a legend, there was the B-47 and B-36. This flick spotlights both of those aircraft, presenting the interesting contrast between the two: the B-47 was a small, fast, three-person plane, while the B-36 was just so dang HUGE! At one point, Stewart traverses a tunnel to get from the front to the rear of the bomber -- take a good look at how long that thing is!
As a bonus, we get to see a rather young-looking Harry Morgan in a military role that foreshadows his "M*A*S*H" days. Who woulda thunk it?
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