Rating: 
Summary: Blue Max is Flying High!
Review: The color is vivid. The sharpness is splendid. The audio is sharper than ever. Each time a better format of this film has been available, I have acquired it, from VHS to Laser Disc, and now DVD. It has gotten better each time. The story of the great flying aces who fought in WWI, told from the German perspective is still a great war-time classic, filled with action, romance and drama, in stunning DVD quality. This Wide-Screen edition possesses trailers in Portuguese and Spanish as extras and a list of other war-related film trailers, but sadly, no extra scenes or outtakes from this lesser-known 1966 classic. My only objection is that the picture is slightly darker(in comparison to my Fox Laser Disc) than I recall, but is quickly remedied with a minor adjustment to my television. This aerial spectacular is more than worth the ... price tag if you enjoy films of this type.
Rating:
Summary: An unlikeable hero in an ugly war.
Review: The hero (or anti-hero) is a common German foot soldier turned officer/pilot who tries to outdo the more high born members of his squadron by shooting down 20 planes and winning the highest medal Pour Le Merite (The Blue Max). He fights without chivalry or decency and is reluctant to honour enemies he had killed in combat. However, this just shows how ugly World War One (or the Great War) really was in deconstructing the romanticism of war inherited from the Napoleonic era. Welcome to modern warfare. We shed no tear when the anti-hero is killed in the end by his own hubris. The battle scenes, both on the ground and in the air, are great, but one star less because of a romantic-dramatic subplot that is an irrating yawner in comparison to the airplanes, trenches, machine guns, and distinguished uhlan (cavalry) uniforms worn by the German pilots when they were not flying. James Mason plays a German general who realizes that modern warfare has arrived and that new military technologies necessitate a new attitude towards warfare.
Rating: 
Summary: "The only medal worth having, because it is respected"
Review: The opening words of Bruno Stachel(George Peppard in his best role) to Willie(Jeremy Kemp) as they discuss a picture of "The Red Baron" that Stachel idolizes when he first arrives at his squadron, Stachel is ambitious to achieve "The Blue Max" medal at all costs including his relationships. He sours on the others almost immediately but successfully attains his goal and is at the same time used by the Aristocracy as a publicity figure to gain the support of common folk tired of war and needing a hero from their own ranks. It covers the period from 1916 to 1918 and Stachel is in a race to get his twenty kills before the war ends. Ironically, Stachel's idolization of the Red Baron is changed due to his encounter in the air where he is shot down and injured trying to save the Baron and says to Willie Von Kluggerman "that's the fool that almost got me killed" and it turns out to be his former hero. He rejects the offer of the Baron to join his "Flying Circus" and instead sharpens his skills with "Willie" in games of "chicken' in the air that eventually leads to "Willie's" death. This Major film is worthy of praise. The music by Jerry Goldsmith is probably the best ever made for a war film. The screenplay was based on the famous novel under the same name by Jack Hunter and is different from the book in many ways. The script changes the character to be more of a thorn in the side of his own fellow flyers and accents more of the poor versus rich problems than fighting. The Hunter book has Stachel as a survivor of the war but the film needed a dramatic ending and it is one of the most memorable in Hollywood history, and you will never view a "rubber stamp" in the same way ever again. The DVD is sharp, polished but only carries a few trailers.
Rating:
Summary: "The only medal worth having, because it is respected"
Review: The opening words of Bruno Stachel(George Peppard in his best role) to Willie(Jeremy Kemp) as they discuss a picture of "The Red Baron" that Stachel idolizes when he first arrives at his squadron, Stachel is ambitious to achieve "The Blue Max" medal at all costs including his relationships. He sours on the others almost immediately but successfully attains his goal and is at the same time used by the Aristocracy as a publicity figure to gain the support of common folk tired of war and needing a hero from their own ranks. It covers the period from 1916 to 1918 and Stachel is in a race to get his twenty kills before the war ends. Ironically, Stachel's idolization of the Red Baron is changed due to his encounter in the air where he is shot down and injured trying to save the Baron and says to Willie Von Kluggerman "that's the fool that almost got me killed" and it turns out to be his former hero. He rejects the offer of the Baron to join his "Flying Circus" and instead sharpens his skills with "Willie" in games of "chicken' in the air that eventually leads to "Willie's" death. This Major film is worthy of praise. The music by Jerry Goldsmith is probably the best ever made for a war film. The screenplay was based on the famous novel under the same name by Jack Hunter and is different from the book in many ways. The script changes the character to be more of a thorn in the side of his own fellow flyers and accents more of the poor versus rich problems than fighting. The Hunter book has Stachel as a survivor of the war but the film needed a dramatic ending and it is one of the most memorable in Hollywood history, and you will never view a "rubber stamp" in the same way ever again. The DVD is sharp, polished but only carries a few trailers.
Rating:
Summary: The Flying Is Worth The Price Of Entry
Review: There are two movies every fan of aviation should have, both now on DVD: Battle of Britain (MGM) and The Blue Max (Fox). Battle chronices Brit fighters working against relentless Luftwaffe attacks on southern England and London in WWII. Max displays classic tri- and bi-planes at work over the trench warfare stalemate of WWI. Both movies gives us stunning air sequences of period aircraft that don't exist anymore flying at length in sequendes that give a genuine feel for how it must have been to sit in those cockpits with everything at stake. Both movies score heavily on the aviation scale. For this alone, they should be in your collection. They are unmatched in aviation filmography outside of documentary stuff. Forget the fact that both movies come to a near stop when they're not in the air. It doesn't matter. The bonus in both films is the music. British classical composer William Walton gave us the suite that makes up the otherwise silent air "ballet" that is the climax of Battle, and a 1966 Jerry Goldmith provides a wonderful score for Max. If you like airplanes in any way, these two movies belong in your collection.
Rating: 
Summary: A fine war movie despite the miscast lead.
Review: There should be more movies made about the first world war, one of mankind's greatest struggles, and greatest mistakes. This movie deals with a German air squadron in the final days of the war, as Germany begins to sucumb to Allied superiority in numbers due to the American intervention.George Peppard plays the lead, Bruno Stacher, as a lower-class German officer and talented air combat flyer trying to overcome the limitations of birth imposed by this class-ridden society. He is obsessed with winning "The Blue Max" -- Germany's medal awarded for shooting down 20 enemy planes. This would enable the protagonist to overcome his lower-class origins. Unfortunately, Stachel is morally flawed in a number of ways which eventually bring about his demise. As the Amazon review of the movie indicates, Peppard appears to lack the stature to successfully pull off playing this rather complicated role. Jeremy Kemp, as Stacher (Peppard's) upper-class friend, along with James Mason as the pragmatic German general, overshadow Peppard. Ursula Andress plays the jaded, amoral German countess to perfection. The above criticism notwithstanding, this is a fine entertaining movie. The action scenes are very authentic and are a pleasure to watch. This was a big budget movie and it shows. The movie, although on the long side, generally moves along at a brisk pace and retains the viewer's interest. All in all, this is an interesting look at the German officer corps in the latter stage of World War 1. Caste-ridden, fighting for a lost cause, but not without chivalry and honor.
Rating:
Summary: The Blue Max, revisited
Review: This is one of those films that seems to get better with age. It is the story of a low-born warrior Bruno Stachel (George Peppard), who by force of will and talent, rises out of a common foxhole and into the cockpit of a fighter airplane in the closing days of WW1. It is his arch-nemesis, the aristocratic flying ace Willi von Klugermann,(Jeremy Kemp) who keenly observes Stachel's ruthlessness and nicknames him "Cobra". The aerial flying sequences are breathtaking and plentiful, many of the aircraft were constructed for the making of this movie, unlike computer generated duplications so common today. The slow cadence and almost hesitating sound of unreliable machine guns firing from the flimsy aircraft they were fitted to is striking testament to the sound editors art. Stachel's ambition for glory "in and out of bed" is unmatched by his well-born and condecending comrades. But in the end, his destiny is inexorably tilted by an unyielding competitiveness, a beautiful countess (Ursula Andress),her shrewd and powerful husband Count General von Klugermann,(masterfully portrayed by James Mason), and a demoralized, desperate Germany in the waning days of WW1. The production values of this film are excellent, the sets striking, and obvious attention to historical detail is evident. Jerry Goldsmith's musical score ties a compelling story line together with subtle variations of a hauntingly beautiful musical theme. Recently released on DVD, this is a classic and highly entertaining war movie that can be viewed again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding WWI Epic
Review: This is such a great movie. The photography and story went hand in hand. George Peppard was a very good actor. He was perfect in this role. Jerry Goldsmith's score was one of his best. The air footage is some of the best ever filmed. Even the combat scenes filmed on the ground looked authentic. They don't make them like this any more.
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