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Summary: Movie about military management
Review: Besides being a great film about the US air force in the European theater of WWII, this is really a movie about management. In particular it is a movie about commanding men during wartime and the stress of command. It was used as a training film for officers at the Army War College for many years.
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Summary: Great Movie, Terrible DVD
Review: First, the DVD was defective and I had to return it. Missing scenes and it would play at all after a point. Second, you'd think Fox would spends a few buck to clean up the specks and scratches that you can still see in the film. Someone should tell them that when they put something in a digital format, they can do stuff like that. This was a miserable treatment for one of the greatest war films ever.
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Summary: Excellent Yet Disappointing DVD (read review)
Review: I don't think I'll say much about the movie... it's a terrific, strong drama with a memorable performance by Gregory Peck. You can read many other customer reviews which really cover the movie. Since the DVD was released today (see date of review), I'll just write a few words about it.The movie's presentation is excellent. Contrast is good and the image is clean and crisp. Menus are anamorphic even though the movie itself is presented properly in its original full-frame aspect (1.33:1) ratio. (The opening titles are generously windowboxed to show the whole frame.) Sound is very good, with options for stereo or mono English, or mono French. Subtitles are thankfully provided, in English or Spanish. Sounds terrific so far, doesn't it? It is! But... Where the disc falters is in its extras. Put simply, there really aren't any, at least not related to the movie. The ONLY extras are a selection of original trailers from other war films: THE LONGEST DAY, PATTON, THE THIN RED LINE, TORA! TORA! TORA! and THE SAND PEBBLES. There isn't even a trailer for TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH, the very movie presented on the disc! I suppose Fox didn't have anything and included those other trailers (a) to make up for it, and (b) as free promotion for their other DVDs. Well, okay, I guess I don't have a problem with that... but why is the list price ... the SAME as that of TORA! TORA! TORA! which includes a new 20-minute documentary and commentary, and THE SAND PEBBLES which also includes a commentary and some audio features? For such a bare-bones disc (and one that fewer consumers are likely to impulse-buy) I think it's a bit of a mistake to price TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH so high. Do I think it's worth it? With the [discountedprice] certainly. Even at list price, it's still a terrific movie that makes a nice addition to your collection. It's just a pity there couldn't be more bang for the buck.
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Summary: A magnificent "management" film
Review: This film has been seen for years as a depiction of management style--"Tigers" by Gregory Peck, "Lambs" by Gary Merrill. But for whom would you rather work? Business is rarely life or death. Dean Jagger and Hugh Marlow are magnificent. As a political drama, it surpasses Command Decision, another terrific film that smacks too much of its stage origins.
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Summary: The Power and Drama of War
Review: One would be EXTREMELY hard pressed to find a better war film than this. Peck's performance rivals that of TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD and Henry King was working at the peak of powers, masterfully directing a stellar script that crackles with human drama. It could be argued that WWII films are done best when done in black & white, and this film can be Exhibit A for the prosecution. Too bad the much ballyhooed PEARl HARBOR can't even approach this masterpiece. And very few war films give such an unflinching look at man's greatest folly - total war.
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Summary: Jump Joe...get out you guys!
Review: This is one of Gregory Peck's finest performances. He is simply terrific in a uniformly excellent cast, with standout support from Dean Jagger especially. A study in the demands and stress of command, they played this one straight, without phony histrionics. How do you get men to face terror and death in the skies day after day? What does leading and losing men you've come to know do to you? Not really a combat film (the airborne raid depicted comes late in the film) it nonetheless is one of the best films ever made delineating subtely and surely what the terror and stress of combat does to men. Simply put, I agree with my fellow reviewers that this is one of the best war films ever made. The B&W photogaphy, as is so often the case, makes the film all the more real, locating it in it's time and place. The dialogue excellent, the emotions and conflicts real. Thank God they didn't throw in some romance or other distraction. This is a story of how men work together, argue, disagree, but get on with it. It shows the resolve to get the job done, but also the underlying comraderie, care and sacrifice necessary to acclompish seeming impossible tasks. I always think of the tenderness shown in the last scene when Gary Merrill, who got bounced and whose job was taken by Peck's Gen. Savage, takes off a now asleep Peck's flying boots and covers him with a blanket. This is as quietly eloquent an expression of the respect and regard men in combat have for each other as has ever been shown. This is a great film.
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Summary: Closest to the Real Thing, According to Those Who were There
Review: This movie is, quite simply, a classic. It isn't your typical war movie, but that is a good thing. Typical war movies glorify war, and any vet will tell you war is hell. "TO'CH" is gritty realism. Shot in black and white, it presents the men of the fictional bomber group (based I believe on the 100th BG) as well as the book of the same name. It is as much a movie about relationships and the demands of leadership as it is about the air war. The acting is superb. Of course Gregory Peck is great but also the character of the Ops officer is brilliantly portrayed as well, though I'm not sure of the actor's name. A few elements of the novel have been removed, either to tighten the plot or keep the movie from being long. Some of that material isn't necessary to the plot development, some I would have liked to see. I am a historian and teacher currently researching a book on the Eighth in WWII, as well as a novel, and one of the questions I've been asking the men who were there is 'what movie best shows the air war and life on base as it really was?' The answer, almost unanimously, is "TO'CH". For those who would like to see another excellent video of the Mighty Eighth, I highly recommend a documentary called "Pistol Packing Mama: The Story of a B-17" that can also be ordered from Amazon.com. No video library on the air war over Europe would be complete without these two fine videos on the shelf.
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Summary: Can't Top This
Review: I attended Graduate School at the University of Colorado a fewyears back and was pleasantly surprised to find this film to be one of the focal points of a management/organizational behavior class. I've watched it on numerous occasions since I was a kid gluing together old Monogram 'Forts and pretending to be General Savage piloting the "Picadilly Lilly". The film has held together remarkedly well over the years with its central precipts: the terror of war; group dynamics; and the burdens of command still ringing true. Upon reflection, it is indeed odd that King, Peck, Jagger and company were able to successfully convey all of that with comparatively little "action." If remade today, we no doubt would be treated to endless simulated- green screen - battle sequences wherein... would attempt to underscore the same subtle points that make the original so compelling to watch. Lastly, Peck's performance has never really received its due. Alternatively passionate and subtle, he fleshes out Savage's character beyond its largely marrionette-like roots and humanizes it to the point where his latent desire to be accepted as "one of the boys" eventually proves to be his own little Waterloo - just like his predecessor! Whew, imagine getting this analytical about something more contemporary like "The Patriot"!
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Summary: Still unsurpassed
Review: Those who think that "Saving Private Ryan" was a great movie ought to watch this old black and white classic. In virtually every aspect except photography and sound "Twelve O'Clock High" is superior. The script by Sy Bartlett in particular is vastly superior. Spielberg's film focused on some of the command problems faced by Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) in fulfilling his combat mission, but the treatment and development were almost high schoolish (if I may) compared to the enthralling delineation in "Twelve O'Clock High." The problems encountered by Gregory Peck as the bomber group commander were complex, subtle and psychologically demanding, while the resolution was filled with the kind of male social and political dynamics not much explored at the movies these days. (We have female dynamics aplenty.) Director Henry King's clean, crisp, "invisible" direction was also superior to the uneven and far too showy pandering from Spielberg. Furthermore the acting, with Gary Merrill and Hugh Marlowe supporting Peck, was also better. Ted Danson in his cameo and Matt Damon at times in "Saving Private Ryan" were almost laughable. Comparing the two movies makes one wonder how much movies really have improved. Technically they have in every respect, but too often today's film-makers think they can get by with special effects and splashy sets. Pour a lot of blood, show a lot of skin, get people at each other's throat, and it will play, seems to be the attitude. What is often forgotten are the two most important aspects of film, namely, story and character development. In this respect I don't think today's films have improved on the great classics of the past.
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Summary: Gregory Peck in Twelve O'Clock High
Review: Gregory Peck is one of the best actors of all time, in my opinion. I have reviewed the "real life" story of the General (later Air Marshall) who most closely resembles the character played by Gregory Peck, under the book "Despatch on War Operations: 23rd February, 1942, to 8th May, 1945," by Air Marshall Sir Arthur T. Harris. See that review in Amazon.com for more details. Recently a number of major magazines have selected Gregory Peck's leadership style, as portrayed in this movie, as one of the most effective leadership/management styles: making rapid decisions under fire that go to the heart of the matter. Other styles also can be combined with it or alternate with it: concern about employees and the public, concern about the truth, calmness - for example, the leader who, when provoked outrageously, never replies worse than: "That's possible," or "I don't know about that." Peck, by the way, like Harrison Ford and Alec Guinness, has made it to the top with a "class act," which for the benefit of the "cool" generation means: only grade A level material. His characters don't rely on sensationalism or skipping out on their wives to attract attention, unlike some political leaders and teenage idols.
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