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Summary: Wonderful story
Review: This movie tells the intense story of the Memphis Belle and its crew. It is definately one of my favorites. The only reason I robbed it of its fifth star is that it has one shortcoming, which is that it lacked good special effects for the aerial combat scenes.
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Summary: See What Brave Men did to Defeat Nazi Germany
Review: After watching this fine film, the viewer will have a much clearer idea of what the young men of the World War II generation went through in order to defeat Nazi Germany. It is true that there a things shown that are not accurate such as the banter between the crew during the mission and the altercation between two gunners at the time of greatest danger from enemy fighters. However, enough things are shown correctly for the viewer to get an idea what it was like to fly these dangerous bombing missions over Germany. Some of these things are the claustrophic, harsh conditions inside the aircraft, the danger from flak and enemy fighters, the problem of sighting the target and getting the bombs on it, the fatalism (or dread) of the aircrew, the boredom and tension between missions, the dedication of the pilot and bombardier in carrying out the mission successfully, the hard work and difficult conditions of the ground crews who serviced the aircraft, the emotional attachment of the crews to their aircraft, the terrible difficulties of the commanders in dealing with the casualties and demands of headquarters, the dangers of formation flying, etc, etc. I could go on and on. Get this film and see what I mean!
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Summary: the critic review is incredibly accurate
Review: I suppose I forgave a lot of this film's flaws because it is more than a decade old and I'm a fan of a few of its stars. But some scenes are just so classic that you can feel the director trying to pull your strings and it takes out a lot of the sincerity. Right down to the not-so-subtle shot of a wooden plane being broken in two! But more often than not these devices work (probably due to the excellent portrayal of many of the characters)... SO the film is at least average, on the good side.
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Summary: PERFECTLY FUN BUT NOT PERFECT
Review: CUT OUT A LOT OF STUPID STUFF & ADD SOME MORE CHARACHTER DEVELOPMENT & THIS MOVIE COULD HAVE BEEN A 4 TO 5 STAR!!!!WOULDN'T A B-17 DOING A CRASH LANDING DUMP MOST OF ITS FUEL FIRST SO IT WOULDN'T EXPLODE? WHY WOULD A BOMBER CAPTAIN DO A SECOND RUN AROUND WITH A COMPLETELY OVERCAST SKY (WHY NOT A SECONDARY TARGET)? WHY WOULD TWO MACHINE GUNNERS FIGHT OVER A LUCKY CHARM AFTER SEEING ALL OF THAT MAHEM? WHY WOULD A CREW EXCEPT A NAVIGATOR ON BOARD THAT WAS SUFFERING FROM A HANGOVER? WHY WOULD AN AIR FIELD COMMANDOR ALLOW THE FLIGHT CREWS TO GET DRUNK THE NIGHT BEFORE A MAJOR BOMBING RUN? HOW COULD SOMEONE WHO'S HEART STOPPED AFTER BEING HIT BY FLACK BE WIDE AWAKE AT THE END OF THE MOVIE? IN THE END IF YOU'RE WATCHING THIS FOR HISTORIC ACCURACY YOU'LL BE DISAPPOINTED. ON THE POSITIVE SIDE THE ACTORS WERE HANDSOME, THE MUSIC WAS GOOD, THE CINEMATOGRAPHY WAS EXCELLENT, THE FLIGHT SEENS WERE HIGH QUALITY, THE ACTION SHOWED THE REAL BRUTALITY OF WAR, & MAYBE IT WAS JUST PLAIN FUN.
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Summary: Excellent WWII Air-war flick
Review: I have loved this movie since I was about 9 years old. I saw back in 1991 on video right after it came out. I have been an avide WWII aviation buff and had a grandfather who was a waist-gunner in B-24s, for the 98th bomb group in the North Africa and then the Italy campaign during WWII. I wanted to make it clear that this movie was not meant to be a remake of the original WWII documentary but simply a story of what it was like to fly on those dangerous missions almost 60 years ago. The film-makers chose to use the name Memphis Belle as an homage to the documentary and because the name had a familiarity to it. This was not meant to be a re-telling of the REAL Memphis Belle's last flight but a fictional tale that simply used that bomber's Name! All in all this is an excellent WWII aviation film and an even better Action/adventure film. I recomend it to anyone looking for excitment in a historical context.
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Summary: Is this really the Memphis Belle?
Review: This movie is wonderfully exciting, accurately portraying the boredom of waiting followed by the excitement of combat. Every specific incident that is shown happening to the Memphis Belle on her 25th and final flight actually happened, but not to the Memphis Belle. During all of her 25 missions, although the Belle received considerable battle damage, there was only one casualty in all 25 flights combined. That occurred to the tail gunner who was so slightly injured that the Belle's captain, Bob Morgan, had to order him to accept the Purple Heart. To get the accurate picture of the Memphis Belle, please read "The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle," written by it's pilot, Robert Morgan, with Ron Powers (ISBN 0-451-20594-4). Otherwise, for those who want a visual concept of the dynamics of daytime bombing by the 8th Air Force over German occupied targets, this film is an absolute must-see.
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Summary: An Excellent Film About a Famous Aircraft
Review: In 1943, the United States was involved in a daylight strategic bombing campaign against Germany. The B-17 was the primary plane used for these missions, and the "Memphis Belle" was one of them. This movie takes a look at the bombing campaign against the Germans as well as a rough account of the flight of the "Memphis Belle". The movie stars Matthew Modine as Dennis, the captain, who doesn't seem to have totally earned the respect of his crew. Tate Donovan stars as Luke, the co-pilot, who is jealous of Dennis and longs for his own plane. Billy Zane stars as Val, the bombardier, who claims to be a doctor but in reality has had only 2 weeks of medical school. D.B. Sweeney stars as Phil, the navigator, who is convinced he is going to die and tries to give away all of his possessions to the crew. Harry Connick, Jr. is the tail gunner who is persuaded to sing at the group's anniversary party. Sean Astin plays Rascal, the ball turret gunner, who is afraid of the turret jamming at a bad time. Eric Stoltz plays Danny, the radio operator, who loves poetry and photography. Courtney Gains plays Gene, the waist gunner, who is very superstitious. John Lithgow plays an Army PR officer whose only concern is taking pictures of the crew and preparing a party for them after their final mission. He has very little concern for anything or anyone else. The battle scenes are first-rate. The flak and the jarring of the aircraft are very realistic as well as the German fighter attacks. I thought the use of models in the film was very well-done, too. They looked very realistic, and I couldn't distinguish them from the real planes. I've watched this movie several times, and it gets better with each viewing. I highly recommend this movie to World War II fans. It is a highly entertaining and action-packed movie. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
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Summary: Poor transfer to DVD
Review: I dearly love this film, but the image quality of the transfer to DVD is deplorable on my copy. I can see all the scratches and holes in the pictures as though it was taken from a badly used print, after the theater got done with it. It really makes me angry that they could not be bothered to make a clean print to transfer onto DVD. It is just shameful.
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Summary: Patriotism and heroism at its best -- a story to remember
Review: This movie moved me. A great portrayal of what it means to be heroic. I'm glad I didn't read any reviews before watching it. I didn't know how it was going to end. I was left guessing the whole time. Very believable plot (based on true story). Very inspiring. I rank it among my favorites.
Rating:
Summary: Fine film...
Review: When I first saw this movie, I was distracted by the technical errors. The P-51 instead of P-47 escorts, the lack of protective clothing, continual dropping of oxygen masks, and drinking of soup (?!?) at altitude. But I have seen it a few more times and have come to really like it. The scene with the letters about dead airmen playing over WWII bomber footage is very moving. And it's just great to see footage of old warbirds like the B-17, P-51 and Me-109 (even though it's the Hispano built Merlin powered version) in the air together. While this film does take many liberties with technical and historical facts, it is still great entertainment. It is well acted and exciting. And most importanly, it spurs your interest in the air war over Europe. If this film, by being a combination of some fact and entertainment, nudged even one otherwise uninterested soul into learning more about the history of the air war, than it was a success, and a fitting tribute to the heroes who flew in that war. This movie plays it's small part in seeing that they are NEVER forgotten.
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