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Summary: Memphis Belle
Review: Memphis Belle, Michael Caton-Jones' fictionalized 1990 account of a real-life World War II B-17's final mission, harkens back to wartime morale-boosting films. Like Wake Island or Air Force, it depicts the crew of a Flying Fortress taking part in the bloody aerial campaign over Western Europe - and trying to survive the last of a 25-mission tour of duty.Produced by Catherine Wyler, whose father William had shot a documentary about the real Memphis Belle, this version takes familiar clichés from World War II films and fleshes them out with fresh Hollywood faces. Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Sean Astin (best known now as Samwise in the Lord of the Rings trilogy), Reed Diamond, and Harry Connick, Jr. are among the ten actors who portray the fictional crew of the Memphis Belle. Released during the buildup to Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, this very retro movie failed to excite audiences, but even so, Memphis Belle is impressive once it gets off the ground and dispenses with expository material. Set in England in May of 1943, the story starts somewhat slowly as an Army Air Force PR officer (John Lithgow) annoyingly prepares the crew and squadron for the Memphis Belle's return to the States. The bomber has completed 24 missions over Nazi-occupied Europe. Now the only thing standing between the war-weary flyboys and home is one last mission over Bremen. There are the usual war movie get-to-know the crew scenes and even a quick (but not graphic) sexual encounter between one of the lads and a British lass...ho hum. But when dawn comes and the bombers are sent to bomb a German fighter-aircraft factory, Memphis Belle draws the audience into the harrowing yet mesmerizing drama of a daylight bombing raid over Germany. Here there are no Stealth fighters with laser-guided smart bombs flying with relative ease over the enemy. Instead, we are treated to almost every danger faced by bomber crews in World War II - mid air collisions, flak, enemy fighters, and even a case of friendly fire. Naturally, most of the havoc inflicted on the B-17s falls on the Memphis Belle, which in real life was not damaged as badly as this movie would have viewers believe. The Warner Bros. DVD presents this film on both full and Widescreen formats on a double-sided single platter, making it necessary to handle with extreme care. The image is less-than-awe-inspiring on an ordinary television or computer screen, at least for those few who caught this flick at the movie theater. It's somewhat predictable and corny at times, but it is one of the few movies released in the past 15 years that treated its topic with an eye for accurate detail. And while some of the shots did involve model aircraft, the filmmakers managed to round up all the surviving B-17s (in addition to a few American and German fighters), giving audiences a stirring tribute to all the aircrew who fought and died in World War II.
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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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