Poll: The Ultimate WWII Air Combat Movie???

[BotaBing]

I am looking for a good movie that centers around, or at least deals with, WWII air combat.

What's the best one - the one with the best and/or most realistic dogfights?

My wife and I recently watched Memphis Belle, which I think is a great movie. We also watched that Mel Gibson WWII Bomber movie hehehe set in the 1990's (you know where he gets frozen and thawed back out and picks up a bomber at an airshow.)

When I was a kid, I used to watch this corny TV Show, I can't even remeber the name. But it was about some WWII pilots, in the pacific theatre if i remember correctly. There was a pilot named Pappy, maybe it was something like the Black Sheep Squadron.

Oh well anyways..whats the best?

[Spoons - SimHQ]

The show was "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and it was about Pappy Boyington's USMC fighter squadron in the Pacific (VMF-214 "The Black Sheep").

Memphis Belle is good, as long as you don't take it too seriously.  A mailing list of WWII bomber vets that I'm on periodically rip it apart when someone mentions it.  The sight of all those B-17s in it is worth it alone, though.  

Some favorite WWII movies of mine:

-  Twelve O'Clock High
-  Battle of Britain
-  Tora!  Tora!  Tora!
-  633 Squadron

All of these have varying degrees of "cheesiness" to them, but I think you'd like them.

If you want to see one of the best aviation war movies of all time (IMHO), skip forward five years to the Korean War and rent "The Bridges at Toko-Ri."



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John Sponauer
Senior Editor, SimHQ.com
jsponauer@simhq.com

[Fatty]

I always liked Midway.  While not focused on air combat, it's a pretty large part of the movie, and every combat scene involves planes (that I can remember offhand).

[-duma-]

Personally I go for BoB because of the comparatively low cheesiness level, the great dogfight scenes and music. Dambusters is probably a close second. 633 Squadron I found fairly cheesy (If it's the one I remember, with that Kuriakin guy out of Man From U.N.C.L.E?)

Das Boot has a Thunderbolt in it once or twice, does that count?  

[Citabria]

tora tora tora on laserdisc in widescreen rocks  

[MrBill]

"Piece of cake"
british, May be a made for tv or pbs movie.  I liked it a lot.

------------------
OhNooo
smile awhile

[Luckyone]

All of the above are a must! I still think the best and realistic to life is still to be made for all sides of the war. Savein' Pvt Ryan is a greaat film,!... and not the real film (Total sample)of the day the deeds were done! Oh, Time travel I guess, You need any help in building one of those contraptions?

[Dingy]

Battle Over Britain!  By far.

-Ding

[Voss]

Midway works for me. Some cheesiness that only us purists would notice.

There  was another one. "Air Squadron" I think. It was based on a P-51 squadron, but I'm not sure if I got the title right. It highlighted some of the most adventurous sorties of the Mighty Eighth, as if they happened to a single squadron, but it was cool none-the-less. Some of the non-comm interaction and background was humurous as well.    

Cheesiness included P-47's as FW 190's, and a P-51 hiding under a B-17 when he was out of ammo (like high speed wasn't an option), but hey!

     



[This message has been edited by Voss (edited 06-02-2000).]

[eskimo]

I'll second that;

"Battle Over Britain! By far."

eskimo

[Udie]

These are in order of how I like them.......

Battle of Britain- Starring Michael Caine

Piece of Cake-  Saw it on PBS about 4 yrs ago, realy good movie.

Midway- Chuck Heston RULES!!!!!!!!!

The Tuskegee Airmen - staring Lawrence Fishbone-  a damned good movie but the dogfighting scenes are kind of cheesey.

Menphis Belle -  Not historicly accurate, but I think a good generalization of how it was for bomber crews.

 THIS NEXT IS THE BEST AIRWAR MOVIE I HAVE SEEN YET. But it's a ww1 film not ww2

The Blue Max -  Starring George Peppard -  This movie has the BEST dogfighting scenes I remember seeing. It was made in 68 or 69 I think, but it's still my favorite.


Udie

[This message has been edited by Udie (edited 06-02-2000).]

[Westy]

 My fave is the documentary "Operation Strangle" featuring colour footage of the 57thFG P-47's in action in Italy, 1944.

 -Westy

[JimBear]

12 O'Clock High
The War Lover
Battle of Britain
Piece of Cake


Not strictly a WW2 aviation movie, but a great one is "The Best Years of Our Lives"

[hblair]

What was that one with John Wayne as a Flying Tiger? Was it flying Leathernecks? It had some decent special effects(for the 1940's anyways  ), and some real P40's from what I remember.

[SC-GreyBeard]

Actually, the Blue Max came out in 1966...

Remember the movie, my date, and the drive in QUITE well...