Savage is modeled on the actual Colonel Frank Armstrong who commanded the 306th Bomb Group. Coincidentally, the 306th had the first B-17 crew, (Hell’s Angels, commanded by Irl Baldwin that completed 25 missions successfully.)
Savage molds the 918th, after much pushback from the men, into a topflight combat air command. Hugh Marlowe is outstanding as is Peck as LTC Ben Gately, a pilot who was initially punished by Savage and given all the deadbeats in the group (his plane was called the Leper Colony). He later redeems himself by continuing to fly while having fractured vertebrae. Dean Jagger is also as solid as always playing Major Harry Stovall.
Stalag 17, (1953) starring William Holden in an Oscar-winning role, Don Taylor, Robert Strauss, Neville Brand, Harvey Lembeck, Peter Graves, and Otto Preminger:
Billy Wilder directed this excellent comedy-drama of a POW camp in Germany. Luftstalag 17 is a POW camp for Americans.
The most hated of all the POWs is a cynic hustler named Sefton (Holden), who openly trades with the Germans and has a ton of luxury items while most of the men are hungry and wearing rags.
When two prisoners are shot while escaping, the other POWs blame Sefton for being a rat. The Americans are convinced that there is a turncoat in their midst and Sefton is the easiest and most logical target — except, he knows who the actual turncoat is.
Robert Straus and Harvey Lembeck provide much of the comic relief as “Animal” and Harry Shapiro, two POWs who keep everyone else as light as can be depending on their circumstances. “Animal” is obsessed with Betty Grable and the Christmas Day drunken interaction with Shapiro is hilarious.
Tora, Tora, Tora (1970), starring an all-star cast of American and Japanese actors:
This was a tremendous war film that shows the leadup to the disastrous events at Pearl Harbor. It is shown from both the American and Japanese perspectives. With war drums beating, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto must plan for a sneak attack on the U.S., a country he knows well, having been to college there American fleet.
Yamamoto understands that a protracted war with America is a losing situation since the U.S.’s industrial might will win out in the end. He knows that Japan must strike a crippling blow to the U.S. and therefore tries to plan a devastating attack on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
The Americans have broken the Japanese diplomatic codes and are trying to piece together what the Japanese intentions are. The American intelligence officers try, unsuccessfully, to get the American defense chiefs to alert the Pearl Harbor defenses in time. The Japanese launch their attack early on the morning of December 7, 1941. However, their declaration of war, which was supposed to be delivered to the Americans 30 minutes before the attack began, was garbled and the translation time-consuming. It wasn’t delivered until the attack was already over.
Although the Japanese achieved total surprise, the American aircraft carriers, the prime targets of the attack, were already out to sea. While seven battleships were either sunk or heavily damaged, it wasn’t the death blow that Yamamoto planned on — or needed.
The film ends with Yamamoto’s prophetic lament. He tells his staff that nothing would infuriate the U.S. more and concludes: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
Kelly’s Heroes (1970) starring Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Carroll O’Connor, and Don Rickles:
Another comedy/drama about World War II, Kelly (Eastwood) captures a German officer who it turns out was transporting stolen gold from France back to Germany.
Kelly interrogates the German and learns that there is a cache of 14,000 gold bars, worth $16 million (over $230 million today), stored in a bank vault 30 miles behind enemy lines in the town of Clermont.
Kelly assembles an eclectic mix of characters from the 35th Infantry Division to go on a raid far behind enemy lines and hit the bank to steal the gold, not for the American army, but for themselves.
“Crapgame” (Rickles) is the hustler, who gets all of the equipment needed, while Oddball, (Sutherland) is a long-haired spaced-out tank commander who steals every scene he’s in.
General Colt (O’Connor) is somewhat of a buffoon who believes that the heist is a breakthrough of his forces and rushes to catch up with the troops.
When the group gets to the town, three German Tiger tanks hold the bank and the ensuing firefight turns ugly and violent. With a standoff that threatens to blow the caper, Crapgame tells Kelly to make a deal with the German tank commander saying, “Maybe he’s a Republican.”
I hope everyone is safe and healthy today… Enjoy.
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