"War Birds" Coming To A Theatre Near You

you think Pearl Harbour was bad try watching Thunder over Reno
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829437/
I only watch the warbird/racer footage if possible.

Regards Pearl Harbo(u)r, I bought the 3-disc special edition and the extras far outweigh the film propper – showing the original (before cgi) flying around the ships in Pearl, real seat of the pants flying which would give elf & safety zealots a fit.

🙂 The plot to this new film sounds like a book i read many years ago [possibly grey Eagles i think] where ex WW2 pilots rebuild the 109’s and P51’s and go back into a private dogfight i think this was it http://www.amazon.com/Gray-Eagles-Duane-Unkefer/dp/0688049729 ]
Hopefully if nothing else it will look and sound good and put some money and interest from the younger generation back into vintage aviation.

I recall reading something similar.
Ex-Luftwaffe pilot rebuilds a 109 and attacks a current USAF pilot training base in the desert Southwest….blowing up scores of T-37s and such.

The USAF pulls some P-51s out of storage (?) and goes after them.
With some reworking (perhaps a lot) it could make a half decent film.
I wasn’t too impressed, I didn’t keep the book or recall its name.

🙂 The plot to this new film sounds like a book i read many years ago [possibly grey Eagles i think] where ex WW2 pilots rebuild the 109’s and P51’s and go back into a private dogfight i think this was it http://www.amazon.com/Gray-Eagles-Duane-Unkefer/dp/0688049729 ]
Hopefully if nothing else it will look and sound good and put some money and interest from the younger generation back into vintage aviation.

Or ‘Hells Angels’ from the thirties – completely ripped off by ‘Flyboys’!

I’ve been waiting for a great airplane film all of my life…I’m still waiting.

“Blue Max”:diablo:

I’ll admit to having a soft spot for Pearl Harbor – simply because I got to see the Spitfires close up, and also because I had a couple of e-mail conversations with Steve Hinton a little while later.

The director’s commentary is quite interesting, though.

Some on here seem stuck in a time warp 633 squadron,Battle of britain,the great escape,the guns of navarone.

It’s a pleasure to move on with the times pearl harbour great film and i have just booked the tv with the missus it’s on tonight!

This new film might be crap but we won’t know till it’s made and so what it’s american most things are.

Pearl harbour rules.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I disagree that the Doolittle raid was less commented on as it was US rather than RAF. It was a courageous and daring raid that stands in my list of great achievements.

In terms of the film – the extension of the negative (Pearl) to cover the positive by extending into 42 to cover the Doolittle raid was the saving grace over the rest of the mush in this film that was trying to hard to appeal to everyone.

However – I recall the Purple Heart(?) an old B&W film on the Doolittle Raid – which has left me with a more poignant reminder for over 30 years – that I am sure that Pearl Harbor will not!

PS thanks for the detail on the surviving B25’s – a good list of aircraft!

How many B25’s are actually still flying ? There were 3 at Duxford in the summer – but how many in films were just plastic fans being towed and how many real aircraft?

That’s an easy one.
http://www.aerovintage.com/b25loc.htm
The site also has information on Catch 22 filming…
http://www.aerovintage.com/catch22.htm

Lets face it…Good films that feature aircraft in major roles are rare.
We’d be happy with lots of planes and technical details mixed in with the story. Most everyone else, would usually rather have less.

The Battle of Britain and Tora, Tora, Tora had great aviation content, but Tora’s semi documentary style and BoB’s ill defined characters made them less popular with the general public.
Flyboys was Dawn Patrol part II, and Pearl Harbour was WWII redone for today’s youth. Neither were terrible and Pearl wasn’t a total waste…any film that gives modern youth a look at past sacrifices can’t be all bad.
(IMHO: If it had been about a RAF raid instead of Jimmy Doolittle’s Tokyo mission, I dare say it would have been more warmly received on this forum).

I’ve been waiting for a great airplane film all of my life…I’m still waiting.

…. recently wasted last Saturday evening trying to understand Catch 22.

Thought that was just me!:o:D

Having wasted Saturday night watching Peal Harbour (note incorrect/correct spelling) and recently wasted last Saturday evening trying to understand Catch 22.

How many B25’s are actually still flying ? There were 3 at Duxford in the summer – but how many in films were just plastic fans being towed and how many real aircraft?

P.S. not sure about a film about reckless airshows will be to the betterment of the cause. So I hope it bubbles under faster than lead.

At least it’s real aircraft not this cgi stuff

Total balls though the film was, the Red Baron film Melv mentioned actually has some really nice green screen/CGI work – almost on a par with some of WETA’s work in King Kong…

At last another great movie coming to my tv what was wrong with pearl harbour there was spits! ( nice in surround sound )

At least it’s real aircraft not this cgi stuff give them a chance it might be a good flick.

I had an education!

Steady on, old chap! :diablo:

At the very least, even if the film does end up being total **** (as seems to happen frequently these days), some warbird owners will have had their pockets lined by a film company so they can keep flying that little bit longer….

I suppose it depends whether you want a coherent narrative worked around the planes and the flying or just 100 mins of teaming warbirds tearing around the sky. I’d go for both but that would be two films, not one.

Or any other film that doesn’t star Spits and Brits….:D

Well, Flyboys was a bad film. Pearl Harbor was even worse. That doesn’t make me Jingoistic it just shows I had an education!

As it was I saw Red Baron last week. It was total historical claptrap but if you ignore the fact it uses names of real people it is not a bad film about people flying,

Richthofen it is not,

No Spitfires either

Sounds ghastly…straight to DVD obscurity.

Will obviously trashed to pieces on this forum, but I’m looking forward to seeing some warbirds on the big screen!

Yeah, I think this will get about as much love as Flyboys did from the folks around here.

Or any other film that doesn’t star Spits and Brits….:D