Red Tails: Film Review [Hollywood re-writes history again!]

The Hollywood Reporter ^ | 7:53 PM PST 1/18/2012 | Todd McCarthy

[Bender2]

Red Tails: Film Review
7:53 PM PST 1/18/2012 by Todd McCarthy

The Bottom Line: Action-and-effects version of the Tuskegee airmen's story flies only when it's off the ground.

The George Lucas-produced labor of love stars Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard as Tuskegee airmen in World War II.

The experience of black American aviators in World War II gets a whitewash in Red Tails. The story of the 996 pilots (and some 15,000 ground personnel) who distinguished themselves in the air in the face of institutional racism is a great one and, at least, will come to the attention of more people due to this long-gestating project from Lucasfilm. But every character here is so squeaky clean, and the prejudice as depicted is so toothless and easily overcome, that the film feels like a gingerly fantasy version of what, in real life, was an exceptional example of resilient trail-blazing. The tale's considerable built-in inspirational value will move and impress black audiences of all ages and would do the same to a wider public if sufficiently promoted, but the determinedly simplistic approach will curtail interest among any viewers hungry for some real history. The anticipated low interest level for this material overseas is cited as a major reason the project took so long to get off the ground.

A key signal of how much you can trust any contemporary movie about either of the 20th century's world wars is how, and even if, it depicts smoking; if, like this one, it buckles to current fashion and scarcely depicts soldiers smoking at all in a period when cigarettes were part of ration kits, then it's frankly not to be trusted in any other respect either.

[pfflier]

They got closer than you think. In a promo on HBO Cuba Gooding had them escorting B-52s.

[pfflier]

If you want to really fire the libs up, mention Gens LeMay and Tibbets.

The real crime in history is that Paul Tibbets elected to be in an unmarked grave to save everyone from the circus that would have surrounded his burial place.

Because of Tibbets, I was born. He is my hero.

[Joe 6-pack]

MG (Ret) John Frost was a battalion commander of Paras at Arnhem and was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in A Bridge Too Far. Frost also served as a consultant for the film. There's one scene where Hopkins had to cross a street that was controlled by MG42 fire to get from the house commandeered as his HQ to another building being used as an aid & litter station. When they filmed the first take, Hopkins dodged and sprinted across the street. Hopkins later recounted that the real Frost corrected him, telling Hopkins he should just walk briskly and smartly as British troops would have considered seeing one of their officers dodging and diving to be a sign of panic, and in fact, the real Frost had walked briskly but authoritatively under fire at Arnhem Bridge.

The scene was reshot per Frost's advice, but the editors ultimately went with the first version having decided that it was "more realistic."

[pfflier]

Also decent Korean war flicks:

Men of the Fighting Lady

Pork Chop Hill

Battle Hymn (so-so)

[wbill]

editors ultimately went with the first version having decided that it was "more realistic."

"More realistic" = "sells more tickets". Or, alternatively, "audiences will believe this".

I have a pretty good USMC oral history of WW II. Some of the stories would never make it into the movies not because they weren't any good, but because audiences would say, "Yeah Right! Like THAT would ever happen."

Like the Marine captain who controlled Bloody Nose Ridge (I think?) for a time by standing up (!) on top of it and firing a 30 cal from the hip, until he ran out of ammo. Then he grabbed a wounded Marine and came back down again.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

[nutmeg]

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