The Red Baron : aerial dogfights, movie trailer

One can only hope. Hollywood just doesn't get aircraft dynamics. Remember "The Aviator". Decent movie, but the flying scenes just looked plain stupid. With the millions they spend, why can't they hire people that know aircraft and how they fly?
 
Looks wonderful, but hard to generate suspense, since we know how it ends. Then again, that's what I said about Titanic. Thanks for the post, looks cool.
 
If you want to see real flying, you might be better off watching Von Richthofen and Brown or The Blue Max.


Trapper John
 
Looks computer generated to me. I'd rather watch someone shooting landings with their Cub at my local airport.
 
I just re-watched Jimmy Stewart in Spirit of St Louis.

It's better the second time (I just finished Lindbergh's book -- they did a pretty good job aligning the screenplay to Lindbergh's recollection).

There are some good flying sequences interspersed during the hours of straight and level.

What I found amazing was how Spirit of St Louis was more believable than Amelia.
 
Trapper John said:
If you want to see real flying, you might be better off watching Von Richthofen and Brown or The Blue Max.
Click to expand...
The Blue Max has always been one of my favorite movies since I saw it as a kid.
 
Generally speaking you cannot go wrong with an aviation movie starring Jimmy Stewart

Spirit of St Louis
Flight of the Phoenix
Strategic Air Command
No Highway in the Sky
Airport '77 (well an exception proves the rule, right?)
 
vontresc said:
Generally speaking you cannot go wrong with an aviation movie starring Jimmy Stewart

Spirit of St Louis
Flight of the Phoenix
Strategic Air Command
No Highway in the Sky
Airport '77 (well an exception proves the rule, right?)
Click to expand...

I watched SAC out of a sense of duty (as a former SAC member) but goodness gracious that movie dragged...
 
dmccormack said:
I watched SAC out of a sense of duty (as a former SAC member) but goodness gracious that movie dragged...
Click to expand...

LOL but those B-36 and B-47 flying scenes were grat! I'd rank it right up there with Top Gun. Great flying lousy story.
 
bsdunek said:
Looks computer generated to me. I'd rather watch someone shooting landings with their Cub at my local airport.
Click to expand...

Then you go do that. I always found watching an airplane land over and over again to be somewhat lacking in plot, dialogue, acting and drama. But to each his own.
 
steingar said:
Then you go do that. I always found watching an airplane land over and over again to be somewhat lacking in plot, dialogue, acting and drama. But to each his own.
Click to expand...

You haven't watched me land after a layoff from flying, have you. :D
 
Just got it from Netflix today. Can't wait to watch it.
 
Suspend your disbelief and you'll enjoy it.

From what I saw it's a movie about a German, made by Germans, for Germans. Historically accurate it is not. The last few frames are about all that contains any accuracy.

Diana said:
Just got it from Netflix today. Can't wait to watch it.
Click to expand...
 
Steve said:
Suspend your disbelief and you'll enjoy it.
Click to expand...
:) I'm simple-minded, so I'm mostly hoping to be entertained. Sometimes if you don't have exceedingly high expectations, you enjoy things more. :)

Steve said:
From what I saw it's a movie about a German, made by Germans, for Germans. Historically accurate it is not. The last few frames are about all that contains any accuracy.
Click to expand...
You mean the part where he dies? Ooops! Didn't mean to give anything away to those who don't know what happens. :D
 
Spoiler alert.

He doesn't die.

At least not in the movie.:skeptical:

Diana said:
You mean the part where he dies? Ooops! Didn't mean to give anything away to those who don't know what happens. :D
Click to expand...
 
Diana said:
Just got it from Netflix today. Can't wait to watch it.
Click to expand...
Wow, this is the second time today this movie has been recommended to me by a female pilot! I think I'm going to add it to the queue to watch!
 
dmccormack said:
I just re-watched Jimmy Stewart in Spirit of St Louis.

It's better the second time (I just finished Lindbergh's book -- they did a pretty good job aligning the screenplay to Lindbergh's recollection).

There are some good flying sequences interspersed during the hours of straight and level.

What I found amazing was how Spirit of St Louis was more believable than Amelia.
Click to expand...


WHAT? I love Stewart but the movie is a CARTOON of the book. It's cool to see his plane reconstructed and flown but outside of that it's goofy as hell and full of classic hollywood hyperbole. I mean, the final scene for instance where he's landing in France has him clutching his st christopher and crying out in desperation! It's CRAP. It's full of dumb goofy yuk yuk humor that would have made Lindbergh cringe and emphasizes stuff that non flying folks might think is dramatic while totally ignoring the really brilliant planning, execution, and drama of his accomplishment.
 
Okay, I just finished watching The Red Baron. Found it very entertaining. I can't speak to the historical accuracy, and many of the flying sequences were clearly CGI, but it was a fun watch. I'd say that it was as much Czech as it was German, if not more so.
 
gprellwitz said:
Okay, I just finished watching The Red Baron. Found it very entertaining. I can't speak to the historical accuracy, and many of the flying sequences were clearly CGI, but it was a fun watch. I'd say that it was as much Czech as it was German, if not more so.
Click to expand...
Just finished watching it, too. Little or no historical accuracy, but the plot is miles above "Flyboys." I thought the flying scenes were a lot better, too.

As my wife said, "They actually look cold."

Ron Wanttaja
 
Tom and I enjoyed the movie. :) I really loved that scene at the beginning when he was riding a horse with his arms outstretched like he was flying. :)

Sometimes we got a little confused about the characters...like who was who.

We both found it to be even more interesting after having that WWI airplane land here at the farm last week and spending time with the pilot and his airplane.
 
wby0nder said:
WHAT? I love Stewart but the movie is a CARTOON of the book. It's cool to see his plane reconstructed and flown but outside of that it's goofy as hell and full of classic hollywood hyperbole. I mean, the final scene for instance where he's landing in France has him clutching his st christopher and crying out in desperation! It's CRAP. It's full of dumb goofy yuk yuk humor that would have made Lindbergh cringe and emphasizes stuff that non flying folks might think is dramatic while totally ignoring the really brilliant planning, execution, and drama of his accomplishment.
Click to expand...

Lindbergh was a "technical adviser" for the film and saw it with his family. He was rather reclusive by that time but seemed pleased with the overall effort.

I think the film included as much planning as the audience would bear -- after all, it wasn't a documentary, and watch other films from the era to see what audiences expected.

Stewart fought lots of the hookey stuff -- in fact the "fly in the cabin" was a device the director wanted -- Stewart finally said, "Either he goes of I do." The fly left before the crossing started.
 
Last edited:
dmccormack said:
I watched SAC out of a sense of duty (as a former SAC member) but goodness gracious that movie draggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggged...
Click to expand...

Fixed that for ya'!
 
I really liked the sub movie "Das Boot". One of my favorites. Quite frankly, I enjoy the other side's perspective.
 
wby0nder said:
WHAT? I love Stewart but the movie is a CARTOON of the book. It's cool to see his plane reconstructed and flown but outside of that it's goofy as hell and full of classic hollywood hyperbole. I mean, the final scene for instance where he's landing in France has him clutching his st christopher and crying out in desperation! It's CRAP. It's full of dumb goofy yuk yuk humor that would have made Lindbergh cringe and emphasizes stuff that non flying folks might think is dramatic while totally ignoring the really brilliant planning, execution, and drama of his accomplishment.
Click to expand...

Yeah; Stewart himself had reservations, starting with a middle-aged guy playing the "Young Eagle." :rolleyes:
But he stayed with it, out of a desire to be part of a big-screen tribute to Lindbergh's epic flight, which had been a huge inspiration to him to pursue flying in the first place.

The book, IMHO, is much more riveting, and I think even non-pilots might feel that way about it. You really can get a sense of how much of a struggle it was, and why Lindbergh felt it was worth it to try.
Me, I feel a sense of drama just looking at the course line for the over-water portion... a daunting bit of navigation in such a plane in those days!! :eek:

Back on topic: I'll most likely rent the Richtofen movie eventually; worth a look-see, I guess. I see from the trailer that it attempts to humanize the "Red Baron" a bit; could be very interesting if it is accurate.

But I won't expect flying footage on a par with Blue Max, Waldo Pepper,etc... no matter how good CG stuff gets, it just can't compare with the real deal, IMHO. Even Hughes' Hell's Angels, with all its clunkiness, excites me more, because these were almost-original aircraft being flown by some of the best pilots available, shot using never-before-attempted techniques. It's amazing stuff.
 
I'm another one who loved the book, "Spirit of St. Louis" but didn't care for the movie.

My favorite aviation movie has got to be "The Blue Max".
 
Here are some photos of the WWI replica SE-5a that was at the farm a week ago. I didn't realize that I hadn't posted the photos here yet.

The pilot was flying it to OSH and could only land on grass because of the tail skid and no brakes.

The pilot and his crew ended up working on a mag problem here, and then the storms came, so they spent the night. I flew the Citabria to town so we could put the SE-5a in our hangar.

The next day they flew north headed for OSH by way of Blakesburg, IA. It's going to be on display at AirVenture and may be in the Aeroshell Square with the other WWI fighters this year. The pilot landed it at the Pioneer Museum when he arrived at OSH. There is a video of his landing at OSH on YouTube if anyone wants to see the link.
 

Attachments

  • SE-5 1 (1077 x 808).jpg
    SE-5 1 (1077 x 808).jpg
    202.7 KB · Views: 21
  • SE-5 3 (1632 x 1224).jpg
    SE-5 3 (1632 x 1224).jpg
    489.2 KB · Views: 26
  • SE-5 arriving (1150 x 933).jpg
    SE-5 arriving (1150 x 933).jpg
    222.1 KB · Views: 20
  • SE-5 fits in the hangar (1077 x 808).jpg
    SE-5 fits in the hangar (1077 x 808).jpg
    175.5 KB · Views: 21
  • Cockpit (1077 x 808).jpg
    Cockpit (1077 x 808).jpg
    211.4 KB · Views: 28
  • Fly by 2.JPG
    Fly by 2.JPG
    347.4 KB · Views: 15
  • Priming (1077 x 808).jpg
    Priming (1077 x 808).jpg
    213.8 KB · Views: 22
  • Propping it (1077 x 808).jpg
    Propping it (1077 x 808).jpg
    203 KB · Views: 17
  • Propping it 2 (1077 x 808).jpg
    Propping it 2 (1077 x 808).jpg
    212.3 KB · Views: 22
  • Propping it b and w (1077 x 808).jpg
    Propping it b and w (1077 x 808).jpg
    190.1 KB · Views: 16
Anthony said:
I really liked the sub movie "Das Boot". One of my favorites. Quite frankly, I enjoy the other side's perspective.
Click to expand...
"The Red Baron" actually reminded me a lot of "Das Boot," though the latter was better.

Traditionally, I'm a stickler for historical accuracy, but I just kind of rode with "The Red Baron." It shows him being upset by the death of his men, but IIRC, Richthofen didn't seem to react like that. I remember a story where a new pilot showed up just as the Jasta was getting ready to take off. "Kill or be killed," Richthofen was was supposed to have said, and the man didn't come back. I don't think he was that concerned about killing the enemy, either...

Sounds like they would have done better capitalizing on the comic-book movie trend and calling it, "Enemy Ace." The main character in the movie was a closer match to Has Von Hammer than Manfred Von Richthofen....

I will say this again, though: The flying scenes in the movie are pretty well done. I'll probably pick it up on Blue Ray just for that. There were some inaccuracies (the formations usually just seemed like mobs) but they did show Richthofen flying an Albatross through most of the movie, rather than sticking him in an all-red Triplane from the start.

Ron Wanttaja
 
dmccormack said:
What about The Great Waldo Pepper?

The crash scene with the pilotguy stuck in the cockpit alive and the fuel catches fire creeped me out for years after I saw that as a kid. :frown3:
Click to expand...
I probably need to see "The Great Waldo Pepper" again since I've only seen it once and that was when I was in high school. For whatever reason "The Blue Max" made a big impression on me as a little kid and I've seen it a number of times since then so I remember it a lot better.
 
Everskyward said:
I probably need to see "The Great Waldo Pepper" again since I've only seen it once and that was when I was in high school. For whatever reason "The Blue Max" made a big impression on me as a little kid and I've seen it a number of times since then so I remember it a lot better.
Click to expand...
I agree with all of that.

I do recall a video game based on the Blue Max. It even had pictures of George Pepard on the housing. If you got a high enough score it dispensed a Blue Max souvenir medal for you. I think I spent $100 on that game trying to win the medal.

I think this was the game. But I do not see how it dispensed the medal so I may be mistaken that this was the console.

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&db=arcadedb&id=92&image=1
 
ScottM said:
I agree with all of that.

I do recall a video game based on the Blue Max. It even had pictures of George Pepard on the housing. If you got a high enough score it dispensed a Blue Max souvenir medal for you. I think I spent $100 on that game trying to win the medal.

I think this was the game. But I do not see how it dispensed the medal so I may be mistaken that this was the console.

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&db=arcadedb&id=92&image=1
Click to expand...
I have a Blue Max replica which someone gave me as a gift because he knew I loved the movie.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top