[STARMAN 352ND]

Originally Posted by mustangdriver

I have got to say that I love 1941. I know it was not made during WWII but set in that time period. But John Belushi as the P-40 pilot was great.

I just bought that DVD and watched it last night...
It was a funny movie too.
I liked that P-40 that was in there and John Belushi was great for that role.
JP

[skysurfer808]

Originally Posted by mustangdriver

I have got to say that I love 1941. I know it was not made during WWII but set in that time period. But John Belushi as the P-40 pilot was great.

Gotta Agree Mustangdriver;

Nothing like Captain Wild Bill Kelso, with his P-40E chasing that Beech 18 down Hollywood Blvd, or how about that initial scene of the Naked Lady on that Japanese Sub's Periscope. I first saw that movie when I was way too young for its content, and I must admit it warped me for life. Especially the mile high scenes in the Beech. Little did I know that I'd grow up and manage to fly those things for awhile...no mile high in the Beech though, but lots of fun in Cessnas.

Aloha,
Skysurfer808

[mustangdriver]

I love the one scene in the B-17. It is classic. Where the bomb rolls down the ramp.

[flyXwire]

Originally Posted by mustangdriver

I love the one scene in the B-17. It is classic. Where the bomb rolls down the ramp.

That also was my favorite scene!

[MoMo]

Hi, Guys,

I saw " 1941 " when it was released and, boy, was it a turkey!

I appreciated the accuracy of the hardware and the attention to detail lavished on the costumes but the lack of a script which resembled anything anyway near funny was a great handicap for a movie which was realeased as a comedy!

Steven Spielberg is one of my favourite directors but, as he'd be the first to admit, even he can lay an egg now and then!

Most of the actors looked, and appeared to be, pathetic as they hunted for the Japanese ( and the script ).

The initial scenes in the dance-hall were the most memorable and livliest. They are the ones which raised my hopes that this would be an entertaining movie. It was downhill after that!

Belushi's antics were just simply sad. He thought that he was being funny in the same way that he really was in " The Blues Brothers". This was only a coke-induced piece of self-delusion! The pathetic bluster just didn't come off and the paying public gave Belushi, Spielburg and " 1941 " a well-deserved Anglo-Saxon, two-fingered gesture which origininated in the Middle Ages and which meaning has come down to us in time-honoured tradition as " UP YOUR'S! ".

I was not aware of Belushi's problem at the time, but I hated Holywood's attempts to be funny in the 70s and 80s. I believe that most of the " Great" ideas for a movie were pitched at that time in a blizzard of questionable, white, crystaline substances which fed the ego and sapped the creative energy. I don't intend to imply that Spielberg was involved in anything like this, but I do believe that many people who should have known better, and who should have been more responsible, were not laughing at the rushes, but instead laughing at the stupid executives who were employing them at the time.

Coke ain't funny!

I can appreciate that anyone who flies an airplane would find the image of a P40 flying down Hollywood Boulevard hilarious. I'll try to forget that when I next fly to Paris. Somehow it worries me!

MoMo

[mustangdriver]

Quote from movie--"Fire at it it is a Japanese Zero--Boom of guns--or it might be a P-40".

[MoMo]

Dear Folks,

re my posting on " Lawrence of Arabia", I want to make it clear that although David Lean did see the restored cut of this movie, he did not see what a wonderful job they did transferring the restored version to DVD. That bit of the posting was a bit muddled, I'm afraid.

In fact, when the restored version was shown for the first time, David Lean was sitting beside Steven Spielberg. Lean talked Spielberg through the whole movie, explaining to him where and when the shots were taken. Lean also went into great detail about the actors and their then prevailing moods. You can see all this on the DVD because Spielberg recounts the story as part of his appreciation.

MoMo

[Migmauler]

The worst war flick I ever saw has to be "Pearl Harbor". Man was that bad. Best WWII comedy/satire is still "Catch 22". Lots of good ones, but my favorite is still "The Blue Max" simply due to the fantastic flying sequences. And while Ursula Andress' part may have indeed been superficial, it was some of the best darn superficial these eyes will ever see.

[MoMo]

Dear Trimotor,

I'm still searching for a decent copy of " Lion of the Desert".

While, I agree with Migmauler that " Pearl Harbour " was the stupidest war movie ever made.

It stank!

Exactly why it stank will remain the subject of many longggggg debates for war buffs for countless years ahead predicated on the general lack of research for the film or, as I suspect, a deliberate disregard for the credibility of the plot in favour of producing a popcorn movie which would appeal to the average, brain-dead thirteen year-old.

Also, the over-reliance on CGI made the action sequences look like badly-engineered computer games. This, no doubt, was the deliberate intention of the producers, to add to the attraction for the youth audience.

I'd have to watch it again to be more critical. Do I dare?

" Catch 22" was one of my favourite books when I was a teenager. I loved the Heller approach which tries to introduce logic to the insane.

I was less sure about the film when it was released. I did see it several times, but I still remain ambivilent towards it. I think that I have always felt that Alan Arkin was miscast as Yossarian. He didn't seem right somehow. Everyone else seemed to be quite insane and convincing while Arkin just seemed to be confused and pitiful. Not the everyman character which I thought that Heller intended. After all, Yossarian is our only way into the novel.

Like most of you, I loved the planes!

A good movie to compare it to is " Slaughterhouse Five ", from the novel by Kurt Vonnegut Jnr. It too takes an original and insane slant on the war in the air. This time over Germany. It adds the dimension of science-fiction to the story of the flying optomitrist and streches credibility to the last degree, but it is well worth watching.


Happy popcorn,

MoMo

[MoMo]

Hi folks,

What's the latest news on the new " Dambusters" movie? I read in the "TIMES" today that Peter Jackson had just got kicked out of the production of " The Hobbit" for wanting more of the profits from the spin-off toys from his " Lord of the Bores" trilogy.

Maybe he'll have more time now to act as a producer for our anticipated fly-fest!

too bad, Pete, you only made £200 million from the last lot.

MoMo