[parsig9]

Just found this and was shocked. It is from 2004 So what happened??

Historians Fear Hollywood Is Distorting the Battle of Britain in a New Film by Tom Cruise

Cole Moreton Right, in the London Independent (April 11, 2004):

Billy Fiske was a racing driver, a pilot, an Olympic gold medallist and an American - but one thing he did not do was win the Battle of Britain single-handed. Veterans and historians fear that will be the impression given, however, when Tom Cruise plays Fiske in a new film called The Few.

"I've heard it is almost like he won the war all on his own," says Ben Clinch, who loaded the guns fired by the real Billy Fiske and his comrades in 601 Squadron during the summer of 1940. "I can't see how they can make a film of Fiske's life. It was quite short. He was unremarkable, in the context of the squadron. He was just another pilot as far as we were concerned."

Hollywood's version of the Second World War has already shown Americans capturing the Enigma code machine in U571 (they didn't) and leading The Great Escape from a German prisoner of war camp (also not true). Pearl Harbor even suggested that the RAF only thwarted the Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940 because US pilots popped across the Atlantic to help out. Now Mr Cruise looks set to expand on that with his own version of what Churchill called our "finest hour".

Fiske was a remarkable character who did fly in the Battle of Britain, but recorded no confirmed kills. "It is going to be a farce if we have the Yanks shooting down everything in sight," says Bill Bond of the Battle of Britain Historical Society. "The battle was four weeks old when Billy was shot down. He made several sorties but he didn't shoot anything down, and his impact on the battle was negligible. We are concerned."

The Few is being made by Michael Mann, director of Top Gun, the jet-fighter movie that made Tom Cruise's name. Currently in development, it will be based on the life of William Meade Lindsley Fiske III, son of a wealthy Chicago family, who became the youngest Winter Olympics contestant to win a gold medal, in the bobsleigh at the age of 16. Handsome, charming and addicted to speed, he married the former Countess of Warwick and raced at Le Mans. So far, so historical, and filmable. But alarm bells started ringing when Variety, the movie world's magazine of choice, described the film's historical content. "In 1940, expert German fighters had decimated the Royal Air Force to the point that there weren't enough pilots left to fly the Spitfire planes sitting idly in hangars," it said. "Unable to rouse the US into action, a desperate Winston Churchill hatched a covert effort to recruit civilian American pilots to join the RAF. Risking prison sentences in the then-neutral US, a ragtag bunch of pilots answered the call." The magazine also looked forward to "ferocious dogfights between the overmatched American pilots and the German ace fliers".

This account prompted despairing laughter from Bill Bond last week. "It's hilarious," he said. "Totally wrong. The whole bloody lot. They flew Hurricanes for a start." Spitfires have a more romantic image, however. "Recruited by Churchill? Crap. They wouldn't have gone to prison either." And as for the idea of aircraft sitting idly by in hangars while the brave Americans took to the skies: "What a load of bloody rubbish. We did have a pilot shortage, but not to that extent."

Mr Bond has much more confidence in the accuracy of a forthcoming book by the author Alex Kershaw, whose proposal was the inspiration for The Few. The book is due to be published by Michael Joseph next year. Mr Kershaw also wrote The Bedford Boys, the basis for the film Saving Private Ryan.


Posted on Thursday, April 15, 2004 at 7:26 PM


In March 2005, The History Channel broadcast a documentary titled American Warrior: Billy Fiske.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Tom Cruise is to star in "The Few", a film about the life of Billy Fiske set for release in 2008. Michael Mann is slated to direct. "Tom Cruise stars in the true-life story of American pilot Billy Fiske, who ignored his country's neutrality rules in the early days of WWII and flew Hurricanes against the Germans."

Ben Clinch, an RAF armourer for Billy Fiske and his comrades during the summer of 1940, said, "I can't see how they can make a film of Fiske's life. It was quite short. He was unremarkable, in the context of the squadron. He was just another pilot as far as we were concerned." Speaking to The Independent, Bill Bond of the Battle of Britain Historical Society ([1]) argued that whilst Fiske was a remarkable character, it was important to remember that he recorded no confirmed kills. "It is going to be a farce if we have the Yanks shooting down everything in sight, the battle was four weeks old when Billy was shot down. He made several sorties but he didn't shoot anything down, and his impact on the battle was negligible. We are concerned."

In contrast to the comments by Mr. Bond there are references to Fiske's outstanding abilities as a pilot. In the book The Battle of Britain by Richard Hough and Denis Richards, Sir Archibald Hope (Fiske's flight commander) said, "Unquestionably Billy Fiske was the best pilot I've ever known. It was unbelievable how good he was. He picked up so fast it wasn't true. He'd flown a bit before, but he was a natural as a fighter pilot. He was also terribly nice and extraordinarily modest, and fitted into the squadron very well."

[STARMAN 352ND]

It has been announced that Tom will star in "The Few" it may out in June 2008.
But at this time is not been confirmed..
The only thing i see right now of him doing at the moment is Lions for Lambs a Robert Redford directed drama that will co-star Redford and Meryl Streep.

JP

[bsmith13]

Sigh.

I was 21 when Top Gun came out. I loved it. I loved it until I became an Air Battle Manager, and as I became a better air battle manager, the more I cringed when I watched the movie.

My favorite line to hate is "I was only below the hard deck for a few moments. There was no danger, so I took the shot." Viper and Jester really lay into Maverick on this one. In reality (and FVD will back me up on this one), Maverick would have been ridiculed into obscurity during the debrief. The "hard deck" is simulated ground. Mav hit the simulated ground. He called an invalid kill. He owes Jester $5 for an invalid kill call. Can you imagine a pilot making the following remarks: "I was only below the ground for a few moments. There was no danger, so I took the shot."

And that is only one of many gaffs in the movie that make me cringe. I am not excited about the Top-Gunnification of BoB.

On the other hand, maybe some talented soul will be able to cut together a decent movie with the footage. And Spits/Hurris/Messerschmitts are never a bad thing.

[STARMAN 352ND]

They are not releasing to much info on this movie yet.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388940/

[butcherbird]

This is a joke right????
The only distinguishing thing Billy Fiske did in the war was become the first American pilot to be
killed in WW2. I'm not trying to sell the guy short. He gave his life for a cause he believed in. He just ran out of time to do more.

There were hundreds of volunteers from other countries that flew in the RAF as well. It looks to me like the movie will be a slap in the
face to them as well as the British pilots.

[parsig9]

All true fellas.


And are they really gonna try to have Cruise play Fiske as a 16 year old in the Olympics? Do they have some old Taps footage I don't know about?

[1250ships]

Originally Posted by parsig9

The Few is being made by Michael Mann, director of Top Gun, the jet-fighter movie that made Tom Cruise's name.

Top Gun was directed by Tony Scott, not Michael Mann. Tony Scott also did Crimson Tide.

In 1986 Mann was doing the TV series Miami Vice and directed the movie Manhunter, the first film to show Hanibal Lector.

[FormerViperDriver]

Originally Posted by bsmith13

Sigh.

I was 21 when Top Gun came out. I loved it. I loved it until I became an Air Battle Manager, and as I became a better air battle manager, the more I cringed when I watched the movie.

My favorite line to hate is "I was only below the hard deck for a few moments. There was no danger, so I took the shot." Viper and Jester really lay into Maverick on this one. In reality (and FVD will back me up on this one), Maverick would have been ridiculed into obscurity during the debrief. The "hard deck" is simulated ground. Mav hit the simulated ground. He called an invalid kill. He owes Jester $5 for an invalid kill call. Can you imagine a pilot making the following remarks: "I was only below the ground for a few moments. There was no danger, so I took the shot."

And that is only one of many gaffs in the movie that make me cringe. I am not excited about the Top-Gunnification of BoB.

On the other hand, maybe some talented soul will be able to cut together a decent movie with the footage. And Spits/Hurris/Messerschmitts are never a bad thing.

Yeah, bsmith, but Top Gun is still the best modern aviation movie out there, by far. Although it contains many errors such as the ones you mention, it did manage to capture much of the essence of what being a fighter pilot (or WSO/RIO in the case of "Goose") is about. I can tell you that this movie is quite highly regarded in the fighter pilot community, faults and all. The few unrealistic things in there are nothing compared to what you see in movies like the "Iron Eagle" trilogy, for example.

Over twenty years after it came out, I still love that movie.

On the other hand, "The Few" sounds like it has the potential to be really bad for those who are picky about historical facts. But then I did enjoy "300" even if it had little to do with the actual battle of Thermopylae, so... The only qiestion is whether the movie will be marketed as "historical" in nature, or just pure fiction loosely based on one historical character.

FVD

[dilligafocau]

If they are going to do a Battle of Britain type movie they should do a "Flags of our Fathers" approach, get the story from both sides of the conflict....lots of brave flyers stories to draw on
Maybe get Clint Eastwood to direct it

[Nimrod48]

Originally Posted by dilligafocau

If they are going to do a Battle of Britain type movie they should do a "Flags of our Fathers" approach, get the story from both sides of the conflict....lots of brave flyers stories to draw on
Maybe get Clint Eastwood to direct it

I am sure this is the way to go if the film is to succeed in a global market, but oh how I wish it was the sinking of the Bismark instead told from both sides, just imagine the awesome sound of Bismarks 15 inch (I think) guns the thunder of the shells going through the air & best of all a pilots eye view from a "Stringbag" flying at sea level to drop their tin fishes through a hail of AA fire & directed by Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot).