Posted on 03/14/2025 3:08:51 PM PDT by buwaya
The classic film, "Battle of Britain", from 1969. This is a vastly intelligent movie, presenting a complex military-political situation with endless nuance - while at the same time being a superlative action movie. And an episodic tragedy. It simply hasn't been done better, not discounting the various "War and Peace" productions.
Among other things you see here the outlook of the European postwar, along with it the case for NATO, presented with utter clarity.
It is a whole world view distilled in two hours.
Always though the 288 looked better, and the 388 even better.
Yep I’m an airplane nut and saw it when I was 12...
The thing is they used real Spitfires and real Hurricanes
Spanish-built Hispano Aviación HA-1112 a licensed versions of the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 and
Spanish-built CASA 2.111, a license-built version of the Heinkel He 111
(But with Merlin engines)
So quite frankly it’s probably one of the most authentic or near as you can get World War II aviation movie
And they worked hard to have accurate markings and colors for the time.
They put a lot effort into it
“Yep I’m an airplane nut and saw it when I was 12...”
About then too, Gaiety theater Manila.
As a kid in 70s and 80s I was ww2 fascinated. I watched all the movies. This one great. Battle of Bulge hands down worst.
Hehe yeah the tanks looked a bit off no? The Panzerlied scene was good though.
I read that Eisenhower publicly mocked and ridiculed the movie, Battle of the Bulge.
Battle of Bulge hands down worst.
Even worse than “The Fall Of Berlin”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd5iMcF5sso
Thanks for posting this information - I am not only going to put this hat on my list to watch, but now I am also going to look for a bunch of other classic monies.
B of B was one of the first R-rated movies I ever watched, along with Patton and Tora, Tora, Tora - and they are a large part of the reason why I love history (and WW2 history in particular) so much. It is amazing from our POV 80 years after the war ended, but much of the equipment used was genuine, many of the stars served, and so did all of the generals and others who were consulted or who served as military advisors (Bradley for Patton, as an example). After all, they were done between 20 and 25 years after the fact, and the WW2 vets were still around in droves (which is why our society was so much better then, but that’s a whole other discussion). Ditto for The Longest Day. These films are utterly unique, and an incredible tribute to not only the men who fought, but the filmmakers who made sure that the films were done the in the most authentic way possible.
Absolutely so.
And they were, moreover, superbly written for the most part. BofB and The Longest Day probably top the lists there but I need to see Tora Tora Tora again.
I will add that “Patton” is very much up there for writing, but so much of it is straight from Ladislas Farago.
bttt
I first saw this movie in 1969 at the Osan Air Base theater. I was stationed at a nearby ROKAF base in Suwon in support of F-102 interceptors and didn’t have much there to do in our off hours so we would take the Air Force Blue shuttle bus, play chicken with the Shingin busses on the narrow roads and spend the day at Osan AB using the BX, theater etc. I thought the movie was first rate with realistic dog fights. And, yes, Susannah York was memorable!
It was a bad, bad, movie. Not historically accurate as well.
I have read several of his books, and while he was a very good writer, he also had his point of view and expressed it by leaving out a lot of important stuff. I wish that the filmmaker had also based part of the movie on Patton’s posthumously written autobiography (yeah, kind of a contradiction), “War As I Knew It.” I think that it would have been a bit more authentic. OTOH, George C. Scott did such a fantastic job that he not only won the Best Actor award, but everyone unfamiliar with Patton thinks that the character portrayed was 100% accurate, which it wasn’t. There was also nothing about his childhood or early adulthood, which would have explained a lot of why he was a unique historical character. Nonetheless, it is absolutely one of my favorite movies, just because of who general Patton was.
Great flick.
Fair enough.
When Pancho Villa was raiding into Texas, the army tasked Second Lieutenant George Patton to stop it. Patton chased Villa deep into Mexico. Patton told his troops that the reason it was all happening was because the Mexican government was the problem. He went into Mexico City and captured the palace. The US Army Command told him to give it back. He carried a grudge for that.
This Guy’s relation was one of the cameramen for those dogfights.
A film veteran named James “Skeets” Kelly.
He survived “Battle of Britain” but died shortly thereafter while filming an aerial sequence in “Zeppelin”.
This from internet resource regarding Battle of Britain:
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Flying the Mitchell, along with Hawke, for the filming sequences was well known American warbird pilot Duane Egli. Manning the cameras were two of the world’s best aerial cameramen, Skeets Kelly and John Jordan. Sadly both of these two experts in their field were killed while participating in airborne filming after the Battle of Britain had been completed. Kelly died in the midair collision of an SE.5A replica and the helicopter cameraship during the filming of the 1971 film Zeppelin. John Jordan had earlier diced with death during the shooting of the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, in which the lower part of one of his legs was severed by a helicopter rotor blade. During the shooting of the war film Catch 22 in 1970 Jordan fell out of the rear turret of the B-25 cameraship (NI203).
Battle of Britain stands as a lasting testament to the airborne camera skills of Kelly and Jordan.
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That is not true about Patton and Mexico City. It is over 900 miles from the border, and our deepest penetration was a bit over 500 miles deep. Wilson had specific orders not to start a war with Mexico or confront actual Mexican Army troops. Patton had 3 motor cars under his command, but there were no continuous roads to even allow them to get to Mexico City. Patton was brash, but would not have so brazenly disobeyed orders as a mere lieutenant near the beginning of his career.
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