Customer comments on this Youngstown Ohio Book
 A serviceable war flick with some good action scenes...
This is not a bad war flick, but it is not first rate either. The cast in my opinion seemed just a tad bit too nanchalant. People facing very great danger generally act differently than people out for a Sunday stroll, but in this film the protagonists really seem to lack the emotion of honest fear. This unreal emotional tenor was pretty consistent throughout the film.
Cliff Robertson, as usual, puts in a good performance, and the plot is serviceable--the Nazis are planning to bombard England and possibly the D-Day landings with V2 rockets, so 633 Squadron must bomb the rocket fuel factory in Norway. The mission is not unrealistic, and the film seems to be technically pretty accurate. Once again though, the characters all just seem to be indifferent to the fact that they are on something approaching a suicide mission.
The film moves along at a reasonable pace, holding the viewer's interest. However, the ending is a total letdown (no spoiler here) and could have been much better.
Overall, an OK film for a rainy afternoon or whatnot.
 Can't Get Enough of those Mossies
The stars of this film are those wonderful De Havilland
Mosquitoes. What a plane! Made of wood, used both
as a fighter and a bomber. Josef Goebbels cursed them
when they were used by RAF Bomber Command's Light Night
Striking Force when the bombed Berlin every night for
weeks on end towards the end of the war...they flew so
fast and high they had very light casualties and prevented
the Berliners from getting any sleep, sometimes carrying out
two raids per night. This film shows them in their role
as maneuverable light bombers in their daring raid.
In my opinion, the story is a little thin, but watching
the Mossies in action makes up for it. We see the stereotypical
"ice-water-in-his-veins" senior RAF Officer played by Harry
Andrews, Cliff Robertson plays an American volunteer for the
RAF who doesn't want to get too emotionally involved in the war, but who eventually gets consumed by it, and we see a Sikh pilot and another pilot with a hook instead of a hand. In spite of their differences, the film shows the true-life dedication of these men in carrying out the mission, even when it endangers their lives.
As a little side-note, there is a scene near the end when the special bombs to be used on the raid are being towed to the aircraft, and at the very top of the screen we see a then-contemporary 1960's car go zooming by!
...george lucas hang your head in shame!
I love this film from my childhood - yes some of the special effects look a bit ropey now, but that's more than made up for by the genuine footage of the real Mosquitos in action and Ron Goodwin's fantastic theme tune - easily one of the best movie themes ever.
( By the way, anyone unconvinced that George Lucas in fact got the idea for the Death Star scene fom this fine film might like to know the following: When Lucas originally devised Star Wars and was showing a rough cut print to the movie studio bigwigs, he hadn't had enough budget left for the SFX to show them the Death star finale. So instead, he intercut aerial dogfight footage from British WW2 movies including the Dambusters, the Battle Of Britain, and .....633 Squadron. Case closed!!
|
