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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Flyboys - the movie


Regulus 1

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mnp

Thanks very much for the great photographs of an RE 7 and the BE 2e. I'd say that they were taken at a training establishment in the UK, rather than on active service.

It's a pity that the aircraft serial numbers aren't visible, as might help to identify the locations. I have a theory that there was a widespread conspiracy among aircraft photographers during the Great War to make sure that the serial numbers are obscured or otherwise not visible. "This will frustrate people trying to look at these in 90 years' time!" they may have thought.

Best wishes

Gareth

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http://flyboysthemovie.com/flyboys_cannes_2.mov

The 32 MB high res. version can be downloaded on the link above !

I'm going to see it and sit down, relax and enjoy this movie. I's the best thing I've seen since some movies from the 1920's.

Duh me homer link do not work for homer.

Dan

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Might be it doesn't work anymore, trailer can now be seen on the official website : http://www.flyboysthemovie.com/

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Hey ... watch Wings and then this ... it's all Hollywood ... if it wasn't it wouldn't be on the screen.

It will be wrong but it will be cool. But, then as Historians we know we all get it wrong ... its just a process of getting it as right as we think we possibly can ...

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The trailer looks interesting and I was rather enthuasiastic about the possibilities for this film until I saw the fateful words ''From the director of Independence Day and The Patriot''. I did not enjoy the former much while the latter was one of the worst, least accurate films of all time. True, you really should not learn your history from movies but I would hate to see another 'American effort won the war while hopeless foreigners failed miserably' movie, because it was not actually like that.

Although I will be watching it.

JGM

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  • 1 month later...

Looks like "Flyboys" will be coming to Houston later this month. I saw the trailer tonight at my neighborhood Cinemark. I plan to go when it finally arrives.

Ann

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Hi, I'm new to this forum and I have seen the trailer and plan to watch the movie. I watch the history channel and the military channel for documentaries.

The movie is probably best enjoyed as a WWI action movie and nothing more. :)

Looks like "Flyboys" will be coming to Houston later this month. I saw the trailer tonight at my neighborhood Cinemark. I plan to go when it finally arrives.

Ann

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The movie is probably best enjoyed as a WWI action movie and nothing more. :)

After seeing the trailer I totally agree its a ww1 action movie. Nothing more.

the RFC air-men, their accents couldnt be anymore upper class english and sterotypicaly what the americans think the english sound like. (would love to see them try and pull of a welsh valleys accent normally coulds indian/pakistani when the english try :D )

Does have some good SFX, the air comabt does look good.

Will probably go and watch it as theres a lack on the ground of ww1 films be it in the air or land.

Garron

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After seeing the trailer I totally agree its a ww1 action movie. Nothing more.

the RFC air-men, their accents couldnt be anymore upper class english and sterotypicaly what the americans think the english sound like.

I am sure that the English accents will fit two stereotypes:

1.Upper class public schoolboy, old chap. (Airmen)

2.Cockney well versed in rhyming slang (would you adam an' eve it!). (Soldiers)

Jon B)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Watched the movie last night. Caregory: action- and the usual good and bad clichee (the colorful good guys and the evil black Fokker hun). BTW , I read "L 32" painted on the canvas of the Zep that was shot down near Paris. Wasn't there another thread here where it was said L32 was shot down over Essex?

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...my leather jacket gets the right recognition!

I saw the movie Flyboys about a week ago. Of course, it was Hollywood. And most of the people that go to see it won't know the errors when they see them: Frenchmen flying Sopwith 1 1/2 strutters (with British insignia), Frenchmen flying (or having in their hangar) Bristol Fighters (again, with British insignia) and virtually ALL the German Fokker triplanes being painted red. Lots of the effects were very neat though, and you do get a feeling what it was like being a fighter pilot in those days, which overall, would have been terrifying. According to the information on the web page about the movie, they built FOUR replica Nieuports, recognizing the fact that this plane didn't fly against Fokker triplanes due to their service timelines. Nieuports had to be easier to replicate (and cheaper) than SPADS. They also painted all the Fokkers red because that's the only color the general public connects with this airplane, and it made it easier to designate the "bad guys" from the "good guys" in midair. The movie plot was like a combination of "Dawn Patrol" and virtually every other WW1 flying movie I've ever seen, but better shot and much better produced. Really neat, if you ignore the writing and stuff and focus on the detail of the aircraft and surrounding scenery, including the towns and people and things. They got most, if not all, of that right. The scene at the train station with the Zouave soldiers was cool. The trained lion named "whisky" in the movie is a lot bigger than is ever shown in any photographs of the lion cubs (along with his partner lion "soda"), and is shown at the end of the movie in a real photo of the Lafayette Escadrille. The lions were a lot smaller, cubs actually. I have no idea at what point they had to put them in a zoo. They would have had to, otherwise there was a certain "danger" in having a live, full-grown lion in your bedroom. Anyway, I went to the movie the first day it was shown here in Charlotte, and it was worth the money. Very cool aircraft, etc.

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I'm not sure of the exact sequence of events, but when the Americans joined the war, Eugene Bullard was denied entry to the American flying forces due being black when the Lafayette Flying Corps was all but absorbed into the American Air Force.

He returned to the French Infantry in early 1918. He had already fought at Verdun, being injured there, and also won the Croix de Guerre.

Steve.

Black American infantry usually served in the French Army. The US Army used them as stevedores, etc unloading ships. The French put them in the trenches and gave them guns. I personally would have preferred unloading ships. Less people shooting at you.

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I saw the movie Flyboys about a week ago. Of course, it was Hollywood. And most of the people that go to see it won't know the errors when they see them: Frenchmen flying Sopwith 1 1/2 strutters (with British insignia), Frenchmen flying (or having in their hangar) Bristol Fighters (again, with British insignia) and virtually ALL the German Fokker triplanes being painted red. Lots of the effects were very neat though, and you do get a feeling what it was like being a fighter pilot in those days, which overall, would have been terrifying. According to the information on the web page about the movie, they built FOUR replica Nieuports, recognizing the fact that this plane didn't fly against Fokker triplanes due to their service timelines. Nieuports had to be easier to replicate (and cheaper) than SPADS. They also painted all the Fokkers red because that's the only color the general public connects with this airplane, and it made it easier to designate the "bad guys" from the "good guys" in midair. The movie plot was like a combination of "Dawn Patrol" and virtually every other WW1 flying movie I've ever seen, but better shot and much better produced. Really neat, if you ignore the writing and stuff and focus on the detail of the aircraft and surrounding scenery, including the towns and people and things. They got most, if not all, of that right. The scene at the train station with the Zouave soldiers was cool. The trained lion named "whisky" in the movie is a lot bigger than is ever shown in any photographs of the lion cubs (along with his partner lion "soda"), and is shown at the end of the movie in a real photo of the Lafayette Escadrille. The lions were a lot smaller, cubs actually. I have no idea at what point they had to put them in a zoo. They would have had to, otherwise there was a certain "danger" in having a live, full-grown lion in your bedroom. Anyway, I went to the movie the first day it was shown here in Charlotte, and it was worth the money. Very cool aircraft, etc.

One additional thing: I own a book titled "A Yank in the BEF", written by James Norman Hall, eventually a member of the Lafayette Escadrille. He originally joined the British Army and went to France for a year or more, then transferred to the French air forces and became a pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille. He met a man who became a lifelong friend named Charles Nordhoff. Together, after the war, they authored at least three books, "Men Against The Sea", "Pitcairn's Island" and "Mutiny on the Bounty". The same "Mutiny" that Hollywood made a movie of. The book "A Yank in the BEF" is the first book Hall ever wrote, and my copy is signed by the author. I bought it at a used book store in San Francisco for $5, THEN told the store owner what she'd sold me. She was NOT happy. LOL It is worth considerably more than $5.

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Regulus 1 said:

"Personally I'm already happy we have a WW I aviation movie coming out with decent replica's. And if all we do is complain and not going to see it because it isn't the real stuff, I think we'll have to wait another 40 years for such a movie, and personally I'm not willing to do so. :-)"

Feel exactly the same way, and can't wait to see the action a fighter pilot had to "endure" (seeing that I'm writing about my great-uncle who was one), although will probably have to wait much longer for the film to come out down here!

LCj

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A lot has been said about what the producers of "Flyboys" got wrong, but if you look closely at the details, they got a LOT right. I'm speaking of little things - the pilots taking hammers up with them to beat on the gun breeches when they jammed, the pilots loading their own ammo so that they could check for bent cartridges, the cut and color of the uniforms, the gunnery training, etc.

the quiet little scene in which Thenault and "Rawlings" do a memorial for two of their dead comrades was based on an actual Lafayette escadrille memorial. The speech that "Rawlings" reads from "Cassidy" was taken almost verbatim from the real note left by Lafayette Escadrille member James McConnell. Thenault standing before the two Nieuports draped with wreath gave that scene an extra touch of realism.

The character "Cassidy" was based largely on Raoul Lufberry. You can see traces of that in the fact that he was battle-hardened, revenge driven ace, as well as the fact that he was the only pilot that got along with "Whiskey", the lion.

As Clyde pointed out, the LE actually had not one, but TWO lion cubs - "Whiskey" and "Soda". They did indeed acquire "whiskey" first, and Lufberry trained him to pounce (harmlessly) on unsuspecting French soldiers that would come visiting the airfield, much as he did to "Rawlings" in the movie. That must have scared the bejeezus out of them!

The the rich Harvard drop-out that was sent off to war by his father(don't remember his name), reminded me a lot of Elliot Springs, in that he came from money, dropped out of Harvard and had a very rocky relationship with his father. His death in the movie (i won't give away how he died) is, I would say, the scene that gripped me the most. I have read about that happening to so many airmen, but to see an actual depcition on-screen of that happening really tugged at my soul. Ironically, that is how Lufberry persished, although he opted to jump rather than use the gun.

the scene where "Rawlings" is fighting the "crossed swords" guy. "Rawlings'" guns jam and the "crossed swords" guy falls in behind him with the perfect opportunity to shoot him down. Instead, "crossed swords" pulls up beside "Rawlings", salutes him, and then lets him go. That scene, of course, is based on the actual encounter between Ernst Udet and Gorges Guynemer - only in that case it was the Frenchman who let the German go. My wife turned to me and smiled when that happened in the movie because she recognized instantly where that came from. i was proud of her.

Overall, I was very well pleased and entertained. I'll definitely be buying the DVD when it comes out.

Anyway, I went to the movie the first day it was shown here in Charlotte, and it was worth the money. Very cool aircraft, etc.

Hey Clyde, I'm in Charlotte, too. Saw the movie at Crownpoint last Friday night. Unfortunately there were only about 5 other people in the theater with us. Everyone I've talked to, though, seems to have really liked the movie. I think this one will be a success due to word of mouth.

Russ

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  • 3 months later...

Im watching it online as we speak.

It doesnt look bad, great airbattle scenes and some truly lovely chaps in uniforms (swoom!) but overall the storyline is almost a standard war story.

And the romance sort of annoyed me, i could have done without it.

Best thing about the movie though is that it made me learn a bit about Eugene Bullard.

What a guy!

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I was stuck on a plane yesterday. A boring seven hour flight, cattle class, in the middle of a row with a similar sized bloke to me either side. Sleep was impossible for me but the lad to my right, in the aisle seat, was pushing 'Z's out for his national side (which ever one that was). I didn't have the heart to wake him so I could get up and bimble around so I decided to see what in flight entertainment was on. After the BBC World News and a couple of very poor American comedies 'Flyboys' was the featured film. I was reasonably bored at the start of the News. By the time 'Flyboys' finished I was totally threaders. I cannot think of any other circumstance when I would watch such nonsense. It made my enforced trip to the cinema with the wife (who couldn't possibly go on her own) to watch one of those Harry Potter films seem a very fond memory. And I thought the Humbug season had just ended.

Greg

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Digital Nonsense it might be ... but it was old airplanes with bad guys in more Tripes than were ever produced. I now have a portrait of Raoul Lufberry in my office!

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I shall raise my head above the parapet and say...................

I appreciate all that has been said about bringing this part of our history to the attention of a wider audience..BUT..yet again we end up with an American take on an event! I appreciate thats where the big bucks are which is why the story of bomber command in WW2 ended up on the screen as a movie about US airforce and the Memphis Belle. The main gripe is that its the retelling of history from a skewed view...I have heard it called cultural imperialism... the new film about Beatrix Potter? I rest my case!

Time now to retire to the dugout and await the barrage!!

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I'd never even heard of this until joining the forum. It's now winging it's way towards me. I shall let you know what I think.

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I'd never even heard of this until joining the forum. It's now winging it's way towards me. I shall let you know what I think

Thats the whole point - if you're in Manchester its not coming anywhere near you - or me in London:

This film now has release dates for Argentina (8 Feb), Australia (15 Feb) & Germany (3 May) but not the UK.

Hopefully it'll appear on DVD sometime. Sounds good enough to see for the aeroplanes (replica, not CGI apparently), if not for the screenplay.

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I shall raise my head above the parapet and say...................

I appreciate all that has been said about bringing this part of our history to the attention of a wider audience..BUT..yet again we end up with an American take on an event! I appreciate thats where the big bucks are which is why the story of bomber command in WW2 ended up on the screen as a movie about US airforce and the Memphis Belle. The main gripe is that its the retelling of history from a skewed view...I have heard it called cultural imperialism... the new film about Beatrix Potter? I rest my case!

Time now to retire to the dugout and await the barrage!!

Money drives the movie business, that's plain and simple. I think it might be more proper to point the finger at your own film industry. What happened to the days when a movie like "Zulu," was made for a song and became a block-buster? What was the last war movie made by the British film industry?

It's not cultural imperialsm, it's money, money, money. I don't reckon hollywood is going to make a movie about bomber command and expect droves of famers from Kansas to show up to watch it--ain't gonna' happen.

I can hear Ed and Ethel at the theater now: "Bomber command who are they? Heck, I can't even understand half of what they're saying. Why those boys didn't even have the guts to fly during the day like our boys. Now Memphis Belle, there was a good movie, yessir." All tongue-in-cheek, trust me.

Again, the film industry is about making money, not telling history. Americans are notorious for not watching movies from other countries. I think "Gallipoli," and "Breaker Morant," "Das Boot," and "A very long engagement," are the four I can name from my life time that are military related and even made it to American theaters. Now that I think of it, Gallipoli and Breaker Morant both paint the British in a very bad light--so scratch them.

Again, back to your film industry. The French seem to turn out WW1 related movies on a regular basis, there is a thread here at the moment that discusses at least three of them. The Germans are making a new Red Baron movie at the moment, as well.

Writer letters, get on the phone, send e-mails, tell your industry you want a bomber command movie. I doubt hollywood will make it.

Come on up out'a that dug-out now. It isn't cultural imperialsm, it's all about making the mighty green-back, er quid, pound, whatever.

It's a bit like here in Germany. It's funny as all get out to go to a party in Germany and hear the Germans criticizing everything American while listening to "kewl" American music all night. When I ask then to put on some German music they answer, "Ach no, there isn't any good." It is to laugh.

Paul

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