Red Tails. Fact or Fiction?

[rocketeer]

I know this may go in the movies threads but this film says at the beginning it is based on real events.
Really? It was like a comic book come to life with so many cliches. And how about that Nazi pilot Pretty Boy shouting "Die, you foolish African", reminded me of the cartoon villains featured in the war comics such as the Commando series we read as kids.
I have not seen every film made about the African American contribution to WWII but I do hope there are some better scripted than this.

 

[Otter]

Dire. I am very glad I did not pay good money to see it.

 

[Edward]

I was interested in seeing it until I gathered it was that hack George Lucas in charge. I'll probably watch it for the jackets when it comes on TV, but it does sound quite rubbish by all accounts.

 

[Otter]

I was keen to see this on DVD, and was waiting for a reasonably priced bluray when I saw the film on Netflix.
Thin plot, good cgi, nice jackets, questionable physics for flying. If you had tried that pull up stunt wouldn't either the wings have come off due to g loading or the plane have stalled out and spun? As a film it just did not make it for me, I enjoyed The Tuskegee Airmen as a film a lot more than I enjoyed this.

 

[emigran]

If you mean the movie with Cuba Gooding never actually smoking a pipe... I got into it... great costumes and era scenes etc...I believe there are some Red Tails still alive,,,

 

[Doctor Strange]

I saw it when it hit cable. It's watchable, in a comic-book-version-of-WWII sort of way. Lots of nice jackets, uniforms, hardware, and an attractive cast. But it's strictly a B picture on an A budget, and the script is terrible: oversimplified and schematic. The characters are all outmoded stereotypes: the alcoholic, the hot shot, the doesn't-expect-prejudice-in-Europe naif, the too-good-for-this-earth sacrificial lamb... And the villains (both Nazis and American top brass) are, get this... NASTY RACISTS!

The old made-for-HBO movie The Tuskegee Airmen with Laurence Fishburne has a lot less flashy effects work... but it tells the story vastly better!

Addendum: I see the film's Wiki page has a section on historical accuracy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Tails

 

[rocketeer]

I was interested in seeing it until I gathered it was that hack George Lucas in charge. I'll probably watch it for the jackets when it comes on TV, but it does sound quite rubbish by all accounts.

Well I managed to watch it all the way through at least.
The CGI action was vastly over done in my opinion, more suited to 3D. I personally think the action footage from Memphis Belle(1990) was more realistic and the way the P51s almost blew the Me 262s out of the sky was totally over the top.
I supposed we had to have a racist fight scene and an interracial relationship thrown in, a hero main character dying after finishing off the chief villain, and all finished off with a happy ending(Junior turning up alive).
Were flying personnel allowed to wear decorated jackets off base?
I think there was too much 'Jive' talk for me, some of the dialog seemed to come from those 1970s Blaxploitation films, just a shame the 'Germans' could not speak English with a heavy accent. We really needed a 'Got in Himmel! Ve vill destroy zees black devils' (in dodgy English or German)
An important part of the conflict trashed by poor writing and research

Edward! It maybe on BBC I player, it was only featured last Sunday 22nd.

 

[p51]

Red Tails:
- GREAT uniforms, authentic settings and all the hardware
- Good actors in the cast but they couldn't save this film
- Crazy CGI
- HORRIBLE script, just like the cheesiest of scripts for the WW2 movies made in WW2 era

 

[Stearmen]

It was a pretty terrible movie, almost a WWII afternoon serial! I had the privilege to meet quite a few of the real Red Tails, you definitely came away with the impression that the standards for Black officers was vastly higher then for White officers of the time! Real nice group of men, and eager to share with anyone that was interested.

 

[Horace Debussy Jones]

Seems like about two thirds of the world war 2 movie made these days are just these cliche and cartoonish over-produced melodramas with very little merit. Most recently Fury. Not overly bad, as far as Hollywood goes I suppose, but just severely lacking in many ways.

 

[Otter]

My wife doesn't like me watching films like that. I tend to start shouting at the infantry " You're bunching up, one burst of fire will take you all out!".

 

[rocketeer]

Seems like about two thirds of the world war 2 movie made these days are just these cliche and cartoonish over-produced melodramas with very little merit. Most recently Fury. Not overly bad, as far as Hollywood goes I suppose, but just severely lacking in many ways.

I guess we must not offend to many these days, too much blood gore and bad language means a more limited audience which equals less ticket sales. So these days it's ACTION ACTION ACTION at the expense of reality.

 

[Treetopflyer]

I understand everyone's sentiment about some of these movies not being realistic or historically accurate. Bottom line is that these are movies made for entertainment, not documentaries. I even find myself thinking about the inaccurate details in military movies at times. Then I have to remind myself that it is a movie. I think that movies like 'Red Tails' do have a lot of inaccuracy, but I also think it gets people interested in the topic. When they get interested in the topic they start to research and want to learn more about it. 'Red Tails' may not be entirely accurate, but it allows the story of the Tuskegee Airmen to be known. As long as people understand that the movie is entertainment and not historical fact, then I am fine with it.

 

[Stearmen]

I understand everyone's sentiment about some of these movies not being realistic or historically accurate. Bottom line is that these are movies made for entertainment, not documentaries. I even find myself thinking about the inaccurate details in military movies at times. Then I have to remind myself that it is a movie. I think that movies like 'Red Tails' do have a lot of inaccuracy, but I also think it gets people interested in the topic. When they get interested in the topic they start to research and want to learn more about it. 'Red Tails' may not be entirely accurate, but it allows the story of the Tuskegee Airmen to be known. As long as people understand that the movie is entertainment and not historical fact, then I am fine with it.

You have a point there! Just like Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett left me with a life long love of Flintlock firearms.

 

[ausreenactor]

Red Tails:
- GREAT uniforms, authentic settings and all the hardware
- Good actors in the cast but they couldn't save this film
- Crazy CGI
- HORRIBLE script, just like the cheesiest of scripts for the WW2 movies made in WW2 era

Ditto..

 

[alsendk]

Except for das Boot, which I really liked, which war film, about flying, would be recommendable in your opinion, talking accuracy, plot, suspense etc.

 

[Otter]

The Odd Angry Shot is a pretty good film.

 

[Spitfire]

Dark Blue World is a good one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7aON-mLubI&spfreload=10

And then - of course - there is always Battle of Britain.
Yes, I know - many flaws, rc model planes instead of real Stukas. Half aircrafts made of wood and plaster are blown up instead of real Spitfires. (But they did blow up a real 1940 hangar at Duxford!!!!) Never the less.....still a masterpiece IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O71FJDkfngY&spfreload=10

 

[Stand By]

For my money, Red Tails is the worst war movie ever. I've posted my full opinions on amazon and you'll spot me, I'm sure.
All you need to know about this film is that the target demographic audience was the mid-teens (!!) age group when production started - and as production progressed, it was lowered to the 8-12 year-old demographic and it shows. George Lucas' fingerprints are all over it with the clunky script, a 2-dimensional "plot" and stereotypical characters (one nasty nazi who's instantly identifiable for the young kids with attention deficit disorder. He's the one with the Action Man style scar on his face so they know when to boo and hiss when they see him!) and as pointed out already, the script and narrow limits of the characterization simply mean that the actors can't do anything with the roles, plus the absurdly painful Mills & Boon romance thrown in and the cheesy action scenes that merely lack "Blam!" and "Kapow!".
George Lucas said that he'd been trying to sell the film to Hollywood for 18 years and no one would touch it and he branded them all as racist as a result. No George, they aren't racist; they would't touch it because with one read through, they knew immediately that it was a clunker and he sucked and they knew better and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. It's a travesty - but the biggest travesty is that the real heroes of the piece - the real-life veterans - still haven't had their story told properly with the full credit they deserve. I mean, the real pilots returned home to the US down in the belly of the troopships as they weren't allowed up on deck with the white officers. Now there's a worthy angle of their tale totally left out right there.
I refused to see it at the cinema when it came out as the reviews were so bad and I didn't want to run the risk of having felt that I'd been mugged at having gone across town and bought a ticket (Paranormal Activity did that to me too!) - and I decided that I wouldn't pay more than $10 total to see it, so I got a secondhand copy on DVD via Amazon.
I gave the copy away to someone who'd made the patches for the jackets. He said wanted to buy it off me - or at least pay for the postage - but I couldn't take any money from him for that steaming pile of crap. It wouldn't be right. You can't charge anyone to see it.

The jackets and costuming are first rate though.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The Odd Angry Shot is a pretty good film.

Just an aside but I love seeing familiar faces pop up in different movies. The Odd Angry Shot starts with a birthday party/farewell party for one of the main characters who's shipping out to Vietnam the next day. One of the well-wishers at the party is the guy who played Johnny the Boy in the first Mad Max.