Too much of everything

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Watching "Air Force" the night of 7 December 2016, I was reminded of how much I dislike war movies, and was re-reminded how much I hate governments and the people who run governments and who create the death and destruction that war is about.As many movies as I have seen in my life, I had never before seen "Air Force" until this night when it was presented on Turner Classic Movies as part of a commemoration of Pearl Harbor Day."Air Force" is an extraordinarily well-done motion picture, one of the best I have seen, ever.Howard Hawks as director and Dudley Nichols as author of the original screenplay make an unbeatable team.There is clever dialogue, some really nice byplay between and among the characters that is believable and, at the same time, enjoyable.There is one scene that might be brushed off as corny (reportedly written by the terribly over-rated William Faulkner, whose work I've never liked), but all the rest is so realistic and well done, I wish I could award more than 10 stars.In addition to the great directing and writing, the under-played acting is as close to perfect as one can expect, or hope.And the number of superlative actors in this one war-time movie is not short of astounding. When this many people can perform as an ensemble, you know you have great and talented actors and one heck of a director.But I'm a pacifist. I oppose wars, and opposing wars I oppose governments, the very basis of which is coercion, theft, violence.When I see a movie such as "Air Force" and its dramatization of the death and destruction that war is, I vow -- if only to myself -- that I will work harder to try to educate others on the evils of surrendering one's individuality to governments, to any kind of collective which requires, which demands, that surrender.When people realize their own lives are their own, that individual human beings are self-owned, are not property of governments, of societies, of tribes, and that all human beings are equally valuable, then we can begin to end this horror that is war.When people realize their lives are sacred, we can begin to attain that proper human state of peace and freedom."Air Force" is an exceedingly good, even important, movie, and we will owe it and its makers a huge debt of gratitude if we can learn from it that peace and freedom are our heritage and our right.

The crew of an Air Force bomber arrives in Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the Japanese attack and is sent on to Manila to help with the defense of the Philippines.I like that rather than being a historical film that looks back, it was actually filmed shortly after Pearl Harbor and while the war against the Japanese was still quite active. In this way it could be considered a propaganda or recruitment film. Had America lost the war (nearly impossible, but still) this would have been an interesting artifact.The story is pretty good, and has a nice mixture of humor and seriousness. Of course, being a war film where people are getting killed, you can only have so much humor, but adding the dog and some clever remarks ("can you keep a secret?") really helped.

***SPOILERS*** On a routine flight from San Francisco to Honolulu the crew of the B-17 bomber, one of nine on the flight, Mary-Ann gets the shocking news that Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japaneses that left the US Pacific Fleet in shambles. Angry as hell and wanting to get back at the Japs for what they did the bomber's crew members, despite their differences, unite in the cause to fly the bomb-laden bomber into the teeth of the Royal Japanese Navy and bomb the living hell out of it! Even if in the end they all end up going under, the waves of the Pacific, with it!Rip roaring and at times tragic war movie about how the US got its act together after getting sneaked attacked by the Japs and ended up giving em', the Japanese Pacfic Fleet and imperial Army, hell all throughout the vast and bloody Pacific Theater of War! The hell meted out on the Japs in the movie is that by the crew of the Mary-Ann who island hopped from Hawaii to Wake Island to the Philippians, before the Japs captured them, and ended up leading the charge at the surprised Jap fleet, who thought that they already won the war, in the battle or the Coral Sea. It was the battled scared and heroic B-17 Mary-Ann together with the remainder of what was left of the US Army Air Force that ended up blasting it, the Imperial Japanese Navy, to smithereens in that naval slug-fest!Of course there were losses on our-the USA-side as well that included the Mary-Ann's Captain Quincannon and radio man Chester together with scores of US Army Navy and Marine personal but that was nothing compared what the Japs got in them losing almost their entire navy and air force including dozens of Jap fifth columnists, who were secretly working undercover for Tojo, by the time the movie ended.Effective WWII propaganda movie released at the worst of times for the US and its allies in battling the Axis forces who at the time, late 1942, were in fact winning the war. The B-17-or Mary-Ann's, crew took everything that the Japs could throw at them and ended up shooting down dozens of Jap Zeros before the plane was finally, after losing a wing tip engine and a good part of its fuselage, grounded by Jap Zero machine gun and cannon fire. After being repaired and airborne the Mary-Ann continued to give it back to the Japanese in the final and climactic battle, the Battle of the Coarl Sea, in the film that saw the Japanese fleet, and thousands of its sailors and marines, end up dying for their emperor in ways they never expected to: By them being prevented in kamikaze like suicide attacks in them both dying and taking their hated enemy, the US Army Navy and Marines, along with them!P.S There's some major inaccuracies in the movie especially that of Japanese/Americans, in the Hawaiian island, joining in with the attacking Japs in sabotaging US military and naval installations in and around Pearl Harbor. There's also the fact that the Battle of the Coral Sea, in May 1942, ended in a drew between the US and Japanese navies instead, like in the film, of being a total and decisive victory for the US. But still who need accuracy when your country is in a life and death struggle with a highly motivated and determined enemy and any negative news, accurate or not, could only help its cause. If like in all war propaganda films bending the facts can turn things around on your side, like the film "Air Force" did, and motivate the public to willingly join in the fight who cares it the facts in the film aren't exactly on the level, like in the Battle of he Coarl Sea, or not even right, like in the case of Japanese/American fifth columnists, at all!

Not only did Warner Brothers use the Boeing B-17 bomber as the centerpiece of one of its earliest battle front movies, "Flying Fortress," but the studio also used the bomber as an allegory for American tenacity in "Scarface" director Howard Hawks "Air Force." According to World War II film historian Lawrence Suid, Jack Warner approached U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) commanding officer General Henry 'Hap' Arnold not long after Pearl Harbor about making a film about the USAAF. Suid says that Arnold approved Warner Brothers' request, and the War Department provided the studio with a plethora of information about their planes and pilots, which scenarist Dudley Nichols included in his original screenplay. Warner Brothers' studio chief Jack Warner hired aviation enthusiast Howard Hawks to direct "Air Force," and Hawks started shooting on June 18, 1942, at Drew Air Force Base in Florida and completed the picture four months later on October 26."Air Force" chronicles the routine flight of a B-17 Flying Fortress, nicknamed the 'Mary Ann,' from San Francisco to Hawaii. The crew consisted of an ethnically and geographically diverse group of men, a casting theme that recurred throughout World War II movies and reflected the melting pot identity of America. Unlike MGM's "Bataan" and Twentieth Century Fox's "Crash Drive" (1943), however, Warner Brothers never integrated African-Americans into the ranks of its battle front films.As the 'Mary Ann' approaches Honolulu, the crew hears Japanese gibberish on the radio and is even more shocked by the sight of Japanese planes dropping bombs and strafing the base. The Pearl Harbor flight tower diverts the 'Mary Ann' to Maui where it lands to repair a wheel. When Japanese-American snipers open fire on the fliers, the crew flies to Wake Island where the Marines are preparing their a gallant last stand. At Clark Field, the crew reloads their guns and ascends to battle the Japanese. The 'Mary Ann' is so badly riddled with bullet holes and the skipper so severely wounded that he orders everybody else to bail out. A recalcitrant gunner (John Garfield) who washed out of flying school ignores the skipper's orders and lands the bomber.Frantically, despite their orders to destroy it, the reunited crew patches up the plane. Not only do they load up with bombs, but they also remove the tail section and install a machine gun. The crew manages to get their B-17 off the ground before the Japanese overrun the island. During their flight to Australia, they sight a Japanese fleet, radio their position, and sink some of the ships. As the film draws to a close, the 'Mary Ann' survivors prepare to spearhead an aerial attack on Japan.At a time when the government restricted all Hollywood studios in terms of the money that they could spend on a film, the U.S. Army-Air Force's assistance proved invaluable in giving the film an aura of authenticity. For example, the nine B-17s seen in flight during the early scenes of Air Force were actually filmed on location in Florida by Warner Brothers. When the studio staged Japanese plane crashes and tricky B-17 landings in the jungle, the studio relied on miniatures. According to a War Department letter dated June 6, 1942, "It is the policy of the War Department not to allow soldiers or military equipment to be disguised and photographed as representing the personnel or equipment of foreign countries." The War Department sidestepped its own rule when it helped Warner Brothers produce Air Force. According to Suid, the War Department appointed Captain Samuel Triffy as technical adviser, and Triffy "flew both an Army two-place trainer and a fighter painted with the Rising Sun emblem in the combat sequences portraying Japanese attacks on American aircraft and military positions." Triffy sought as much as possible to ensure that Air Force appeared "as authentic as we could make it under the circumstances." All Howard Hawks' movies are about men bonding as a group. Women are few and far between in "Air Force,' but they populate the storyline. Dudley Nichols' screenplay with help from William Faulkner contains many good scenes. Some are tragic, such as the flight crew chief's story about his son, and some are funny, such as the dog that barks at Japanese. The death scene where the pilot takes off from his hospital bed with his companions helping him simulate this take-off to the big hangar in the sky is memorable. Today, "Air Force" seems quaint and corny, especially the aerial gunner's change of attitude. Initially, the John Garfield character doesn't plan to re-enlist, and he behaves like a complete prima donna, particularly because the 'Mary Ann's' pilot washed him out of pilot school, but the aerial gunner changes his mind when he see Pearl Harbor in flames.The U.S. Government propaganda agency, the OWI-BMP praised "Air Force" for five reasons. First, the crew constituted an ethnic melting pot. Second, the crew's perfect teamwork made the mission of the "Mary Ann" successful. Third, the officials applauded the fact that the filmmakers showered glory on an older mechanic sergeant who maintained the plane rather than on the younger more glamorous pilots. Fourth, as a combat picture, "Air Force" proved exciting without "the pitfall of showing too much blood and suffering." Fifth, the plot emphasized a good-natured rivalry between fighter pilots and bomber pilots. Ultimately, the OWI-BMP found the flaws in "Air Force" "serious but remediable; its good points are very good indeed—well worth the effort to revise the script so that it will perform a truly valuable service of war information." Altogether, "Air Force" is one of the best Allied propaganda movies of World War II.