The Blue Max BluRay Edition
Posted by Itheliving 9 years, 11 months ago to Movies
The Blue Max BluRay Edition / 1966 film not rated but would be PG-13 for war violence and sensuality
I suspect you may have already stopped reading or are about to. Don’t do it. This film was an influence on George Lucas Star Wars and an obsession of sorts for Peter Jackson director of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Either skip to the end or gut it out.
Released 6/21/66 this film was intended to be a grand epic on the scale of films of the period. It didn’t perform up to box office expectations. There was no Blue Max II. This film was the Top Gun of it’s day. Few films have been made about WWI and even fewer about aviation and dog fights in the air. Discounting the more recent but poor Fly Boys (2006) TBM is probably the best film ever made. At least on this subject.
It starred a handsome George Peppard as Bruno Stachel who leaves the fox holes of the battle front to soar in the skies and do battle as a gentleman. In the story he is a rather ruthless but somewhat likable rogue. Since he was on the German side he couldn’t generate any hero worship from English speaking audiences. Venerable actor James Mason played his General and Ursula Andress (the Bond Girl in Dr. No) was the Countess he lusts after.
The real star in the film are the spectacular aerial sequences and the pre Patton (1970) score by Jerry Goldsmith. JG’s music for the battle sequences and the stunning Main Title were enough to help save the very long running time of 155 minutes from seeming longer than the war itself.
The film was shot on location in Ireland although the story and action take place on the German front apparently during March and April of 1918. During the fighting the German ace of aces (killed in battle at the age of 25) the well known von Richthofen puts in an appearance on his way to becoming the alter ego of Snoopy. VR is played on screen by Carl Schell who is best remembered for his role of Dr. Julian Olcott in Werewolf in a Girl’s Dormitory (1961).
Again back to the real stars. The stunt fliers do an incredible job staging the fights. In one scene the main two German pilots competing for The Blue Max (20 enemy kills needed to earn), the highest WWI war honor, and the Countess take turns flying under a small bridge mano a mano. Stuntman Derek Piggott, now 92, did the flying in both planes. He went under over 20 times to get all the shots needed for the sequence. They actually put sheep near the bridge in one scene so they could be seen running from the noise of the plane and to prove the sequence was not faked. Incredible stuff.
George Lucas has stated that the dog fight aerial sequences in TBM are what inspired his space fights in Star Wars. Peter Jackson became obsessed with TBM and sought out and located some of the planes used in the film. He restored and uses them to this day. George Peppard learned to fly and can be seen actually piloting his plane in certain shots. And Maestro Jerry Goldsmith nailed one of the best scores of all time. The score tracks are isolated on the disc.
Now on BluRay from Twilight Time you can see this film on TV with a good idea of how it looked on the big screen.
Rated 3.8 out of 4.0 reasons that Ursula is hot. Just ask Sean Connery
I suspect you may have already stopped reading or are about to. Don’t do it. This film was an influence on George Lucas Star Wars and an obsession of sorts for Peter Jackson director of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Either skip to the end or gut it out.
Released 6/21/66 this film was intended to be a grand epic on the scale of films of the period. It didn’t perform up to box office expectations. There was no Blue Max II. This film was the Top Gun of it’s day. Few films have been made about WWI and even fewer about aviation and dog fights in the air. Discounting the more recent but poor Fly Boys (2006) TBM is probably the best film ever made. At least on this subject.
It starred a handsome George Peppard as Bruno Stachel who leaves the fox holes of the battle front to soar in the skies and do battle as a gentleman. In the story he is a rather ruthless but somewhat likable rogue. Since he was on the German side he couldn’t generate any hero worship from English speaking audiences. Venerable actor James Mason played his General and Ursula Andress (the Bond Girl in Dr. No) was the Countess he lusts after.
The real star in the film are the spectacular aerial sequences and the pre Patton (1970) score by Jerry Goldsmith. JG’s music for the battle sequences and the stunning Main Title were enough to help save the very long running time of 155 minutes from seeming longer than the war itself.
The film was shot on location in Ireland although the story and action take place on the German front apparently during March and April of 1918. During the fighting the German ace of aces (killed in battle at the age of 25) the well known von Richthofen puts in an appearance on his way to becoming the alter ego of Snoopy. VR is played on screen by Carl Schell who is best remembered for his role of Dr. Julian Olcott in Werewolf in a Girl’s Dormitory (1961).
Again back to the real stars. The stunt fliers do an incredible job staging the fights. In one scene the main two German pilots competing for The Blue Max (20 enemy kills needed to earn), the highest WWI war honor, and the Countess take turns flying under a small bridge mano a mano. Stuntman Derek Piggott, now 92, did the flying in both planes. He went under over 20 times to get all the shots needed for the sequence. They actually put sheep near the bridge in one scene so they could be seen running from the noise of the plane and to prove the sequence was not faked. Incredible stuff.
George Lucas has stated that the dog fight aerial sequences in TBM are what inspired his space fights in Star Wars. Peter Jackson became obsessed with TBM and sought out and located some of the planes used in the film. He restored and uses them to this day. George Peppard learned to fly and can be seen actually piloting his plane in certain shots. And Maestro Jerry Goldsmith nailed one of the best scores of all time. The score tracks are isolated on the disc.
Now on BluRay from Twilight Time you can see this film on TV with a good idea of how it looked on the big screen.
Rated 3.8 out of 4.0 reasons that Ursula is hot. Just ask Sean Connery
Having 100 hours myself, 50 of them solo, I appreciate a good flying movie. This was that. However, as romantic fiction, it fails completely. It is nothing but a tawdry tale of a second-hander.
For some reason, though, you made me think of The Great Waldo Pepper.