I bought this because it stars James Stewart. It ...was a very well-made film except for a few things: (1) James Stewart by this was no longer a dapper young man, but greying and grizzling. As such it was hard to believe that: He was not long out of the air force in a previous war (WW2 or Korea was not made clear). He was a passionate young newlywed. He was just starting his career as a third-baseman in major-league baseball. (2) The movie was overtly patrotic, virtually a feature-length advertisement to join the then-new Strategic Air Command. (3) It was in many ways rather dated. Some movies (and books and plays) are dated, but they rise above that because their themes are universal. Somehow, this didn't cut it. HOWEVER, it was, as I say, very well made. If there were special effects, they were not obvious to me; it was not hard to believe that all events were being filmed on location, live and real time. The plot line (aside from Stewart's age) was a good one. The fact that the film is "dated" does have it "up" side -- it was great to see all those old aircraft -- especially the glass-nosed bombers, something I had never seen anywhere before except in B+W photographs. Bottom line: If you find it at "a reasonably good price", get it!
This movie is about a person, who just got out ...of the Air Force, was pitching for a baseball league and because the Air Force started SAC, needed experienced Air Force Personnel to get the SAC going. It looks like there was very stingent training programs and needed top notch people to run it. Also there was a romance scene going on with a wife that was trying to get used to having her husband gone and not at home all the time. But this worked out after Jimmy Stewart had injured his arm and was let go from the Air Force. But SAC got it's beginnings and is still going today, guarding our countries skys against foreign preditors.
This is one fantastic movie! It is a great telli...ng of how the US Air Force responded to the Cold War! There are fabulous film sequences of the huge B-36 bomber and the dedicated crews that fly them. And the appearance of the B-47 medium range bomber in the movie is awesome!! I highly recommend this movie for all military film buffs! This is a hard to find title and only available in VHS and possibly Laser Disc. Hopefully, one day soon, it will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray!
One of the better cold war era movies about preserving... the peace via the Strategic Air Command. Given that Stewart was a WWII bomber pilot and later retired as a one star general, he added real credibility to the role he played in the movie. Highly recommended. Hope that this movie will come out on a DVD with extras/etc.
I Bought this movie becauseI am a Aviation nut! Any m...ovie that has anything to do with airplanes It probably in my collection..! But thats not the only reason, This movie is one of the all time classics, Jimmy Stewert and June Allision together. There is nothing I disliked about this movie, Ive watched it 3 times since I bought It and will watch it several more times!
