During the Second World War, a special project is begun by the US Army Air Corps to integrate African American pilots into the Fighter Pilot Program. Known as the "Tuskegee Airman" for the name of the airbase at which they were trained, these men were forced to constantly endure harassement, prejudice, and much behind the scenes politics until at last they were able to prove themselves in combat.
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There is a reason HBO films had a rep for make movies that were ,well,not what Hollywood was making,yet what the public needed.This is such a film.I reviewed Red Tails on my own little blog,and enjoyed it,BUT as I stated it was a little"safe"for the box-office.This is NOT.Far sadder and shameful in the depictions of the disgraceful treatment these WW11 black airman faced.Think of a hundred Jackie Robinsons,who as a Army officer went thru much of the same BEFORE he played Baseball.But this movie is NOT about him. The mostly all black cast is well cast and recognizable and it would seem unfair to name but a few,so I won't .For this film had a true repertory feeling. My favorite scene was when Mrs Roosevelt has a spare of the moment flight at the hands of Lt.Lee and that signals that this group of pilots have finally been accepted to a certain degree,at least to now go oversees at least.In the end most of the airman would probably admit that the destination was worth the rocky ride to get there.They are better men than me,for I would have blown that road up !!!! Thats why their story must always be told and remembered and indeed,celebrated as we do Jackie's.
Good movie, Laurence Fishborne is pretty damn good. My brother pointed out that he plays alongside Cuba Gooding in Boys in the Hood. Almost forgot. Anyways...I can't for the life of me find a US Senator named Conyers...is John Lithgow's character based on another Senator? I've looked up the US Congressional Biographical Database and nothing...zilch. Does anyone have any clue who he's portraying...or was it a fictional character. Just wondering. Was it instigated by that character's real life family members. OK now I'm just writing to fill in the blanks. Since this damn thing says it needs a minimum lenght of 10 lines. Now I'm regretting that I even started to write. But I'm curious. Very curious. Kinda mad, but curious...wait, now I'm furious.
I believe that this movie tells the story of the brave, the proud and the true, no matter their race. When the men were shot down, I cried, both because it was an emotional thing, and because I knew the real men these actors portrayed died fighting for our country, and their country, despite what others said.I don't know if the part when Peoples killed himself was true, but I know that he wanted to fight for his country more than anything, and they wouldn't let him. They took away his life. He just finished the job.When that white bomber pilot REQUESTED the 332nd, even after he spat at their feet(figuratively speaking of course), that made my heart soar. He was the best man in the tent, just because he didn't care if blacks were escorting them, as long as they were escorting them safely.If I sound cheesy, I don't care, because this movie made my day.
7/17/2002: Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., leader of the Tuskegee Airmen and the Air Force's first black general, was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. I haven't seen any original HBO programming in a few years, but it sounds like it may have gone a bit downhill. The Tuskegee Airmen, though, is a prime example of the kind of great movie HBO is capable of producing.The Tuskegee Airmen tells that story of the first black American fighter pilots. The movie is packed with everything you would expect from a World War Two movie about black pilots: racism, failure, triumph, death, fear, courage, joy, grief and a fair amount of aerial combat. Many movies lean too far to one side or the other of the joy/depression spectrum. The Tuskegee Airmen does a great job of bringing realistic balance to real-life experience. The characters experiences are neither completely wonderful nor completely awful. Bad experiences are tempered by good and vice-versa.If you watch this movie with no preconceived notions about the content and no agenda, you will likely come away with a new appreciation for the struggles faced by those who, through design or by accident, become the first to break through an established barrier. Even if you take away the actual premise of the movie and forget that it is about black or white and forget that it is a war movie, it still stands strong on the quality of the acting and the great story telling. We've all succeeded and we've all failed and, like it or not, you share that with every person on this planet regardless of their skin color, religion, sex or nationality. It is very easy to put yourself in the place of any character in this movie because they are all so nakedly human, and that's what makes it great to watch.Finally, this film is based on a true story and that always adds a little something to a movie.
