In keeping with the theme of being thankful this month, I wanted to use my miniscule corner of the interwebs to highlight a holiday that seems to get a lot less attention than it deserves during the month of November. That’s Veteran’s Day, and if you weren’t aware, it’s tomorrow, November 11. I felt it only fitting then, to review an historical war drama that I’m grateful for in order to show my appreciation to those who put their own lives on the line so that I can continue to enjoy the unparalleled freedoms that this country has to offer. The great thing about this week’s film is that it also fits into the overall scheme of movies that I’m thankful for for one reason or another quite nicely and before we’re done, I hope you’ll see why.
When I was a kid, I’d sometimes go to visit my grandparents for the summer. The times spent there were pretty glorious. There were wide open spaces to explore, very little developed civilization, and not many people to hang out with. In other words, it was somewhat isolated, and when you’re not old enough to drive, it can be even more so. There were plenty of toys though and I have a pretty active imagination so I managed. But as a result, a lot of the films that I was first exposed to came from my grandfather’s collection of VHSs. I remember the holy grail of his collection being Memphis Belle. It must have been one of his favorites because he never let anyone borrow. I did manage to watch it with him on a couple of occasions, but mostly it remained a pipe dream until I was old enough to buy my own movies. You could say this makes my list because I got to see how awesome a movie it was, but I never got to enjoy it as often as I would have liked.
The movie opens with one of the most 90s text epilogues ever. There’s the faint sound of wind and the text dissolves into a vista of clouds. We’re then shown a gang of young men playing football (the American kind) while a voiceover narration describes each character briefly. I normally give films a hard time for doing exposition like this, but in the case of Memphis Belle, I can give it a pass pretty easily because it’s really the only time in the film that exposition is used as a plot device, and it isn’t even used as a plot device! It just fits with what the movie is trying to do in a way that works really well. After the introductions, we hear the roar of piston pounding airplane engines as B-17s soar in majestically to a landing strip. It’s then that we realize that a) the movie is taking place at an airfield, and b) “Hey, is that John Lithgow?”. Yes, we see Lithgow watching as the planes land. There’s a background character reporting to the base commander on the number of planes that have returned. Lithgow plays an Army PR officer, and he does it in a delightfully douchey way. This is key though because to a point, he’s our lens.
We find out through a bit of tense banter that the titular Memphis Belle is slated to make her 25th bombing run the next day and Lithgow’s character is there putting together a PR piece to send home to the States. He’s giddy with delight, and super enthusiastic about the job at hand. In other words, he doesn’t have a clue about the culture of the airmen. He sees the crew of the Belle as an opportunity to get US citizens fired up and rallied around the war effort. The crew are less human beings to him and more assets for him to use in his ongoing quest for great PR. That sentiment is quickly tempered when we see the last plane coming in for a landing with only one of her wheels down. For those who don’t know, landing a plane with all of its gear down is ideal; landing it with no gear down is possible, but dangerous; landing it with only some of its gear down nearly always ends in disaster. This disaster is pretty harsh as the plane skids across terrain. We hear the crew begging for help and then the plane explodes in a conflagration.
We cut to an office where Lithgow’s character, Bruce Derringer, is interviewing the officers who serve aboard the Belle. The captain, Dennis Dearborn, played by Matthew Modine, is aloof, and totally focused on his job to point of seeming a little clueless at times. The first officer, Luke Sinclair, played by Tate Donovan tells of his exploits as a lifeguard that shows he’s hungry for the spotlight and attention. The bombardier, Val Kozlowski, played by Billy Zane, is the epitome of cool and collected. Finally, the navigator, Phil Lowenthal, played by D.B. Sweeney, is a nervous wreck and you can tell that he’s the token coward of the cast. Derringer rounds them up after interviewing them one-on-one and tells them the plans for the crew after they finish their mission and return stateside. Sinclair revels while Dearborn concludes that it would be better to keep the news of the fanfare a secret from the enlisted crew until the mission is over so that they can all concentrate on the mission itself.
There’s a party held the night before the mission and we get to see some of the other crew in action. Rounding out the lineup of heavy hitters, Sean Astin plays Richard Moore, Eric Stoltz plays Danny Daly, Harry Connick Jr plays Clay Busby, and Courtney Gains plays Eugene McVey. During the party scene, we get to see the personalities of most of the main characters as they attempt to have a bash before the mission. Some get lucky, if you know what I mean, some strike out, and some are just there to enjoy the food and drink. We’re treated to Harry Connick singing a rendition of “Danny Boy”, which if the movie had done everything else wrong, still would have made it worth the watch. Then we cut to the morning. Phil has gone and gotten himself drunk to the point of sweating alcohol and it’s up to Val to sober him up in time for the briefing. Everyone had been hoping for a milk run, but they find out that they’ll be bombing deep into Germany. There’s a nice little montage of all the planes and crews prepping for the flight, and then… They all get grounded due to weather. It’s kind of a let down, but it’s a deliberate one. This movie does an incredible job, for the most part, with its character development. For such a large cast, most of the characters have very distinct and original personalities. The ones that are supporting characters do play a bit more off of archetypes, but the main characters are fleshed out really well.
The planes all make the bombing run, and there are some tense moments. There are two firefights between the B-17s and the German ME-109s. Several planes are shown falling out of the skies in sometimes gruesome and gut wrenching ways. Cloud cover over the target force the planes to circle around for a second pass under intense flak fire. But in the end, they deliver their payload successfully and turn around to head home. It’s here that things maybe seem to get a little over-the-top. First the Belle gets a hole shot in her wing so they have to syphon their fuel from the one wing to the intact wing, but geez, the electronic system is damaged so they have to do it manually. Then one of their engines catches fire so they have to dive in order to put out the flames lest the flames explode the fuel and kill them all. Then their belly gun gets shot off prompting a harrowing rescue of Richard. THEN another of their engines goes out. THEN they take a shot that wounds McVey. THEN as they’re finally approaching Britain, they lose one of their two good engines, and they realize on approach for landing that one of their landing struts hasn’t gone down so they have to lower it by hand. I’ve seen this movie countless times, but that part is always a nail biter for me. Of course, they manage to get the gear down just as the wheels touch down on the tarmac. After that, there’s an aerial celebratory shot and we see the ambulance whisking McVey off to the hospital. Finally there’s a dedication to all of the men of all nationalities who lost their lives in the skies during the second World War, and it’s over.
Obviously, I love this film, and rightfully so. It gets all of things right that it should get right. All of the characters that are featured most prevalently feel like real people. They have their own unique personalities, they’re relatable, and they’re fun to watch, primarily because the cast appear to have great chemistry on screen. The story is straightforward, but entertaining. It’s not even remotely accurate, but it wasn;t trying to be. It was trying to show its audience what a worst case scenario bombing run might have been like during World War II. As such, it’s dramatized extremely well. It’s exciting. It’s intense, and at the same time, it’s pretty heartwarming. As a period piece, historical elements are represented fairly accurately. I’m not expert, but uniforms appear to be correct, and all of the equipment appears appropriate for the time during which the film is meant to take place. The score is fantastic! It’s majestic in a way that makes the movie feel big, and it really punctuates the film well. Lastly, this movie made me fall in love with B-17s, mostly because they’re sexy planes, but also because the Belle herself is treated as a character in the narrative. As such, we as an audience grow an attachment to the plane in much the same way as we’re meant to connect with the human characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment