Air Force
Directed by Howard Hawks
Written by Dudley Nichols
1943/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Amazon Instant Video
[box] Sgt. Joe Winocki: [overhearing the Pearl Harbor attack on the radio] Hey, Peterson, who you got tuned in, Orson Welles?[/box]
Air Force is a solid piece of wartime propaganda, this time in the air.
An air crew comprised of the usual assortment of Hollywood types has been assigned to deliver a new bomber, the “Mary Ann”, to Pearl Harbor. They happen to leave the West Coast on the December 6, 1941. The men include the co-captain (Gig Young), who is love with the sister of the bomber (Arthur Kennedy), a disgruntled gunner who is looking forward to leaving the army in three weeks (John Garfield), a grizzled veteran of the last war who is the crew leader (Harry Carry), a New Yorker (George Tobias), a couple of rookies, etc.
The crew witnesses the wreckage of the attack on Pearl Harbor from the air and are told o divert to the nearest airfield. This is in Maui where they are shot at by Japanese snipers. (We are also told that Japanese-Americans destroyed planes at Hickham Field in trucks disguised as delivering produce. This is total fiction.) The plane is forced back to Pearl Harbor. The men go to visit the bomber’s sister who was wounded in the attack. They repair damage to their plane and are sent on to the Philippines. The attack has converted the gunner from a cynic to a patriot and he bravely shoots down some fighters en route to Wake Island for refueling.
By the time the bomber gets to Wake Island, it has been severely damaged in the aerial combat. The men, against orders, scavenge spare parts from other planes to repair the Mary Ann. They pick up some bombs and head out to the Philippines. More adventures ensue.
This is quite OK for what it is, a kind of survey of the beginning of the war when things were pretty bleak showing American determination to fight back no matter what the cost.
Air Force won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. It was nominated in the categories of: Best Writing, Original Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (James Wong Howe, Elmer Dyer, and Charles A. Marshall); and Best Effects, Special Effects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akV4zfX_E0Y
Trailer
