Twelve O'Clock High

1949
Approved
2h 12m

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

16K

YOUR RATING

Gregory Peck in Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

Play trailer2:05

1 Video

38 Photos

Drama War

A tough-as-nails general takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.A tough-as-nails general takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.A tough-as-nails general takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

16K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 2 Oscars
- 5 wins & 3 nominations total

Lt. Bishop
(as Bob Patten)

Lee MacGregor

Lt. Zimmerman
(as Lee Mac Gregor)

Sam Edwards

Birdwell

Roger Anderson

Interrogation Officer

Robert Blunt

Officer
(uncredited)

William Bryant

Radio Operator
(uncredited)

Steve Clark

Clerk in Antique Shop
(uncredited)

Russ Conway

Operations Officer
(uncredited)

Campbell Copelin

Mr. Britton
(uncredited)

Leslie Denison

RAF Officer
(uncredited)

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
This film is used by the US Navy as an example of leadership styles in its Leadership and Management Training School. The Air Force's College for Enlisted Professional Military Education also uses it as an education aid in its NCO academies and Officer Training School. It is also used as a teaching tool for leadership at the Army Command and General Staff College and for leadership training in civilian seminars. It is used at the Harvard Business School as a case study in how to effect change in organizations.

Goofs
Savage is given command of the 918th and tells Pritchard that he'll get there "early" the next day. By the time he does arrive, Lt. Zimmerman has committed suicide, been given a funeral and Major Stovall has had time to get drunk afterwards.

Quotes
General Savage: I take it you don't really care about the part you had in breaking one of the best men you'll ever know. Add to it that as Air Exec you were automatically in command the moment Colonel Davenport left - and you met that responsibility exactly as you met his need: you ran out on it. You left the station to get drunk. Gately, as far as I'm concerned, you're yellow. A traitor to yourself, to this group, to the uniform you wear. It would be the easiest course for me to transfer you out, to saddle some unsuspecting guy with a deadbeat. Maybe you think that's what you're gonna get out of this, a free ride in some combat unit. But I'm not gonna pass the buck. I'm gonna keep you right here. I hate a man like you so much that I'm gonna get your head down in the mud and tramp on it. I'm gonna make you wish you'd never been born.
Lt. Col. Ben Gately: If that's all, sir...
General Savage: I'm just getting started. You're gonna stay right here and get a bellyful of flying. You're gonna make every mission. You're not air exec anymore. You're just an airplane commander. And I want you to paint this name on the nose of your ship: Leper Colony. Because in it you're gonna get every deadbeat in the outfit. Every man with a penchant for head colds. If there's a bombardier who can't hit his plate with his fork, you get him. If there's a navigator who can't find the men's room, you get him. Because you rate him.

Crazy credits
Opening credits prologue: LONDON 1949

Connections
Edited into All This and World War II (1976)

Soundtracks
Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree
(uncredited)
Music by Sam H. Stept
Lyrics by Charles Tobias and Lew Brown
Sung at the officers' club

User reviews171

Review

Featured review

I was an air-cre- member of the 306th Bomb Group(BG) the model for the 918 BG and I have been impressed with the movei ever since it came out.

The picture brings back the memories of excitement, terror and relief. Its a picture that the authors bring out. I knew the commanding officer portrayed by Gregory Peck, a Colonel Frank Armstrong, a replacement for Col. Overacker. Gregory Peck was a BG. The only error I saw was in the MGDb write up. Your article sites the planes as B-24 rather than B-17. We were first division originally sent to England to be transferred to North Africa. The 918 Bomb Group in the picture is 3 times 306 = 918 thats how they identified them. We had 87% casualty rate; 287 of us flew to England on Oct 21 1942, 87 survived, and are passing away rapidly now. I was 19 as a bombardier-navigator,flew two tours; the second was a pilot. The picture is my ideal. I have three copies of it and view whenever I feel depressed. Thanks for my connection of the past Im78 and need a boost eversince I gave up drinking and smoking. Horace Corigliano