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In 1943, while stationed in Britain, arrogant Captain Buzz Rickson is in command of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, but his recklessness is endangering everyone around him.In 1943, while stationed in Britain, arrogant Captain Buzz Rickson is in command of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, but his recklessness is endangering everyone around him.In 1943, while stationed in Britain, arrogant Captain Buzz Rickson is in command of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, but his recklessness is endangering everyone around him.
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Did you know
- TriviaWarren Beatty turned down the role of Rickson, possibly because he had recently caused the divorce between Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, and the two men were not on speaking terms.
- GoofsWhen the bomber takes off on the first mission the pilot calls out "gear up" telling the co-pilot to raise the landing gear. The co-pilot activates the landing gear retrieval switch without saying anything, a breach of safety protocol. Raising the landing gear is a checklist item and requires the co-pilot to immediately respond "Gear up" when executing the order. This checklist challenge-response procedure is followed religiously by all air crew, no matter how loose the crew might be otherwise.
- Quotes
Captain Buzz Rickson: What's the matter Bolland, afraid to die?
1st Lt Ed Bolland: Damn right I am. But you're scared to live.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Many Faces of...: Michael Crawford (2013)
Featured review
Aviation author Martin Caiden (his books were the basis for the film "Marooned" and the t.v show "The Six Million Dollar Man") published a book entitled "Everything But The Flak" that detailed the efforts to revive three Navy PB-1 Flying Forts and the ensuing flight adventure of moving them across the Atlantic to England for the making of "The War Lover" which is a "must read" for those interested in the making of this film. He accompanied the flight crews and although his larger-than-life account of their hijinks (rumbling with Soviets in the airport in Greenland, being locked up by Interpol in Portugal on suspicion of smuggling illicit warplanes - after all these three B-17s had active gun turrets) must be taken with a grain of salt, the guy sure could spin a great yarn! The book is probably WAY out of print but is well worth seeking out as it gives some idea of the difficulty of reactivating three WW II bombers years before the warbird revival got underway. Unfortunately, due to import/export duties in England in the early 1960s, Columbia Pictures scrapped two of the three Fortresses after filming was completed and only one has survived, used for promotion of the film before being passed onto other hands.
The movie itself has lots of B-17 action of the planes taxiing around the airfield prior to mission take-off that is frequently edited out for television broadcast to save time for commercials or to fit into a specific airtime envelope. If it airs uncut, notice the patchy paint on the Fortress noses as three airframes portray a much larger squadron, with nose art changed several times.
Mark Sublette, Falls Church, Virginia
The movie itself has lots of B-17 action of the planes taxiing around the airfield prior to mission take-off that is frequently edited out for television broadcast to save time for commercials or to fit into a specific airtime envelope. If it airs uncut, notice the patchy paint on the Fortress noses as three airframes portray a much larger squadron, with nose art changed several times.
Mark Sublette, Falls Church, Virginia
- elijahbailey
- Mar 14, 2005
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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