'Red Tails' reminded me of an After School Special.
It's obvious, the purpose of the movie was to only introduce the Tuskegee airman's story. Besides the great fighter plane action scenes, there wasn't much else I'd consider engaging.
It was nice to see so many black actors and singers getting some work but no one was Oscar worthy.
And why did they keep walking and driving in the mud at their camp but it never rained?
As far as WWII movies that depict the plight of the black soldier, Miracle at St. Anna is the movie to be measured by. At least with that movie I not only felt the horrors of war but became emotionally engaged in the story and didn't feel like the story was 'dumbed down' for my enjoyment.
Red Tails wasn't a complete disappointment but it was far from an epic tale that the Tuskegee airman deserve.
I went to see the movie last night. Good movie and the flying was great. True American Heros!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe most important point of the movie was to show how much the Black pilots were degraded even though they were the superior pilots. Not very often is the truth told in a fashion that all can see the mistreatment of our people. The only thing they really wanted the Black pilots for was to to be targets for the Germans to keep the Germans off their behinds until they were caught with losing too many boomers before they reached their targets. Great exposure, maybe not the best actors, or acting, however it was an attempt to show something positive the Black flyers did. Plus, Hollywood wouldn't even agree to produce it. Thanks! I enjoyed it.
DeleteI'm sure anything is better than Miracle at St. Anna which was just plain dumb and violent.
ReplyDeleteAnything?
ReplyDeleteThe statue thing was dumb but what movie depicted the WWII black soldier experience better?
Aren't all war movies violent?
Violent in the sense that the movies make sense. Spike did not do a good job. All that pre-movie hoopla fizzled with me. as the kids today would say, the movie was dry.
DeleteThe reason for the mud was to show you the conditions they were forced to service and live in. You din't see any mud where the white pilots were did you? No respect!
DeleteIf most of us didn't know at least a little bit about the airmen before seeing the movie, you would not think that those guys had it very bad based on their conditions. That message was not what the movie focused on.
DeleteHell, it could have rained at least once. Show me a leaking tent with no heat. Show me a solider with holes in his boots.
If you believed the movie, those guys laughed, joked, played cards and basketball, drank whiskey, dated white girls, and never missed a meal.
I wanted to see Terrence Howard walk out of one of those meetings with the generals and show some anger, throw a hat, curse, kick a cat...something.
You heard about and saw the hand me down aircraft they were forced to fly. You wanted to see Terrance Howard get his uniform dirty. You sound violent. He was the MAN, military slang "Old Man". You wanted to see him get thrown into prison and lose his rank. You saw the White officers attack him in the Officers Club. We have to make another movie and show all the rain, snow, leaking roofs, fights and everything to satisfy you. I thought they should have shown more of the ground crew that kept those Hand-Me-Down planes flying. We only saw one machanic, he must have been a super man.
DeleteOk. You loved the movie and all I saw was a weak storyline.
Delete'm glad I got a chance to see the HBO version today. I'm glad HBO had the courage to tell a more complete story, particularly the story of what it took for those airmen to even make it to Italy.
HBO was more than 3/4 of the way over before you see Italy.
As I said in the post, Red Tails is only an introduction, not nearly a complete story.
And your favorite WWII depicting the black soldier experience is...?
ReplyDeleteBlack WWII movie? None. But Civil War movie Glory with Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman was very profound. Get a copy and watch it.
ReplyDeletePS: check the time stamp on your comments.
So, St Anna and Red Tails may be all we have for WWII flicks whether we like em or not.
ReplyDeleteGLORY was great. Just had to keep in mind that it wasn't a documentary cause some of the facts don't match the history books, but that's the Hollywood way.
I'm aware of the time stamps. Hopefully Google/Blogger is aware. They did an upgrade a couple weeks ago and the times have been 4 hours off. My settings are still on Eastern time. It only seems to affect the comments.
Thanks.
HBO Tuskegee Airman was ten times better then red tail.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that comment. I haven't seen the HBO version but I'm heading to Crozer library and check it out today. I wanted to compare the two.
ReplyDeleteGood point, you haven't see the HBO version. Think of how many people had no knowledge of the Tuskgee airmen before this movie. It's important that we get the message out in some form.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget, these men never lost a B52 bomber during their escort run and the white pilots were saying, "We want them niggers with us in the air, they never lost a bomber," excuse the language but it's facts!!
ReplyDelete