THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS: On the first day of Christmas, my true love
gave to me: one God in a cockpit…
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“God is My Co-Pilot” is a flag-waving
WWII movie released in 1945. It is based
on the smash hit autobiography of Robert Lee Scott, Jr. Scott served as a technical advisor and did
some stunt flying for the film. It is
true to his story and certainly retains the spiritual theme. The film had the full cooperation of the Air
Force which provided several P-40s and B-25s and AT-6s to masquerade as Zeros.
A montage takes Scott (Dennis
Morgan) from jumping off a roof with an umbrella to a secret mission to India
as a bomber pilot. Along the way he gets
his first sermon from the family black guy about the need for God instead of
luck in the cockpit. Scott remains
skeptical for most of the film. The
interlude in India gets the requisite exotic locale in and clues us in on two
facts. One, there are belly dancers in
India. Two, WWII air crewmen said things
like “jiminy crickets” and “jumping jehosafats”. God would approve.
After a stint flying the Hump
into China, Scott hooks up with Gen. Chennault (Raymond Massey) and Father “Big
Mike” (Alan Hale). He is assigned a
fighter and helps defend the base against an attack led by the legendary “Tokyo
Joe” (Richard Loo). This is one of the
most hilarious scenes in war movie history as the opposing pilots trash talk
through the dog fight. Naturally the
Japanese speak American. Here is a
sampling:
Tokyo Joe:
“Okay, you Yankee Doodle Dandies, come and get it. I’m going to drop one right in Chennault’s
lap. Where are you gangsters? Come on up and get a load of that scrap metal
you sold us.”
Johnny: “Now
repeat after me. Your mother was a
turtle, your father was a snake and you’re a good Jap.”
Crew chief:
“Why you dirty retail monkey!”
Johnny:
“One meatball in the side pocket.”
Scott turns into the star of the unit and his home
town follows him like Joe Dimaggio. He
duels with Tokyo Joe, but they both run out of ammo before they run out of
zingers. He flies Father Mike through a
storm which inspires the priest to give a sermon about what a wonderful
co-pilot God would be. The sun emerges
as though to smack Scott upside the head.
In the climactic duel, Tokyo Joe is outnumbered two to one and even the
samurai sword he carries on board does not make up for Scott’s co-pilot.
“God is My Co-Pilot” is unique in balancing its
flag-waving propaganda with cloying religiousity. That is not a winning combination, although
the movie was a hit with those patriotic Bible-thumping rubes that made up
1940s audiences. Sorry, greatest
generation grandparents, I couldn’t help that one. Even if you take out the sermons and the lame
taunting, the dialogue is atrocious. The
music matches it. The action is
fair. The dog fights are not “Wings”
worthy, but they are swirling. We get a
lot of cockpit views and bullet holes in the glass indicating death. Planes tend to blow up and no one parachutes. The movie has a large amount of droning. The acting is average. Earnest, but not scene-chewing.
Was it a good Christmas present? If God is asking – yes! Otherwise, I would have preferred a lump of
coal.
grade = D
This must be one of the worst titles in film history.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it's that bad. Serves it right.
Be careful, that first comment may come up with St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. The dialogue lives up to the title. I am quite sure you would not like the movie and don't add the book to your TBR list. It does make "We Were Soldiers" look moderate on religion.
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