“The War Lover” is a WWII aviation picture based on
the best seller and Pulitzer Prize winning novel by John Hersey. It was filmed in England and directed by
Philip Leacock. Two RAF bases were used
for the exterior shots. The producers
found three B-17s in America. Famous
aviation writer Martin Caidin helped restore them and flew one across the Atlantic
to be used in the film. He wrote a book
about the experience entitled Everything But the Flak. A stuntman died during a stunt when he
drowned parachuting into the English Channel.
Warren Beatty was first choice for the lead role but he turned it down
because he had recently caused the breakup of Robert Wagner and Natalie
Wood. It would have been awkward if he acted with Wagner. Steve McQueen got the part and was
his usual difficult self. He did not get
along with Shirley Anne Field and once pushed so hard she went over a sofa and
cut her lip. In a subsequent kissing
scene, she bit McQueen on his lip in revenge.
Director Leacock was lenient with McQueen’s contractual stipulation that
he avoid racing cars during the filming.
McQueen proceeded to get into an accident, so those injuries from his
fight with the Bolland character are not the result of make-up.
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| Awkward! |
The movie is set on an American bomber base in
1943. “Buzz” Rickson (McQueen) is a hot
shot pilot who rooms with his co-pilot “Bo” Bolland (Wagner). Bo is your typical American airman who is
just trying to survive the required 25 missions. Buzz likes the war. “The only trouble with this crummy war is it
begins too early in the morning.” Their
bomber is nicknamed “The Body” and is on its seventh mission. Their mission is to bomb submarine pens at
Kiel. By changing the nose art, the
movie is able to make the three bombers look like a lot more on takeoff. Due to cloud cover, the commanding officer
aborts the mission, but Buzz goes below the cloud cover to bomb the target
anyway. He has an orgiastic look on his
face as the bombs explode. Back at the
base, Buzz does not seem to care that one of the bombers that followed him
ended up getting blown up. The CO calls
him on the carpet and accuses him of being insubordinate and
irresponsible. Since this is a war
movie, his superiors put up with him because he’s such a crackerjack
pilot. The Air Force (actually Army Air
Corps) loves mavericks.
We have a maverick, how about a love triangle to go
with that cliché? Bo and Buzz meet a
British bird at a dance. Surprisingly,
Daphne (Field) does not opt for the stereotypical brash American and instead
chooses Buzz. She realizes she would
always be second best to the war in Buzz’s life. Bo puts her first, but is she just a fling
until he finishes his tour? Although Bo
will have to be like a sheep-dog watching out for the wolf, he idolizes Buzz as
a pilot and leader. So does the rest of
the crew except the navigator Lynch who despises the amoral Rickson. Buzz gets him transferred to a lesser pilot
and as though that does not doom him enough, he proceeds to show Bo a picture
of his wife and kids! Why does the
military give lectures on VD, but not on picture discipline?
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| "I'll bet you 50 bucks our last mission is a milk run" |
Buzz continues to be insubordinate. When a mission requires them to drop leaflets
instead of bombs to kill Germans, he buzzes the field several times at very low
altitude to show his displeasure. The
Doctor states that “Rickson is a good example of the fine line that separates
the hero from the psychopath.” (I wonder
how many Medal of Honor winners this statement would apply to.) There is no talk of grounding such a loose
cannon.
Before the last mission, the predictable hook up
between Buzz and Daphne occurs. Buzz
shows up at her apartment, but she sees right through his macho bull-shit. He does not attempt to charm his way out of
this assessment. “In war time, you don’t
fall in love. You make love.” She gives as well as she gets. “You can’t make love. You’re twisted. You can only make hate.” Ouch!
When he returns to base, he implies that something went on which makes
the next mission very awkward. They don’t
have a lot of time to glare at each other as they have to try to avoid the
kitchen sink on this mission. I counted
ten problems. That’s “Memphis Belle”
territory. At least the love triangle
problem gets solved by subtraction.
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“The War Lover” is an underrated war movie. It is well made with good cinematography and
effects. The sound effects are also well
done. You do feel you are along for the
ride. The interior of the bomber is
realistic. The flight procedures are
rendered accurately. As is usual for an
air combat movie, the film takes off when it is in the air. There is some good stunt work in the buzzing
of the field, but the obligatory belly landing was borrowed from “Twelve
O’Clock High”. The plot is a little leaden on
the ground.
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| the real star of the film |
The
central theme that some warriors are in it for the thrill is worth exploring
and this was a rare theme for a movie from the early 60s. There aren’t that many war movies that have
the hero as a psychopath.
Coincidentally, I also watched “The Hurt Locker” this week and the main
characters in both movies have similar personalities and motivations. McQueen’s performance has been criticized,
but I found his style to be perfect for the role. Who better to play a jerk than a jerk? He’s the kind of actor who can act with just
his eyes, which is helpful when you are wearing an oxygen mask. Wagner is fine in a role that is not fully
fleshed out. It is never clear why he
and Buzz are best friends considering their views on the war are opposite. Field is the wild card and her performance is
hard to analyze. Daphne is not your
usual pilot groupie. Although she falls
in love with Bo, she is realistic about the temporary nature of the
relationship. She is probably the
strongest character among the three. Her
reaction to Buzz’ “seduction” is interesting.
The rest of the characters are not really fleshed out. Lynch should have been more of a foil to
Buzz. The rest of the crew is
nondescript. There is no dysfunction.
“The
War Lover” is probably not going to make my 100 Best War Movies list. It is still a nicely entertaining war movie
mainly because of the theme and the fact that it is not very predictable. There is one death that you will not see
coming (and two that you will see from a mile away). The last mission, although crammed with “what
next?”, is exciting and not head-shaking.
It is certainly a better movie than its closest companion – the pious
“Memphis Belle”. And it stars Steve
McQueen.
How
does it compare to the novel? Needless
to say, the novel is much more wordy. Scratch
that if you are going to cast McQueen.
For instance, in the book, when Buzz barges in on Daphne he ends up
telling his life story. The book is told
from the perspective of Bo and he can be a bit of a whiner. He also is less likeable because we see so
much more of his personality. The
romance is of course fleshed out and the book makes Daphne out to be a more
sympathetic girl who is truly in love, but also trying to make the best of the
war situation. Bo’s inability to fully
commit to her is frustrating. Hersey
uses the Bo character as his device to make the point that there is nothing
good about war and those that buy into it have either drank the propaganda
kool-aid or they love war for its own sake.
The main incidents in the movie are from the book with some changes for
the better. Lynch is much more important
in the book. Bo is simpatico with him
and is really broken up when he dies.
The movie makes the wise decision to put Lynch on the crew, but
downplays his relationship to Bo. Another
good decision was to have Bo imagining the worst about Buzz’ visit to
Daphne. In the book, Daphne tells Bo
what happened and he is upset more with finding out just how loathsome his
former best friend is rather than seething over his sleeping with his girl. Most importantly, the movie substantially
changes the last mission for the better.
Not giving away the move ending for those of you who have not seen it,
but here is what happens in the book.
They get hit in the nose and the bombardier loses a leg and his
life. The tail gunner bails out without
telling anyone. Buzz cracks up and Bo
ends up flying the plane for the rest of the time. They decide to ditch in the Channel, but
Junior asks to bail out and does. When
the plane hits the water, Buzz decides to go down with the ship.
BOOK = B-
MOVIE = B+
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