“The Blue Max” is one of the most famous air combat movies set in WWI. It may be the best. Not only does it have great dogfighting, but the central character is one of the more fascinating anti-heroes in war movie history. Corporal Bruno Stachel (George Peppard) goes from the trenches to the skies. He is from a lower-class background and is suddenly thrust into a squadron of upper-class snobs. His goal is not to fit in, it is to become the best. He is obsessed with the award called the Pour le Merite (the Blue Max). You achieve it by shooting down 20 planes. He will do anything to achieve this goal. This puts him at odds with his commander Heidemann, who is an old school military traditionist. Heidemann quickly appraises Stachel’s amoral quest and is determined to bring him to justice for his violations of the rules of war. Stachel’s frenemy is Willi, who not only has the Blue Max that he covets, but a comely aunt that Stachel also sets as a goal. It’s complicated because she is married to a general and sleeping with Willi.
SPOILER ALERT: The following will cover the plot of the book, so if you haven’t seen the movie or plan to read the book, you might want to stop here. The purpose of this section is to give viewers of the movie an idea of how it differs from the book. In this case, it differs a lot.
The book starts with Stachel arriving at the airfield. The squadron is on a mission and the airfield is bombed. The squadron returns and a dogfight ensues. He meets with Heidemann, who is not testy. There is no talk of his commoner background and this will not become an issue. He does not mention the goal of the Blue Max and there is no implication that he is ambitious. On his first mission, he shoots down an S.E. 5, but he does not cause the loss of his wing man. There’s no balloons involved. He does get upset because the kill can not be confirmed, but he does not go looking for the wreckage. The incident where Stachel escorts a British observation plane back and then shoots it down because the gunner aims at him is reenacted closely in the movie. However, it is downplayed in the book and Heidemann does not accuse him of murder.
In the book, Stachel has a serious alcohol problem. It is so bad that he even drinks on missions. It causes him to be one nasty bastard. He is very hard on the ground crew and he has a foe in the squadron clerk Rupp. His conversations with Willi are dripping with snarkiness. Willi calls him Cobra and questions his honesty about his victories. Willi’s uncle is a Count, not a general. His aunt is nice looking, but not a beauty. Stachel beds her and later finds out that Willi is doing the same. They never discuss the situation and Willi is not aware of it. There is no competition for her.
The strafing of British soldiers is in the book, although it is limited because British fighters show up. Oddly, the Brits show up in front of them at low attitude. Stachel shoots down two and Heidemann shoots down one that is on Stachel’s tail. Back at base, Otto chews him out for disobeying orders and leaving formation (which is a bit daft because they were bounced by the British). His encounter with the Red Baron is essentially the same. Stachel does turn down an offer to join his squadron.
In the book, Willi is not a great ace and he does not have the Blue Max. He is in Stachel’s way. But not for victories. Stachel is obsessed with getting a new Fokker D7. When he figures that Willi will get one first, he arranges Willi’s death. It is not in the form of a challenge to fly under a bridge. Returning from a mission where he shoots down one and Willi shoots down two, Stachel causes Willi to fly into a tower. (The movie does this better, but in the book Stachel’s motives are clearer and he is more despicable.) He claims Willi’s two kills and Heidemann accepts it without any questions. In fact, Heidemann is supportive of Stachel’s quest for the Blue Max. He is the opposite of the Otto of the movie.
Stachel gets his D7 and has it painted black (with what he thinks is FUCK YOU on the wings). He goes on a tear, proving he is a very good pilot. He forces a British bomber to land on his field and learns that the words on the wing are BLOW JOB (this is my interpretation of what was painted since the book is vague about it)! Although his victories are newsworthy (he shoots down three balloons and two Spads the first time up in his D7), he becomes a celebrity because he rescues a local girl from drowning. And then he gets the Blue Max.
After Willi’s death, Stachel visits his “grieving” aunt. After bouts of steamy sex (off book), he blackmails her because he has Willi’s diary which chronicles his affair with her. He’s drunk when he does this and it’s a rock bottom moment. He visits a priest about his alcoholism and goes cold turkey. He actually becomes a better person.
Heidemann and Stachel go to Berlin to test planes. Otto gets promoted to head of aviation propaganda. He reveals to Stachel that he greased the skids to make Stachel famous. This explains why he never questioned his claims. And he fired Rupp when he revealed Stachel’s alcoholism. Stachel is bemused. Before testing the new Adler D-11, Stachel recognizes it’s a death trap, but he flies it anyway. He survives and tells Heidemann that there are no problems and to put it through acrobatics. Stachel has a change of heart at the last minute and tries to stop Heidemann, but Heidemann doesn’t believe him. Heidemann crashes. This is almost completely the opposite of the book and Willi’s uncle and aunt are not involved. The movie does this better because there has been no redemption arc changing the flow of Stachel’s corruption. It puts a period on its main theme whereas the book uses the incident as the last of Stachel’s flawed attempts to remake himself.
Stachel sees this as a turning point in his life. He wants to be a good man. He is determined to marry Heidemann’s widow. On the way to condole her, he is intercepted by the Countessa. She has evidence proving Stachel murdered Willi and blackmails him into marrying her so she can piggyback on his fame. So he tried to change, but his past came back to haunt him. At the end of the book, he meets Herman Goring. Goring proclaims that the future of Germany will be in the hands of men like them. The movie brings closure, the book portends. I’ll give the book credit with a delicious twist ending.
As you can see, the movie differs drastically from the book. The screenwriters completely jettisoned the alcoholism subplot. They substituted the classism. They played up how the military overlooked his flaws to create a hero. For this purpose, Willi’s uncle was made into a general. In the book, Heidemann is the propaganda manipulating figure. He is not an adversary of Stachel, he is more of a manager. The movie is trying to make a point about manipulation of heroes. The book saves this point until the very end.
Where the movie concentrates on Stachel, Willi, Heidemann, and the Count and Contessa, the book develops a few more significant characters. Rupp has a much bigger role in the book. He is a loathsome figure who acquires alcohol for Stachel, although they hate each other. Stachel tells him: “I will pop you like a flea and then I will poop on your goop.” (Can you imagine Peppard’s Stachel saying that line?) He ends up bringing Stachel down. Kettering (the squadron adjutant) is a character that deserved more in the movie. He is into pornographic photos and is witty. His conversations with the maintenance chief (who is another foil for Stachel) are entertaining.
I have a theory that a war movie should be (and usually is) an improvement on the source novel. This is because the screenwriter(s) have the book as a foundation to base the movie on. He or they can make improvements on the plot. Once again, I have to say that the movie is better than the book. Not that the book is not good. It has some great dialogue. But the second half is too talkie. For instance, there is a long scene with Stachel talking to the priest. It is more of a psychological drama than the movie. In some ways, it is the story of an alcoholic. Who happens to be a fighter pilot. Stachel is less likeable in the book than in the movie, but this is blamed on his alcoholism. The movie Stachel has no excuse for his actions. He’s just an asshole. There are some vibrant combat passages in the book, but there is a lot of drama around them. The movie seems to have more combat.
I recommend watching the movie and then reading the book. I always do this, as opposed to the standard of reading the book and then watching the movie. I don’t like watching movies where I already know what will happen. I prefer to read the book after to get more details and background. In this case, the book does not act as much of a spoiler because it differs substantially from the movie. Reading this book adds the element of seeing how a producer might buy the rights to a book and then turn it over to a screenwriter(s) who make adjustments to attract viewers. They may even come up with a different focus for the film. And a different ending.
MOVIE = B+
BOOK = B
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