QUARTERFINALS

Here is a summary of the first round:

Red Tails (9) 30 Dark Blue World (8) 29
Aces High (11) 34 Tuskegee Airmen (6) 28
Hunters (7) 30 Flyboys (10) 29
Blue Max (5) 32 Red Baron (12) 25
Hell's Angels (4) 29 Top Gun (13) 26
Von Richthofen and Brown (14) Dawn Patrol (3) 29
Angel's Wing (15) 32 Wings (2) 29
Battle of Britain (1) 36 Flying Leathernecks (16) 32

Four lower seeds triumphed which proves critics are not a good way to seed dogfighting films. Some of the upsets were shocking, but not if you watch the movies with a concentration on dogfighting.

The second round is about to begin. Here are the matchups:

Battle of Britain vs. Red Tails
Blue Max vs. Hell's Angels
Aces High vs. Von Richthofen and Brown
Hunters vs. Angel's Wing


#1 BATTLE OF BRITAIN vs. #9 RED TAILS

vs.

FIRST QUARTER:  Dialogue

                The dialogue in “Battle of Britain” is pretty good, if a bit tame. It is after all an Old School epic.  It uses some quotes from real historical persons.  A good example was when Goring asks Falke (channeling Adolf Galland) what he needs, Falke asks for some Spitfires.  The cockpit chatter is good and includes the memorable “tacka-tacka-tacka” used by Skipper (Robert Shaw) to simulate machine gun fire.  B

                “Red Tails” has some of the most laughable dialogue and chatter of any air combat movie.  The ground scenes are full of platitudes.  Almost everything the core group says is corny.  It gets worse when they are in the air.  “Die you Nazi dogs!”  “How you like that, Mr. Hitler”  The topper is when Pretty Boy actually says “Die, you African fool”.  F

FIRST QUARTER SCORE:

Battle of Britain                   8

Red Tails                                5

SECOND QUARTER:  Effects

                BoB has lots of exploding planes and it becomes a bit redundant.  There are some good interiors of German bombers.  Although the movie is famous for its battle scenes, some of the special effects are dated and it is obvious that sometimes models were used and the bombers were faked.  B

                No two movies could be more dissimilar in effects than these two.  RT is totally reliant on CGI and although it is pristine, it does separate my generation of war movie fans from the audience it was aimed at.  The dogfighting looks video gamish and defies reality.  Planes do things they were physically incapable of then (and now).  The sound effects are below average.  D

HALF TIME SCORE:

Battle of Britain                   16

Red Tails                                11

THIRD QUARTER:  Aircraft

                BoB used a total of 100 aircraft.  This included three air worthy Hurricanes and twelve Spitfires.  For the Germans, the producers used Spanish versions of the He-111 and Bf-109s.  A+

                RT faithfully reproduces P-40s, P-51s, Bf-109s, Me-262s, and B-17s.  It is a shame it has them do things that are unrealistic.  Why no FW-190s?  No CGI available?  Credit to getting the 99^th Pursuit Squadron’s planes accurate. One strange thing is the B-`17s alternate between being camouflaged and silver.  B

THIRD QUARTER SCORE:

Battle of Britain                   26

Red Tails                                19

FOURTH QUARTER:  Dogfighting Quality

                BoB set the gold standard for WWII dogfighting reenactments.  The planes were filmed using a modified B-25 as the camera platform.  The action tends to be chaotic at times and it is not easy to follow the characters.  The crashes look real.  The movie gets the swirling nature of a big dogfight spot on.  B

                The biggest problem with the air combat in RT is it defies reality.  Of course, this would be news to anyone who plays air combat video games.  The planes do maneuvers that are impossible.  You do get a lot of action, however.  C

FINAL SCORE:

Battle of Britain           34

Red Tails                      26 

POST-MATCH ANALYSIS:

                This was  not even close.  BoB is highly regarded in the war movie community and RT is usually sneered at.  It was an interesting match-up between the Old School real planes versus the New School CGI effects.  Someday CGI will do it better, but that day has not arrived yet.

#7  THE HUNTERS vs. #15 ANGEL’S WING

FIRST QUARTER:  Dialogue

                The dialogue in “The Hunters” is surprisingly good.  There are some nice lines that have a crisp cynicism to them.  Some of the best lines are given to the alcoholic, low self-esteem Abbott.  But the real key to the movie’s uniqueness is the beatnik slang delivered by Pell.  It was meant to draw a young audience, but instead comes off as hilariously out of place.  The chatter is terse.  A

                The dialogue in “Angel’s Wing” is fine, but the subtitles are sloppy.  The discussions between Henri and Ernest are thought-provoking.  There is no cockpit chatter.  B

FIRST QUARTER:

The Hunters          9

Angel’s Wing         8

SECOND QUARTER:  Effects

                “The Hunters” is your standard filming fighters chasing each other while being filmed from another aircraft type of production.  There is some reliance of actors in front of screens which is also standard for that era.  The sound effects are excellent when they are not being drowned out by pompous music.  The main effect is seeing the beautiful F-86s zooming around.  This manages to overcome the terrible crash effects.  In one of the lowest moments in disregard for the intelligence of a war movie audience, the movie uses footage of a F-100 standing in for a F-86!  C

                “Angel’s Wing” is not a big budget film and it shows.  However, it does not use CGI.  Instead it uses the same methods as “The Hunters” sans footage, of course.  For a WWI movie, there is a welcome lack of facial views and no screen frontages.  You will not be awed by the effects, but you won’t cringe either.  B

HALF TIME SCORE:

Angel’s Wing         16

The Hunters          16

THIRD QUARTER:  Aircraft

                The best actor in “The Hunters” is the Super Sabre and it is dynamite.  What a sweet plane!  Unfortunately, the movie is forced to use F-84s as stand-ins for MiGs.  This is unavoidable and acceptable.  In this case the F-84 is equivalent to the T-6 Texans playing Zeros in WWII films.  B

                “Angel’s Wing” has an amazing collection of WWI planes.  You get a rare look at Moranes, Farmans, and a Spad replica.  The Germans include a Rumpler and a Fokker DR1.  A

THIRD QUARTER SCORE:

Angel’s Wing         25

The Hunters          24

FOURTH QUARTER:  Dogfight Quality

                The dogfights in “The Hunters” are choreographed so they look too pristine.  The climactic duel with Casey Jones is blah.  The dogfights seem like an afterthought as the plot is more soap opera / adventure story than air combat.  C

                The air combat in “L’Instinct de L’Ange” is simple, but reflects the actual dogfighting in the early stages of the war.  There are no swirling melees ala “Hell’s Angels”.  Mostly, Henri is a lone wolf.  The acrobatics are outstanding and unlike CGI (which I did not see any of) seem authentic.  The stunt pilots must have been very good.  B

FINAL SCORE:

Angel’s Wing   33

The Hunters    31

POST-MATCH ANALYSIS:

                I was expecting “The Hunters” to come out on top in this match-up.  It just seemed that “Angel’s Wing” should have just been happy to get this far.  But it moves on.  This is a movie I had never heard of before this tournament.   And a movie that I did not like at first.  It has a certain simple charm to it and the use of period aircraft, simple but effective dogfights, and a different story line has it moving on. 

#6 Tuskegee Airmen vs. #11 Aces High

VS.

THE MATCH-UP:  “The Tuskegee Airmen” was an HBO production about the all-black 99^th Pursuit Squadron that trained at Tuskegee Institute, then served in North Africa and Italy in WWII.  It is a small unit dynamics movie that focuses on several fictional members of the unit from training through combat missions.  The movie highlights the racism that the unit faced and the battle with a racist Senator.  Another theme is the gaining of respect from the white bomber crews the unit is eventually allowed to escort.

“Aces High” is set at a RAF air base in France during WWI.  The squadron leader is war-worn and alcohol fueled.  He has to deal with difficult missions, loss of veteran pilots, and shepherding of green replacements.  His cynicism is challenged by the arrival of his fiancé's brother who idolizes him.  There are a variety of missions that are depicted.

 

FIRST QUARTER:  Dogfighting Quantity

                Tuskegee Airmen  =  8 minutes

                Aces High  =  15 minutes

FIRST QUARTER SCORE:

Tuskegee Airmen        6

Aces High                       9

SECOND QUARTER:  Plot

                “Tuskegee Airmen” starts with training under a cartoonishly racist flight instructor. Once that hurdle is cleared, they run into a cartoonishly racist Senator who wants to shut down the “experiment” of colored flyers.  Col. Benjamin Davis has to defend the record of the unit.  This hurdle cleared, the Tuskegee Airmen then have to deal with the cartoonishly racist white bomber crews.  They do this by doggedly staying with their charges.  As you can infer, the plot is simplistic and predictable.  It connects the dots in its historical tutorial of the famous unit and does it in a TV movie sort of way.  Other than the over the top characters, the plot is suitable for the subject and the budget.  B

                “Aces High” is based on the play “Journey’s End”.  The film moves the setting to an air base instead of the trenches.  The plot is pretty standard for WWI, especially if you have seen a lot of WWI movies.  The cynicism is thick, but warranted.  It follows the usual template for a WWI squadron.  The drinking, the singing (the movie has a lot of singalongs), the seeming lack of mourning, the inhuman higher ups.  The movie aims at a lot of targets and I’m not talking about the air combat.  It is also a typical “who will survive?” movie.   B

HALF TIME SCORE:

Aces High                               17

Tuskegee Airmen                                14

THIRD QUARTER:  Realism and Accuracy

                There is no question the Tuskegee Airmen were faced with racism and although Southern racism was seldom subtle, this movie bludgeons you with it.  The flight instructor and Senator characters were Hollywood creations that defy reality.  The unit was never in any danger of being disbanded.  This arc allows Davis to make some of the arguments he undoubtedly made under different circumstances than a Congressional hearing.  The bigger problem is with the unrealistic combat.  The run-ins with the same bomber crew are hard to swallow.  Kudos for the attack on the destroyer which actually occurred.  C

                “Aces High” is not based on a true story, but it gets the pilot life and attitudes right.  You could see all of the main characters existing in a typical squadron in the latter stages of the war.  It is realistic, for instance, for one pilot to be suffering from “neuralgia”.  The combat missions are realistic.  You get a good tutorial on shooting down an observation balloon and doing a photo recon mission.  A

THIRD QUARTER SCORE:

Aces High                              26

Tuskegee Airmen                 21

FOURTH QUARTER:  Cliches

                “Tuskegee Airmen” leads with a main character seeing a biplane and dreaming of being a pilot.  The crew chief is gruff and considers the planes to belong to him.  One of the pilots breaks formation to rush in and get himself killed.  The main character loses his best buddy.  The movie actually has a refreshing lack of clichés.  B

                “Aces High” spends just a week with a fighter squadron, but manages to get in several classic WWI air combat clichés.  The pilots party hard, especially when they are hosting a downed enemy pilot.  Pilots drive into town in a motorcycle with side-car.  The squadron commander’s best friend dies.  A character dies in a head-on crash.  It does include the uniquely WWI air combat cliché of having the men seemingly uncaring about the deaths of mates.  Only the insane guy questions the feting of a German who had killed one of their members.  C

FINAL SCORE:

Aces High                              34

Tuskegee Airmen                 28

POST-MATCH ANALYSIS:

                “Tuskegee Airmen” is a noteworthy addition to the air combat subgenre and brings to light a fighter unit that was not particularly well known at the time it was made.  It and its sister “Red Tails” have done wonders for recognition of the 99^th Pursuit Squadron.  Unfortunately, TA is not a very good dogfighting movie.  Part is due to the low budget and the rest is due to the movie spending most of its time getting the group to combat and not much on the combat itself.  “Aces High” is an underrated air combat film.  It adds some excellent aerial combat to a solid plot based on a famous play.  It deserved to move on.

#8 Dark Blue World vs. #9 Red Tails

VS.

THE MATCH-UP:  “Dark Blue World” is a Czechoslovakian film that is based on the fact that after the fall of Czechoslovakia to the Nazis, some Czech pilots escaped to Great Britain and joined the RAF.  They served valiantly in the Battle of Britain and after.  Unfortunately, when they returned to their homeland, the newly installed communist government imprisoned them as potential freedom fighters.   The main characters are a veteran pilot and his young protégé.  There is a love triangle involving a British woman.

“Red Tails” is based on the story of the all-black 99^th Pursuit Squadron.  Also known as the “Tuskegee Airmen”, the unit escorted bombers in Europe in WWII.  The story focuses on several members of the unit.  It is a typical small unit movie with heterogeneous characters like the ladies’ man, the alcoholic, the black Jesus freak, the hick, etc.  The movie deals with the institutional racism of the Army Air Corps, the political machinations,  and the quest of the unit to prove itself. 

FIRST QUARTER:  Dogfight Quantity

                The first category that will be used in the first round matches is how much air combat of the dogfighting variety appears in the movie.  I used a stop watch for this.  I ran the timer for fighter versus fighter as well as fighter versus bomber.  I did not include strafing or any attacks on ground targets.

Dark Blue World  =  7 minutes

Red Tails  =  12 minutes

Score: 

Red Tails                    8 

Dark Blue World      6

SECOND QUARTER:  Plot

                “Dark Blue World” is a love triangle with a war movie built around it.  The romantic scenes take away from the war scenes and not in an entertainingly effective way.  Although most war movies fans would argue the romance is a waste of time, in this case the romance is rushed and not realistic.  The dynamics between the two friends is fine and there are some other characters who are developed so they can be killed in interesting ways.  Other than the methods of death, the movie is very predictable.  The quantity and quality of the dogfighting does not compensate for the lameness of the script.  C

                “Red Tails” is pious history lesson as cinema.  The Tuskegee Airmen certainly deserved the coverage, but did it have to be in the Lucas/Spielberg style?  The plot pushes all the requisite buttons.  It’s a connect the dots movie.  They overcome racism, doubts about competency, and internal conflicts.  Throw in a romance so you hit all the demographics.  Fine for a plot aimed at a mass audience that has not seen a lot of air combat movies, but very simplistic and predictable for any buffs.  C

HALFTIME SCORE:

Red Tails                  15

Dark Blue World    13

THIRD QUARTER:  Realism and Accuracy

                DBW does not claim to have real people in it.  Franta, Karel and their mates are meant to represent the Czech pilots who flew for the RAF.  Franta could be loosely based on Frantisek Fajtl who followed an arc similar to the movie character.  The movie is realistic in its portrayal of the reluctance of the British to put them into combat.  The movie does a good job in the intercuts to Franta in the labor camp after the war.  These scenes are appropriately bleak.   B

                RT lays it on thick, but it does get the hurdles right.  All the characters are fictional but Col. Bullard is obviously based on Benjamin Davis, Jr.  The depiction of his political battles to keep the unit viable are exaggerated, but get the gist of the opposition.  Most of the major vignettes are true.  The unit did get a reputation for staying with the bombers, two pilots did sink a warship, there was a mission to Berlin that included an encounter with jets.  The legend that the unit never lost a bomber has been proven false, but it is firmly implanted and the producers were not revisionists.  The movie has major weaknesses, but accuracy is not one of them.  As far as the realism, the CGI effects defy reality quite a bit.  B

THIRD QUARTER SCORE:

Red Tails                   23

Dark Blue World     21

FOURTH QUARTER:  Cliches

                Franta and Karel escape from Czechoslovakia in a motorcycle with a side-car.  Karel bales out and meets a British woman who he subsequently proudly introduces to Franta (oops!).  The core group celebrates Machaty’s first kill, but otherwise the movie characters do not do a lot of partying.  Franta’s best friend dies trying to toss him a life raft.  Machaty is a ladies’ man who picks up British chicks by asking for directions.  B

                Their crew chief is always upset when they return with damage to his planes.  Lightning is such a ladies’ man that he woos an Italian girl even though in reality Italian women were discouraged from dating blacks.  Lightning is a hot shot who often breaks formation to go after bandits.  This includes his quest for glory by taking on the destroyer.  The most egregious cliché is the ham-handed inclusion of an evil German pilot that the Red Tails call “Pretty Boy”.  Gag!   C

FINAL SCORE:

Red Tails                    30

Dark Blue World      29

POST-MATCH ANALYSIS:

                Both of these movies were seeded too high.  Neither is particularly good, although DBW has its fans and was more critically acclaimed.  However, in a tournament involving dogfighting, it seems slightly appropriate that the movie that is more about air combat moves on.  Both tell important stories, but RT covers its unit’s history better since DBW is more the story of a few pilots.  RT, with all its laughable flaws, is also more entertaining.