AIR FORCE Movie Review

1943 Howard Hawks

Though Howard Hawks's adventure opens with a quote from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, that's not really the tone of high seriousness he's aiming for. As the title suggests, Air Force is a flying road movie that traces the highly improbable but fact-based adventures of one B-17 flying fortress in the first days of the war.

On December 6, 1941, the Mary Ann is one of nine bombers that fly from San Francisco to Hick-am Field, Hawaii. In charge is Capt. “Irish” Quincannon (John Ridgely); the co-pilot is Lt. Bill Williams (Gig Young). The new guy who joins the crew just before the flight is Lt. Winocki (John Garfield), a cynic with a secret in his past who's counting the days until he can leave the Army Air Force. Lt. “Monk” Hauser (Charles Drake), the navigator, will never live up to the legacy of his father, who flew with the Lafayette Escadrille in World War I. Pvt. Chester (Ray Montgomery), the new radioman, has a teary farewell with his mother on the runway. Cpl. Weinberg (George Tobias), the obligatory New Yorker, provides comic relief. Sgt. White (Harry Carey Sr.) is the mechanic who keeps Mary Ann in the air no matter what. The ensemble may sound familiar—the same sort of group has certainly been brought together often enough—but before it's over, these guys become more believable than most. And before it's over, they go through a lot.

The Japanese attack while the plane is en route to Hawaii. As soon as they land, they're ordered to continue west, to Wake Island for refueling and then on to the Philippines, where the next attack is expected. Fighter jock Lt. Rader (James Brown) hitches a ride. From that moment, Air Force is a series of out-of-the-frying-pan-and-into-the-fire episodes as the plane and the crew become more deeply involved in the opening conflicts of the war. Though the film is more than two hours long, it never seems slow because director Howard Hawks and writers Dudley Nichols and an uncredited William Faulkner keep things moving so swiftly. The veteran Nichols (The Lost Patrol, The Informer, Stagecoach, Bringing Up Baby) and Faulkner, who's listed as dialogue director and reportedly created two scenes, keep the ensemble balanced. The script moves among the characters and reveals their quirks and conflicts gradually as tumultuous events explode around them and they are transformed from a group of individuals into a cohesive unit.

Though most of the landing and take-off scenes are accomplished with special effects that seem far too obvious today, Hawks uses real airplanes whenever he can. He also films some scenes inside a B-17, and the sets used to re-create aircraft interiors have a realistic feeling, too. Hawks had been a pilot in the first World War and had already proven himself with two of the best aviation films, Dawn Patrol and Only Angels Have Wings, before he came to this one. All that experience keeps the incredulity of the plot from overpowering the audience's disbelief, because, as silly as it sometimes seems, Air Force is hugely entertaining. The aerial combat scenes in the second half are superb, though again, some contemporary viewers may be bothered by the jarring difference between the actual footage and the effects.

That criticism misses the point. The film is a fantasy based on real events, and meant to uplift audiences in 1943. It still does.

Cast: John Garfield (Sgt. Winocki), John Ridgely (Capt. Quincannon), Gig Young (Lt. Bill Williams), Arthur Kennedy (Lt. Tommy McMartin), Charles Drake (Lt. Hauser), Harry Carey Sr. (Sgt. White), George Tobias (Cpl. Weinberg), Ray Montgomery (Pvt. Chester), James Brown (Lt. Rader), Stanley Ridges (Maj. Mallory), Willard Robertson (Colonel), Moroni Olsen (Commanding Officer), Edward Brophy (Sgt. Callahan), Richard Lane (Maj. Roberts), Faye Emerson (Susan McMartin), Addison Richards (Maj. Daniels), James Flavin (Maj. Bagley), Ann Doran (Mary Quincannon), Dorothy Peterson (Mrs. Chester), William Forrest (Cmdr. Harper), Ward Wood (Cpl. Peterson); Written by: Dudley Nichols, William Faulkner; Cinematography by: James Wong Howe, Elmer Dyer, Charles A. Marshall; Music by: Franz Waxman. Producer: Hal B. Wallis, Warner Bros. Awards: Academy Awards '43: Best Film Editing; Nominations: Academy Awards '43: Best Black and White Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay. Running Time: 124 minutes. Format: VHS, Closed Caption.