Very best movie i ever watch

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is my first review so I am going to caution against seeing a SPOILER since I am not real sure what might or might not be one. I will try to avoid intentional spoilers though. This is more of a history lesson than a movie review but, you have to understand the former to appreciate the latter. My point is that the movie is titled "Lafayette Escadrille." If you don't know what that is and what it means likely, you still won't after watching this film, and that's a shame because there is a real, very dramatic story to tell here. Sadly, this film fails miserably in doing so. Worse, it gives a pretty miserable impression of that organization and its members by focusing on a horrible example of (a fictional) one. The "Lafayette Escadrille"(French for "squadron") was a squadron of American volunteer fliers for France in WWI before America entered that conflict. Not to be confused with the "Lafayette Flying Corps" which referred to all Americans flying in different French squadrons, the L. Escarille only had 38 American pilots during it's French service(The "Valiant 38"). It was an elite unit made up of remarkable young men. They risked losing their US Citizenship, flew in flimsy, highly flammable aircraft with NO parachutes. Their planes were unheated and open to 100+ mph wind streams in freezing temperatures, their engines ejected a constant stream of castor oil that they breathed and which coated their faces and planes in a highly flammable glaze, there was no oxygen for higher altitude flying. Imagine spending up to 2 hours in such conditions and then fighting for your life with very skilled enemies in aircraft as good or better than your own. When just flying took an act of courage, fighting in these machines took a special kind of courage above and beyond the norm. Those are the men represented by the title of this film. But, the main character hardly appears before it's clear he suffers from cowardice. He soon goes down and becomes a deserter and takes up residence with a French woman. Their relationship and this man as a coward hiding out make up the bulk of the film. Finally, shame overcomes him and he makes his return. I won't reveal the details of that event but suffice it to say, that wraps up the film.So in summary, this film with the title of heroes is really about a coward, a deserter and his romance with a French girl. Hardly a fitting testament to the "Valiant 38." It may be an "entertaining film" with creditable performances by its cast members but, I am so put off by it I cannot recommend it. I watched it once decades ago and I have not nor will I ever watch it again.

This movie is another one on my List of Movies Not To Bother With. Saw it 40 years ago as an adolescent, stayed up late to do so, was very annoyed to find that it was about 95% romance,4% everything else, 1% history if that. It's what I call a bait and switch movie, one with an interesting title, the actual movie is a scam. This is a subject which deserves a good cinematic treatment, this movie is almost an insult to those who served. The actual members of the Lafayette Escadrille were not on the run from the law nor were they the products of abusive homes, they were in reality idealists who wanted to do something to help France. And I suspect many of them came from a more upper class background than Tab Hunter's character. Flying school is not for the smart alecks and the know it alls, an individual such as the one portrayed here wouldn't have lasted two days, it would have either been the stockade or the infantry. Discipline in the French Army was often rather fierce. In short, another Hollywierd version of an historical episode that deserves proper treatment.

A project very close to director William Wellman's heart, this semi-autobiographical account of his escapades in the title organization during WWI only partly succeeds. Hunter is a shiftless and troublesome youth who, after stealing a car and causing an accident, decides to enlist in a French air corp which allows American men to wear French uniforms and fight the war against Germany (the U.S. not having entered the war at this point.) On the sea voyage to France, Hunter meets up with older man Janssen and young, eager enlistees Hover and Wellman Jr (playing his own father.) They've scarcely downed their first glass of beer in a cafe when Hunter falls under the spell of misty-eyed French girl Choureau. He disappears with her for ten days, only resurfacing in time for his adventures in the Escadrille. The men are shown training for their flight careers in a comic, credibility-straining way with a bumbling Drillmaster barely able to communicate with them. Eventually, they take to the air and help the cause, though Hunter (due to his obsessive love for Choreau) runs into more trouble than he was in to begin with! Here the film becomes less about the Lafayette Escadrille and more about the troubled and contrived affairs of the young lovers. The films strengths lie in the cheerful, fraternity-like interactions of the men (even if narrator Wellman dwells on each one in the beginning, denoting their ultimate fate before the viewers have even met them), many of whom are played by actors who were just on the verge of greater things. It's interesting to see men like Halsey, Hutchins, Laughlin and especially Eastwood in these roles, though their lack of screen time ultimately becomes a bit of a frustration because their fame lends their smallish roles more weight than they were probably meant to have. Another big plus is gloriously handsome and beaming Hunter, though his looks are altered part way through the film. His charm is utilized throughout to help smooth over his character's selfish and foolish edges. It's also nice to get a glimpse into this little-known aspect of WWI and Wellman clearly wanted to bring various remembrances and details of his experience to the film. What doesn't work is the unevenness in tone of the film. It sways wildly from slapstick comedy to soapy romance to documentary to action. The title suggests a survey of the air corp along with action and aerial sequences (which do occur), yet the film turns into a "Let's Play House" love story complete with unintelligible murmurings from Choreau and a loopy, boozing, one-armed hotelier. This division of focus does more against the film than for it. Though he did manage to carve out a minor Hollywood career for himself, it should be noted that Wellman Jr, though amiable, gives a very stiff, flat performance as his father (though it couldn't have been easy to step into the role and be directed by Wellman Sr!) Hunter is beautiful and gives a committed performance. Janssen doesn't get to do a lot more than smart off and the rest of the men don't appear all that much (but they do show off their attractive physiques occasionally.) There is a (non-PC by today's standards) hilarious little part played by Nakamura as the men's human alarm clock and coffee pourer. In all, an okay film that could have been much better if the focus had remained where it belonged, which is on the fighting men of the Lafayette Escadrille. Studio tampering led to a happier ending for Hunter's character than was intended, much to Wellman's dismay.

There isn't much here more than a great director's swan song. Tab Hunter's acting is pretty good (!?) but not enough to lift the drab GI-in-love-with-a-French-woman theme. Most of the flying scenes don't match the ones from the director's 30s films. If you're interested in the director's career, don't skip this, you'll enjoy the themes and the depiction of air combat. Also Leonard Rosenman's score is a stand-out. But if you're not a Wellman fan you won't remember this a month after you've seen it. Wellman is one of the great American directors; see everything else and watch for the evidence of his skills that are sadly not to be found here.