Wonderfully offbeat film!

Crappy film

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Anyone assuming this film is about World War I aviation will be seriously disappointed. More than half the film is about Thad Walker (Tab Hunter) who deserts from the Lafayette Escadrille to be with his French girl friend. The only footage of a dogfight is almost at the end of the film and lasts about three minutes. Walker improbably is forgiven for his desertion and gets a commission (!) in the U.S. Army Air Corps. The film overlooks the little detail that while he was with his girl friend the other pilots were all undergoing training; no mention of how Walker learned to fly a plane during his desertion, though the film may have skipped over a time period for this to happen. The movie ends on a note so implausible that it fools no one, and issue other reviewers have noted was due to the studio putting in an ending that differed from William Wellman's version (he quit). I am in sympathy with Wellman who after all directed the Academy award-winning "Wings." "Lafayette Escadrille" is NOT the film Wellman really wanted to make, done in by a mediocre script and a low budget.

Every scene between Thad and what's-her-name dragged the movie down. Sorry, the movie is called "Lafayette Escadrille", not "Thad and, Whomever Get Hitched." Yaaaaaaaaaawwn. David Janssen was terrific. Always a solid performance from him and the rest of the cast was also splendid to watch. Why William Wellman, Jr. didn't get better parts is beyond me. A great actor, nah, but did a nice job. Sure, Tab Hunter was used by the studio as the draw and I enjoyed his performance, and I guess having a love interest isn't a crime, but it took up way too much of the film and frankly ruined the whole experience for me. I'm not against love stories, I've enjoyed my share, but when it becomes a focal point of a movie that's supposed to be about the Lafayette Escadrille, well, let's put it this way; I watched it after recording it and ended up using the fast forward button.What I found truly sad was, this should have been a superior film about the directors personal experiences and featuring his own son playing him. How rare an opportunity is that? As I read in the 'trivia', I guess the studio is to blame. That sickens me. Movie executives can be block headed, simpleminded twerps just like TV executives. What should have been a brilliant and fascinating film, was a mediocre crapshoot. How very, very sad.

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.

***CAUTION SPOILERS AHEAD***This film is a depiction of American Flyers flying for the French in World War I. Tab Hunter joins Clint Eastwood and David Jansen in their early roles. Eastwood has very few lines if he speaks at all in this film. The film is very silly to be a Wellman film. Tab Hunter goes to fly for the French after he's caught stealing cars in his neighborhood and damn near kills a man in doing so. So after a tense confrontation with his father, Hunter hops of a slow boat to France where he nor any other member of his group can speak a word of French. Somehow, Hunter get's mixed up with a French Girl and it's obvious that he has his mind on her throughout most of this film. Hunter then is imprisoned for striking his drill instructor. So to get him out, his buddies start a ruckus to distract the guards and they get him out to flee to the big city to hide with his girl. After pleading with an officer to get him back in the air after screwing up so many times, Hunter get's back in the war and shoots down a few German planes and then wins over his girl. That's about all to expect from this movie. Leonard Rosenman's score is very good and William Clothier cinematography isn't bad but that really all this film had going for it. Don't let the cover art fool you because it's meant to make this film look more interesting than it really is. **1/2 out of ****