A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Blistering performances.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Anthony Mann and James Stewart paired up for numerous features in the 1950s, their best work being that in the western genre. STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND is something different, a look at the workings of a bomber command crew during the Cold War. Stewart gives an effortlessly likeable performance as the family man battling with duty at home and at work, while the all-colour production certainly looks nice and aeroplane fans will be delighted by the technology of the era. It's certainly watchable enough for fans of the actor and movies of the era. However, it's all a little too worthy, a little too dull. The drama that evolves is rather predictable in nature and all of the bits with June Allyson merely drag. You can't help but think a WW2-themed movie would have been more satisfying.

James Stewart flew more than 26 combat missions in WWII as the commander of a B-24. The infamous Ploesti oil field raids were the most dangerous of the war, and he flew a B-24 50ft off the deck on several runs.This was a great man, and a fine, fine actor. His commitment to the U.S. Air Force SAC command resonated in this film. His courage in WWII and the courage and sacrifice of that entire WWII generation has been forgotten in what is left of America---the remaining oldsters of that generation, and their baby-boomer offspring who did not sandblast their brains with pot and booze back in the 60s and 70s being the only group that would enjoy this film and remember what it was all like back then. The rest of the "citizens' of this country register nothing when WWI or II is talked about. They do not even remember the Cold War and the hammer of nukes we all lived under, and still are threatened by.The massive 10-engined (6 props, 4 jets) B-36 was the iconic cornerstone of 50s bomber tech. A magnificent leviathan that could fly for days at very high altitudes, and carry massive amounts of dumb bombs, or, in one aircraft, enough H-bombs to end the world. Google the B-36 and gaze upon an almost surrealistic machine that broke plates, glasses and windows when it flew over with a basso profundo propeller sound unlike anything ever heard before or since.I remember my father pointing them out, very high in the sky, white contrails feathering back for miles behind them....and that roar.....distant and discordant...you could hear a B-36 fly over even at 40,000 feet."Strategic Air Command" was an extended showpiece for that airplane, and a beautiful piece of music, "Symphony of Flight" carries the film into the in-flight scenes that make the movie so transcending of an admittedly formulaic human drama. It is an amazing historical piece that actually shows the transition from props to full jets that the Air Force went through in the 50s. At the end, there is pristine footage of the B-47, the first U.S. jet bomber, and Stewart has an adventure with that.The cockpit shots of the B-36 and B-47 probably drove Russian spies to a frenzy, but for an aviation buff they were the stuff of dreams.The crash landing of Stewart's B-36 was done in miniature format, and actually was a weak point of the film. The model was too small to make the crash look realistic---Howard and Theodore Lydecker could have knocked that scene out of the park.....the bad weather landing of the B-47 at the end of the film was also done in miniature, and looked better, reminding me of how much fun special effects must have been in the pre-CGI days.For an intimate look at a huge Cold warrior, and some beautiful music, plus a look at June Allyson's legs that could make the whole movie for you, I highly recommend "Strategic Air Command"

Interesting story of Dutch Holland (James Stewart) and his wife (June Allyson) and their involvement with the Strategic Air Command of the U.S. Air Force in the post-war years. Holland, an ex bomber pilot, is now a successful third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals and has just signed a contract for seventy thousand bucks. His career is interrupted when the Air Force activates his reserve status and he's hauled back in for 21 months. Holland has a lot of catching up to do but learns to love flying the huge B-36 and then the slim B-47. He's a good officer and reenlists, which perturbs his wife, but a bad shoulder forces him out of the Air Force and, presumably, he goes back to baseball as a coach or manager.The movie is practically a recruitment film for the Strategic Air Command, promoting self sacrifice for the sake of a nation on the brink of war. The incidents we witness are familiar from earlier war movies. All that's missing is the war itself.June Allyson plays June Allyson, the steadfast, common-sense wife, who endorses Stewart's first hitch but balks at the second. Some sit-com humor is gotten out of their adjustment to military life. They move from a prosperous-looking home into a standard typical spare functional monochromatic generic Monopoly Air Force house. The re-introduction to military routine is played for some sarcasm too. Stewart has gone for a medical check up but he's late. "Well, honey, they go over you from head to foot here, and they've only gotten down to my throat." There is the requisite cigar-chomping tough general, modeled after the brave but reckless Curtis LeMay who ran SAC at the time. The tedium of being checked out on various airplanes is omitted. And there is a soaring score by Victor Young that almost adds lift to the wings of those stone-heavy B-36s.Interesting airplanes, B-36s. The largest combat airplane ever produced. As in a training film, the story guides us through the vast interior of this machine, crowing a bit over the 80-foot-long "Holland Tunnel" that connects the fore and aft compartments. The thing was a dinosaur, of course, designed during WWII to deliver bombs from the US to Germany in case Britain fell, slow, ungainly and obsolescent almost from the beginning. The B-47 represented a new paradigm -- twice as fast and with a crew of only three men. And the B-36s replacement, the B-52, has had a service life of half a century. There are also a few proud shots of Globemaster transports, huge things, seen swallowing an 18-wheeler whole from its open maw, like a python swallowing a shoat. It seems impossible.Gorgeous shots of airplanes in flight. (In fact, the photography, by seasoned pro William H. Daniels, is superb.) Seeing this spacious bomber fly from Texas to Alaska and back without refueling generates a desire to be aboard. There's even a built-in coffee station. Maybe glazed donuts with sprinkles.I've seen it twice and enjoyed it both times despite the stereotypical script. The airplanes make the rest of it worthwhile.

This film reeks of production line planning. It appears like the filmmakers looked at recent hit movies, and threw spaghetti on the screen - Jimmy Stewart! June Allyson! Anthony Mann! Baseball! War! Baby! Airplane! - ROLL 'EM! - The film does address the age of the Stewart/Allyson performers; though, I'm certain we are still supposed to think they are much younger.There are messages in "Strategic Air Command" I found curiously shocking and offensive, but I'll stick with one truly wretched element: The happily married couple is challenged when Mr. Stewart's character makes an important decision without consulting his wife. In the film's most dramatic scene, she calls him on it. It ends completely unresolved - Allyson is crying her heart out on their bed, and Stewart walks out on her. NO discussion; he simply says he is correct, and walks out on his devastated wife. For all he knows, she could slit her wrists.Later, Allyson apologizes for questioning her husband's decision.Unbelievable! Stick with Stewart-Allyson in "The Stratton Story" (1949). ** Strategic Air Command (3/25/55) Anthony Mann ~ James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy