Redundant and unnecessary.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Robert Redford got one of his best roles in The Great Waldo Pepper which was directed by George Roy Hill who did right by him with Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid and The Sting. It does a wonderful job of capturing a bygone era of the Twenties when after World War I, the airplane was a big toy played with by some big kids.The airplane got invented just in time for use in the war to end all wars. But no one figured out quite what to do with it. In point of fact it didn't have the capacity to drop bombs on the enemy to do that much damage. In the trench warfare days the real function was scouting those enemy lines to see and report on troop dispositions. But the other side did the same thing. So when they met dogfights happened. They were colorful and exciting, but didn't really do much militarily.Aces got their reputations like the real life Baron Von Richtofen and Hermann Goering and the fictional Ernest Kessler as played by Bo Brundin here. Waldo Pepper in the Great War came up too late to show his stuff even though his former squadron leader Geoffrey Lewis says he was the most natural flier he ever saw. He had a brief encounter with Brundin days before the Armistice where Brundin let him off. He never got a chance to prove himself. Now he proves himself every day in the various flying circuses doing daredevil stunts. People who fly do it for the love it and won't be happy going 9 to 5 on the ground. Redford is at the height of his abilities and this is his frustration that he never got to show his stuff in the arena where it really counted. Redford did a wonderful job in fleshing this aspect of his character.But his world is changing, if the military has put aviation on hold there are lots of commercial uses. And a guy named Herbert Hoover who Secretary of Commerce at that time spearheaded the creation of the Civil Aeronautics Agency to regulate air traffic. Airplanes would be hauling mail and people and would soon be large enough to haul freight. Not a world that calls for daredevil daring.The Great Waldo Pepper is one of Robert Redford's best films and roles. The Great Robert Redford has this part really nailed down. Some other folks in the cast are a tragic Edward Herrmann who hasn't got the skill as a pilot that Redford has and shows it. Susan Sarandon plays a budding wing walker who also perishes tragically in one of her early roles. George Roy Hill assembled a great supporting cast to back up Redford.In the end it's Redford who makes The Great Waldo Pepper great.

Watching all these wonderful actors in their prime, the great storyline and the great cinematography for the first time has had me enthralled. This is a really enjoyable film with considerable depth. In my mind it is an exploration of the competitive nature of the flyers themselves - whether friends or rivals, one soon becomes acutely aware of their constant need to push their limits, not only amongst themselves but also within themselves. For some reason this film is only averaging a rating of 6.4, and it deserves much more than that, so my vote will hopefully help to reflect a more appropriate rating for what is a really enjoyable movie.Even if you are not into aviator flicks, you will enjoy this movie - it is an excellent example of the filmmakers and scriptwriters art. I give it my heartiest recommendation.

This movie has special significance for me because I first saw it as ateenager. Yet it holds up as a great movie for me 28 years after it wasmade (unlike some others I could name).I like Robert Redford in almost anything, and he's at his best here asa barnstorming pilot in the 1920s who pretends to have seen more actionin World War One than he did. He made me feel for the character when hesaid, "It should have been me" after rival flyer Axel Olsen exposed himas a "four-flusher" for claiming he was a key figure in a famous battle.Pepper finally gets his chance to go up against the German World War Oneace Ernst Kessler (perhaps loosely based on the real German ace ErnstUdet) as a stunt pilot in a movie crew.The dialogue scenes between Pepper and Kessler leading up to theclimactic dogfight are the best part of the movie, even though Kessler'slines seemed to be written more in the interest of serving the plot thanin serving the character. The idea that Kessler was a man who only felt at home in the air, forwhom nothing worked out well on the ground, resonated with me, as it didwith Pepper, who felt the same way.In closing, I'd like to mention the beginning of the movie when WaldoPepper lands at a small town in Iowa to offer airplane rides. Hepromises a free ride at the end of the day to a boy named Scooter if hewill tote a 5-gallon gas can back and forth from the filling station tokeep Pepper's plane fueled. The song that plays over the opening credits during this sequence hasstuck with me for 28 years. I heard it again in 1992 while attending aboot camp graduation ceremony at the Great Lakes Naval Recruit TrainingCommand and remembered it from the movie. I don't know the name of it,but I love that song.Anyway, at the end of the day Scooter asks for his free ride and Peppersays he only promised that to get him to haul gas. He never takes kidsfor rides. Whether the character is kidding or not isn't clear, but itcertainly seems that Scooter (and his dog) get the best ride of the day. That sequence establishes Pepper as a decent, if somewhat slipperycharacter and gets the m

This is simply a fun movie. The flying scenes are great to watch and sometimes filled with suspense. Its simply an adventure that traces Waldo after flying in WWI to getting money from small communities for stunt flying to flying for Hollywood. There is no deep thought here and the plot is not that great but it has fun action. I am not sure if I would rent it, but its worth watching if you see that its on cable somewhere.