Touches You

The Worst Film Ever

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

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

Nice flight scenes. We follow the first "Negro" pilots through their training in Alabama, where they suffer the usual insults and some of them are washed out or die. They begin in Boeing biplanes and in advanced training use T-6 Texans. Want to see what a Texan looks like? Watch any movie before CGI, when they invariably impersonated Japanese Zeros. Some of the footage is from gun cameras inserted into the movie, as is some footage from "The Battle of Britain". At one point, attacked by Me-109s, they shoot down a Focke-Wulf 190. And they blow up a Japanese destroyer off Italy.None of this is irritating because the narrative is so strong and the performances are mostly very good, despite the required stilted speeches about whose country are we fighting for. Andre Braugher plays the real-life Benjamin Davis -- and he does it to a T, with little drama and maximum effectiveness. He's an exceptional actor.John Lithgow plays a dilatory senator who has absolute proof that the Negro brain is different from the white brain in a way that makes them sluggish and unfit for aerial combat. It seems crazy now but, difficult as it is to believe, whole swaths of the country felt the same way in 1943. Hell, into 1953 and later.It's not a subtle movie. Nothing is much hinted at or suggested. If there's an emotion it's all spelled out for the view in the dialog "E-M-O-T-I-O-N." And in fact the movie itself, pregnant with promise, is almost ruined by the dialog during dogfights. "Take that, Kraut, and say hello to Hitler for me." That's verbatim and it's straight out of a flag-waving martial movie from the early war years, or out of some comic book.It's well worth catching, especially if you like airplanes as much as I do -- although I must say they haven't treated me well over the years. Just shut your ears through some of the shouting, which falls just short of Henry V's "Once more unto the breach."

So this is an HBO special movie about the true story of the Tuskegee Airmen in WWII. I first saw this movie when I was younger and fell in love with it. I thought it sends a great message to the people who watch it. Such as the understanding that no matter if your black or white, you are still a person who can do anything as good as anyone else.The only real downfall is that the ending is kinda cheesy, like the one white pilot learns the real value of the message. But in all, its very entertaining, and well worth giving it a watch.If you like WWII movies and/or into Air Force movies, I strongly recommend that you add it to your library. If not, give it a watch, you might be surprised.

I am an American History teacher and I really appreciate this film. While for me, I prefer some of the documentaries featuring the actual airmen, this is a great movie for teens and adults (despite the LARGE amount of swearing you'll hear throughout the film). It takes the true story of these pilots and creates a a fictionalized story--changing names as well as taking a bit of a creative license in telling the story. However, in spirit it is very accurate and is an excellent history lesson. What I particularly like is how blunt and directly it deals with prejudice--it doesn't pull punches or take the politically correct route.The movie itself is well-written, directed and acted. In fact the film has an excellent ensemble cast--complete with some famous names (such as Lawrence Fishburn and Cuba Gooding) and lots of faces you'll recognize from TV and movies.Another HBO Production about the Black-American experience that I STRONGLY recommend is MISS EVERS' BOYS. Once again, top-notch production values and an important film for our history.NOTE: The DVD for this film is pretty poor. While all the content of the movie is there, there is little else. A documentary about the pilots and other background information is conspicuously absent. It's a real shame.

I was 17 years old when I first saw this movie on HBO. I was enthralled by WWII history already at this point. This movie opened my eyes to a whole other area of history that was missing in the history books of the small 99.5% white town I grew up in. The challenges these hero's faced just to serve their country they so loved while a good percentage of the country loathed them is deserving of a decoration in and of itself. This is mostly what the movie focuses on. However, the record of the men of 332d is second to none; no other unit in WWII could boast that while escorting, they never lost a bomber. John Lithgow also plays a good bit-part in the movie. He is a much better actor than I because I could never play a part where I had to utter such bigoted garbage as he did in this movie. Laurence Fishburne and Andre Braugher deliver stellar performances as Hannibal Lee and the great military leader Benjamin O. Davis. This film is a definite must see for any WWII history fan and a great movie for everyone else. Too bad it was never released in the box office I think it would have faired well.