Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Lee Novak The Japs would NOT sign a defeat Treaty UNLESS they were Convinced after a SECOND Atomic Bomb that it's time to pack it in and find a new way of life. In fact their Ego was SO misguided,that for YEARS Jap Soldiers still hid in caves waiting for their next order. ROBERT TAYLOR plays Colonel Paul Tibbets,the pilot who's Bomber plane "The Enola Gay" (named after his Mother)put an end to Japanese delusions in World War II. Colonel Tibbets under personal and G.I. Strain,manages to pull it off. Eleanor Parker as his Wife,almost loses it a few times,as not knowing what his actual mission is,nor did MOST of the military personnel who were actually involved. This is an important film and should be a MUST see for present generations.

mannerin2005 Better "Under and Far Below". For the lower point that the human existence can reach.An absolute disgrace is the hymnal to the consequently unrepentant beast, "The Man (enormous euphemism) Who Brought The Doom"* literally. The story refers to actual historical events and persons with publicly available life, but... . The whole and only attempt of the film appears to be, through consecration of the unscrupulous main character, by attributing to him an obviously falsified moral foundation (that of an ethical cogitator, though victimized by an unjust and insatiable war), the justification of the inexcusable monstrosity of Hiroshima's extermination for all its liable participants.After all, trying to be designated as a hero, through the scenario, the protagonist of the historical reality, an intrinsically heinous criminal (350.000 approx. were/are the first victims of his own hands, under orders or not makes no difference), is highly agitating. *Ref.: The Smithsonian's documentary title, on the occasion of the unblessed remorseless monster's death, "The Men(???) Who Brought The Dawn(???)".

bkoganbing The actual development of the atomic bomb was documented in films like The Beginning or the End and in Fat Man and Little Boy. Above and Beyond concentrates on the pilot of the B-29 that actually did the deed.Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker play Colonel and Mrs. Paul Tibbetts who's marriage was put under an incredible strain due to the security surrounding his assignment. Taylor was between his marriages to Barbara Stanwyck and Ursula Thiess and was involved with Parker at the time Above and Beyond was being filmed. Probably that helped a lot during the romantic interludes in the film.Because this film sticks to the personal story of the Tibbetts marriage and avoids all the debate about the use of the atomic bomb, it still holds up well for today's audience. In the supporting cast I would have to single out James Whitmore who plays the security head at Wendover field where Tibbetts is training the potential crew for the mission as the most outstanding. He's virtually the only one Taylor can bare his stoic soul to with the assignment he has.Even with the debate over Hiroshima still raging I would still recommend viewing this film.

Slim-4 This film tells the story of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Pilot Tibbets is played by Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker portrays his wife. The rest of the cast includes a bunch familiar faces, but the performances are standard. Taylor does a particularly good job as the officer tormented by the morality of his task and the disintegration of his marriage.This film has some good moments. One of them is uncharacteristically humorous. The colonel comes home one afternoon to hear sounds from the kitchen. His wife tells him that she has found someone to fix the plumbing. "Who?", enquires Taylor. "One of the sanitary engineers", she says, referring to the men in white coats she pointed out to her husband upon their arrival. The plumber turns out to be one of the scientists with the Manhattan Project. "He is very nice," she says, "but he's very smart."Another powerful moment is when the "Enola Gay" drops the bomb on Hiroshima. There is one word of dialogue in this scene. Taylor looks at the mushroom cloud and says "God." The enormity of this moment does not need words, and the film delivers.The film makes a sincere effort to deal with the morality of the bomb. In one scene the general questions Tibbets' feelings about his mission. If I wasn't concerned about what I'm about to do he says I wouldn't be much of a man. After dropping the bomb, he angrily responds to a reporter's question about how he feels about killing 80,000 people by saying "How do your reader's feel?" When his wife hears what he has done she retreats to her room in silence, ignoring the eager reporters.I found the scene in which Tibbets is selected for his mission to be problematic. It is hard to buy in to the premise that an officer would be rewarded for insubordination by a top-secret assignment.This film was a bit too long, but it is well worth watching. It may not be fun to watch the story of the atom bomb, but it is a story that deserved to be told. The movie does a credible job with it and should be recognized for that.