Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Donald Seymour 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.

Ricardo Daly The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

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

LouAbbott As a child, TV I watched "Air Force" and other war films some consider WW II "propaganda" on TV. As a young man, after a night of carousing, I'd come stumbling home and, if a channel were showing these types of films, I'd watch them on the Late, Late Show. Now, I watch these films for the excellent acting, action, and for their historical content significance as "propaganda" films during the dark part of WWII for the US and its allies. When it seemed as if Japan and Germany were conquering the world. And I could also enjoy the action and danger vicariously.Don't kid yourself that Hollywood no longer makes "propaganda" films. They are making them now more than ever. The films are just a different type of "propaganda".

dfwesley You have to have lived in those times to understand them. Just starting junior high school, I was of the age to know this. The hatred and distrust of the Japanese was overwhelming. Furthermore, the war news during the first months was terrible and we needed those "feel good" movies. Hence, such films were necessary and popular. To judge the language and attitudes back then, by how we feel today, lacks understanding. Enough ships were blown up and enemy troops mowed down to satisfy us all. It was enjoyable to see some old favorites like George Tobias, Arthur Kennedy, Harry Carey, and especially, John Garfield. I might say that I never heard, seen, or read about Browning light machine guns fired from the hip as if this was usual practice. I loved the line that bombing the enemy fleet ( despite anti aircraft fire and Zeros) was going to be "fun.". Bravely said, in the movies.

edwagreen Tenacity is definitely the theme of this 1943 film where a group of army men go on a routine trip from San Francisco to Hawaii, and as they approach, the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor leading to the advent of America coming into World War 11.John Garfield is perfect here as the pilot who was removed from his pilot duties, and as expected, he gives that embittered performance, only coming to realize true commitment when war strikes.George Tobias, as Weinberg, is there for comedy relief and he does a wonderful job of it.The dedication of these men who went on to Wake Island and prevent a Japanese attack on Australia is well done. There is a gem of a performance by Harry Carey as an elder officer who is one of the crew who wonders what has happened to his son, the latter stationed in the Philippines. When the news comes, Carey is stoic and carries on his mission. Garfield is the anti-hero here and the part is just perfect for him. Embittered by being dropped from flight school, he shows his mettle when he and the others are caught up in the advent of World War 11. A remarkable film

zardoz-13 Not only did Warner Brothers use the Boeing B-17 bomber as the centerpiece of one of its earliest battle front movies, "Flying Fortress," but the studio also used the bomber as an allegory for American tenacity in "Scarface" director Howard Hawks "Air Force." According to World War II film historian Lawrence Suid, Jack Warner approached U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) commanding officer General Henry 'Hap' Arnold not long after Pearl Harbor about making a film about the USAAF. Suid says that Arnold approved Warner Brothers' request, and the War Department provided the studio with a plethora of information about their planes and pilots, which scenarist Dudley Nichols included in his original screenplay. Warner Brothers' studio chief Jack Warner hired aviation enthusiast Howard Hawks to direct "Air Force," and Hawks started shooting on June 18, 1942, at Drew Air Force Base in Florida and completed the picture four months later on October 26."Air Force" chronicles the routine flight of a B-17 Flying Fortress, nicknamed the 'Mary Ann,' from San Francisco to Hawaii. The crew consisted of an ethnically and geographically diverse group of men, a casting theme that recurred throughout World War II movies and reflected the melting pot identity of America. Unlike MGM's "Bataan" and Twentieth Century Fox's "Crash Drive" (1943), however, Warner Brothers never integrated African-Americans into the ranks of its battle front films.As the 'Mary Ann' approaches Honolulu, the crew hears Japanese gibberish on the radio and is even more shocked by the sight of Japanese planes dropping bombs and strafing the base. The Pearl Harbor flight tower diverts the 'Mary Ann' to Maui where it lands to repair a wheel. When Japanese-American snipers open fire on the fliers, the crew flies to Wake Island where the Marines are preparing their a gallant last stand. At Clark Field, the crew reloads their guns and ascends to battle the Japanese. The 'Mary Ann' is so badly riddled with bullet holes and the skipper so severely wounded that he orders everybody else to bail out. A recalcitrant gunner (John Garfield) who washed out of flying school ignores the skipper's orders and lands the bomber.Frantically, despite their orders to destroy it, the reunited crew patches up the plane. Not only do they load up with bombs, but they also remove the tail section and install a machine gun. The crew manages to get their B-17 off the ground before the Japanese overrun the island. During their flight to Australia, they sight a Japanese fleet, radio their position, and sink some of the ships. As the film draws to a close, the 'Mary Ann' survivors prepare to spearhead an aerial attack on Japan.At a time when the government restricted all Hollywood studios in terms of the money that they could spend on a film, the U.S. Army-Air Force's assistance proved invaluable in giving the film an aura of authenticity. For example, the nine B-17s seen in flight during the early scenes of Air Force were actually filmed on location in Florida by Warner Brothers. When the studio staged Japanese plane crashes and tricky B-17 landings in the jungle, the studio relied on miniatures. According to a War Department letter dated June 6, 1942, "It is the policy of the War Department not to allow soldiers or military equipment to be disguised and photographed as representing the personnel or equipment of foreign countries." The War Department sidestepped its own rule when it helped Warner Brothers produce Air Force. According to Suid, the War Department appointed Captain Samuel Triffy as technical adviser, and Triffy "flew both an Army two-place trainer and a fighter painted with the Rising Sun emblem in the combat sequences portraying Japanese attacks on American aircraft and military positions." Triffy sought as much as possible to ensure that Air Force appeared "as authentic as we could make it under the circumstances." All Howard Hawks' movies are about men bonding as a group. Women are few and far between in "Air Force,' but they populate the storyline. Dudley Nichols' screenplay with help from William Faulkner contains many good scenes. Some are tragic, such as the flight crew chief's story about his son, and some are funny, such as the dog that barks at Japanese. The death scene where the pilot takes off from his hospital bed with his companions helping him simulate this take-off to the big hangar in the sky is memorable. Today, "Air Force" seems quaint and corny, especially the aerial gunner's change of attitude. Initially, the John Garfield character doesn't plan to re-enlist, and he behaves like a complete prima donna, particularly because the 'Mary Ann's' pilot washed him out of pilot school, but the aerial gunner changes his mind when he see Pearl Harbor in flames.The U.S. Government propaganda agency, the OWI-BMP praised "Air Force" for five reasons. First, the crew constituted an ethnic melting pot. Second, the crew's perfect teamwork made the mission of the "Mary Ann" successful. Third, the officials applauded the fact that the filmmakers showered glory on an older mechanic sergeant who maintained the plane rather than on the younger more glamorous pilots. Fourth, as a combat picture, "Air Force" proved exciting without "the pitfall of showing too much blood and suffering." Fifth, the plot emphasized a good-natured rivalry between fighter pilots and bomber pilots. Ultimately, the OWI-BMP found the flaws in "Air Force" "serious but remediable; its good points are very good indeed—well worth the effort to revise the script so that it will perform a truly valuable service of war information." Altogether, "Air Force" is one of the best Allied propaganda movies of World War II.