cooleyn

I haven't seen a thread on this one, so I'd like to see if I can kick one off.

One of my favourite war movies, it stars Cliff Robertson as the dashing but war-weary Squadron Leader picked to undertake a dangerous mission to attack a factory (making rocket fuel for V-weapons) deep inside a Norwegian Fjord.

Possibly one of the worst examples of "fashionable" mis-casting is included in the film, with George Chakiris (at the time, the star of West Side Story) slotted into a sort of cameo role as a Norwegian resistance agent.

Other stars include the magnificent Harry Andrews, plus dear old Angus Glennie from "Crossroads" fame (if fame is the right word) playing a cockney navigator to Cliff Robertson.

Harry Andrews gets the best line in the film: At the end, when none of the aircraft have returned, the station Intelligence Officer complains to him:

"But they could all be dead - all 633 Squadron !"

To which Andrews fixes him with a steely glare and declares:

"You can't kill a Squadron."

Roll credits, cue music - lovely stuff . . .

The real stars, of course, are the wonderful Mosquito aircraft and the rousing theme tune, that still gets used in adverts and the like today. The film of the Mosquitos thundering through the Scottish Highlands during training, while the theme music blares away, is one of the most memorable of any war movie.

Real Mosquitos were used (although none fly in the UK now) and in fact, one was even deliberately wrecked for the very realistic wheels-up crash-landing scene, then set on fire and allowed to burn.

On a boring note of triviality, the story was based on Banff Strike Wing, the only Mosquito force that ever undertook attacks inside Norwegian Fjords - except that they did it on a daily basis between 1944 and 1945. One of the Squadrons was actually numbered 333 Squadron. The similarities between the dashing, real-life leader of the wing - Max Aitken - and the fictional character Grant that Cliff Robertson plays, are obvious.

This is Max Aitken at Banff (in north east Scotland) in the spring of 1945. I was one of the trustees who raised money to build a memorial to the wing and the 85 men who died flying with it.

gillb

Yes I loved this film when I first saw it as a child and the music still gets me.

Surprisingly the music was used for the Dance GSCE Performance module this last year. I would have thought it a most unlikely piece of music to have to dance to but the pupils in my daughter's class put together a performance that really captured the spirit of it all!!

wearysloth

...and the lovely Katy Wild in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment.

Mr Lucas did lift the last chunk of Star Wars from here almost intact down to the cover-me-red-leader-I'm-going-in type dialogue.

...and poor George Chakiris, what a bad day at the office for him.

Great stuff.

ChristineCB

I loved seeing these planes fly, and wish they were more plentiful.

Harleybloke

Can't have been such a bad day with a sister like his..................

.....You couldn't hear it, if they were shooting at me with howitzers!

christoph404

The flying sequences are superb, some of it looks like its filmed in the Glens of the Scottish Highlands , I say that because there looks to be lots of distinctive Heather growing on the hills. ( Heather as you know is a shrub for any of you funny smart alecs thinking of making a rude joke!...) Angus Lennie had his 15 minutes of fame in the 60s it would seem, before crash landing into TV soap land of the worst kind, Crossroads! He was pretty good in The Great Escape and hangs dramatically on the barbed wire after being shot by a German machine gunner. If your going to die in a movie can't think of a better scenario than having Steve McQueen as your best buddy who tries to save you!....

stevie boy

also Johnny Briggs

Santonix

Some of it was filmed in the Scottish Highlands and they used Dalcross airfield (Inverness) as their Highland base whilst shooting these scenes.

NappieB

Couple of points:

1) I REALLY dislike Cliff Robertson... so I would have been very happy if he had switched roles with George Chakiris! Or have been removed from the cast altogether...if they needed an American , my vote would have been for William Holden.

2) A bit off-topic (but not entirely) I've often thought it would be interesting (at least for posterity!) to document the best WW II warplanes by category:

Here's a starter:

Best Fighter Bomber - DeHavilland Mosquito

Best Night Fighter - Messerschmidt 110

Best fighter - tied: Supermarine Spitfire/ P51 Mustang /(maybe) Focke Wulf 190 D

Best Heavy Bomber - Avro Lancaster (night time)

Best Heavy Bomber - B29 Superfortress / B-17 Flying forteress / B-29 Liberator

Best All-Around Anti-ship/Submarine Aircraft - Bristol Beaufighter

Best WW II jet Aircraft - Messerschmidt 262

Best WW II reconaissance plane - Feisseler Storch

and so on...

(OK, I know this will be controversial!)

"The future is yet to come" - George W. Bush

penfold

It didn't see active service, but the Ho 229 was the most extraordinary design, and still looks futuristic now. Several prototypes were built and flown, one survives in the NASM in the States....

The construction was all-wood, with steel heat shields for the twin jet exhausts which emerged over the wing roots. Very light, very formidable, and the resemblance to the post-war Northrop flying wings, and current stealth technology, pretty obvious. This was the fighter-bomber version; there were plans for an enlarged six-engined bomber to bomb New York...

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Steve Crook

I think you'd have to classify some of them, especially the fighters, year by year rather than over the whole war. There were quite drastic design changes over that period and sometimes one had a big advantage for a while, then another one would be changed to overcome that advantage and to give it an advantage of its own. Yes, a real arms race in the middle of the war

Steve

Marky B

I remember seeing George Chakiris in an extended musical epsiode of Last Of the Summer Wine,words and music by Bill Owen. West Side Story it certainly wasn't.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

cooleyn

Did Norah Batty dance around singing;

"PA-PA-PA IN YO-ORKSHIRE ! PA-PA-PA IN YO-ORKSHIRE!

No, didn't think so . . . .

christoph404

Ah...I thought so! thanks for that info

cooleyn

I found these still on a website about RAF Bovington, where some of the ground scenes were filmed. Take a look - interesting pics!




And here's one of a Bomber version Mossie with it's glazed nose painted over to represent a fighter version for the movie.