Bombardier (film)
Bombardier | |
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Directed by | Richard Wallace |
Written by |
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Produced by | Robert Fellows |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Nicholas Musuraca |
Edited by | Robert Wise |
Music by | Roy Webb |
Distributed by | RKO Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2 million (US rentals)[1] |
Bombardier is a 1943 film
The film follows the training of six bombardier candidates, seen through the differences between the two USAAF pilots in charge of their training over the efficacy of precision bombing.
Brigadier General Eugene L. Eubank, commander of the first
I want you to know about a new kind of American soldier, the most important of all our fighting men today. He is most important because upon him, finally, depends the success of any mission in which he participates. The greatest bombing plane in the world, with its combat crew, takes him into battle, through weather, through enemy opposition, just so he may have 30 seconds over the target. In those 30 seconds, he must vindicate the greatest responsibility ever placed upon an individual soldier in line of duty. I want you to know about him, and about those who had the faith and vision and foresight to bring him into being, to fit him for his task, long months before our war began.
Plot
In 1941, at a staff meeting in Washington, D.C., two officers of the
As the first class nears graduation at the new bombardier training school, Davis arrives with M/Sgt. Archie Dixon to take command. Davis is discomfited by the presence of so many civilian women clerks, including Burton "Burt" Hughes, the daughter of a respected Air Corps general and now a secretary. Davis is brusque with Burt and she observes he could use some training in manners.
Oliver arrives with the next cadet class, including Tom Hughes, Burt's brother. Davis is mildly disturbed to learn that Oliver and Burt have a romantic history. Davis attempts to make up with Burt. Preflight ground school reveals many shortcomings: Tom Hughes has trouble with fear-induced air sickness, Joe Connors with commitment issues, and "Chito" Rafferty with the lack of women on the base.
Connors tells Davis that a
On a subsequent flight, Oliver passes out from
At the base, Oliver, now a
Oliver and the remainder of his crew, including Dixon, are captured. Their Japanese captors execute the other crew members to coerce Oliver and Dixon into revealing the location of their base, but Dixon overwhelms his guard and attempts to escape. He is machine gunned in the attempt, but the shots also set fire to a truck carrying barrels of gasoline. Oliver drives the burning truck throughout the factory, setting fire to its camouflage netting and fulfills his mission, knowing he will be killed by his own men. The B-17 group fights off Japanese fighters and successfully destroys the target.
Cast
- Brig. Gen. Eugene L. Eubank as Himself
- Pat O'Brien as Major "Chick" Davis
- Randolph Scott as Captain "Buck" Oliver
- Anne Shirley as Burton "Burt" Hughes
- Eddie Albert as Cadet Tom Hughes
- Walter Reed as Cadet Jim Carter
- Robert Ryan as Cadet Joe Connors
- Barton MacLane as Master Sergeant Archie Dixon
- Leonard Strong as Japanese Officer
- Richard Martin as Cadet Ignacius "Chito" Rafferty[Note 1]
- Russell Wade as Cadet Paul Harris
- John Miljan as Chaplain Charlie Craig
- Charles Russell as Instructor
- John Calvert as Calvert – The Magician (uncredited)
Production
Development
RKO Pictures began Bombardier as a project in 1940, with several rewrites to incorporate changes in world events.[3] With full cooperation of the United States Army Air Forces, the film was in production from October 12 to December 18, 1942, with six weeks of the filming done on location at Kirtland Army Air Base.[4] All the aviation cadets in training at the base were used as extras, and veteran aircrews assigned to the school as instructors flew the B-17s used in formation shots at the end of the film.[3] At Kirtland, filming featured live action photography of training aircraft including Beech AT-11 Kansan trainers, as well as Boeing B-17C and E series Flying Fortresses, Consolidated B-24 Liberators, Douglas B-18 Bolos and North American B-25 Mitchell bombers.[5] A Junkers Ju 87 and Vought SB2U Vindicator dive bombers are briefly seen at the beginning of the film.[6] The production moved to Midland, Texas to film the Japanese bombing scenes.[7]
Crew
Notable members of the film crew included
Writing
The central conflict between competing points of view over the importance of specialized bombardier training in Bombardier reflected an actual doctrinal struggle within the
Sets
Albuquerque Army Air Base (renamed Kirtland in February 1942) was constructed from January to August 1941 on the site of the former Oxnard Field (a private airport) in
Reception
Bombardier premiered on May 14, 1943, at Kirtland AAB,
Box office
Bombardier was popular with audiences and earned RKO a profit of $565,000.[13]
Awards
Bombardier received an Academy Award nomination in 1944 for Best Special Effects: Vernon L. Walker (photographic), James G. Stewart and Roy Granville (sound).[14][15] [Note 2]
Legacy
Bombardier featured a supporting character, the Mexican-American Chito played by Richard Martin. Chito was created by screenwriter Jack Wagner, who had been brought in to work on the screenplay. Chito proved so popular RKO used the character as a sidekick in a series of Westerns, notably with Tim Holt.[16]
The
References
Notes
- .
- ^ The award went to Crash Dive.
Citations
- ^ "Top Grossers of the Season." Variety, January 5, 1944, p. 54.
- ^ Orrisss 1984, pp. 74–75.
- ^ a b c Nixon, Rob. "Articles: Bombardier." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: May 18, 2013.
- ^ "Original Print Information: Bombardier." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: May 18, 2013.
- ^ Hardwick and Schnepf 1989, p. 54.
- ^ "Aviation Films – B: Bombardier." Aerofiles. Retrieved: May 18, 2013.
- ^ Carlson 2012, p. 180.
- ^ "Joseph Biroc." Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers. Retrieved: February 9, 2009.
- ^ a b Baldwin, Ben. "Army Air Forces Historical Study No. 5: Individual Training of Bombardiers." Air Force Historical Research Agency, pp. 19–37.
- ^ "Bombardier." Archived December 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Film New Mexico. Retrieved: February 24, 2009.
- ^ Orriss 1984, p. 76.
- ^ Schwartz, Dennis. "Bombardier." Ozus' World Movie reviews. Retrieved: February 24, 2009.
- ^ Jewell and Harbin 1982, p. 184.
- ^ "Nominees and Winners: The 16th Academy Awards (1944)." oscars.org. Retrieved: May 4, 2017.
- ^ "16th Academy Awards." Film Affinity. Retrieved: February 24, 2009.
- ^ Stempel, Tom. "Tim Holt and the B Western." Off Screen, Volume 17, issue 11, November 2013. Retrieved: May 4, 2017.
- ^ American Hero (AKA Wag The Dog) by Larry Beinhart, p. 168
Bibliography
- Carlson, Mark. Flying on Film: A Century of Aviation in the Movies, 1912–2012. Duncan, Oklahoma: BearManor Media, 2012. ISBN 978-1-59393-219-0.
- Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
- Jewell, Richard and Vernon Harbin. The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. ISBN 978-0-70641-285-7.
- Orriss, Bruce. When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II. Hawthorne, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. ISBN 0-9613088-0-X.
- Zimmerman, David. Top Secret Exchange: The Tizard Mission and the Scientific War. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: McGill-Queen's Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-77351-401-0.
External links
- Bombardier at the TCM Movie Database
- Bombardier at IMDb
- Bombardier at AllMovie
- Bombardier at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Bombardier at Rotten Tomatoes