ROCK HUDSON is a Strategic Air Command colonel who pushes his men to the limits and neglects his British wife (MARY PEACH) while alienating his colleague (ROD TAYLOR) whom he thinks is getting too chummy with the men under his command.
There's nothing about this service yarn to distinguish it from other such efforts, as STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND (with James Stewart/June Allyson) or ABOVE AND BEYOND (Robert Taylor/Eleanor Parker). The romantic interest is dull and Rock Hudson's character is never made too plausible. He starts out as an amiable instructor but switches gear without sufficient character explanation.
A broken fuel line provides some tension at the 45-minute point in the film where Hudson and crew have to make a safe landing without an electrical spark from the landing gear causing a fire. Beyond that, the dramatic tension for the first hour is limp and the story is slow and mechanical.
With the main focus on Readiness Alert, it's still a timely service film hampered by a bad performance from leading lady Mary Peach, an American looking gal with a heavy British accent. Chemistry between Peach and Rock Hudson is practically non-existent. Fortunately, ROD TAYLOR is fine in a co-starring role and BARRY SULLIVAN sympathetic as a man whose drinking problem gets him booted out by Hudson who says he's "not running a rehabilitation center". He shocks his wife with Sullivan's dismissal and his brusque behavior begins a strain in the marriage.
With Hudson dismissing Taylor from command, the story loses steam before the final Operation Readiness Alert goes into action with Taylor subbing for absent Hudson and eventually redeeming himself in Hudson's eyes in time for a happy ending.
Supposedly a tribute to the Officers, airmen and wives of the Strategic Air Command, it should be of above average interest to those service personnel but of limited interest for the average movie-goer in search of strong entertainment.
There's nothing about this service yarn to distinguish it from other such efforts, as STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND (with James Stewart/June Allyson) or ABOVE AND BEYOND (Robert Taylor/Eleanor Parker). The romantic interest is dull and Rock Hudson's character is never made too plausible. He starts out as an amiable instructor but switches gear without sufficient character explanation.
A broken fuel line provides some tension at the 45-minute point in the film where Hudson and crew have to make a safe landing without an electrical spark from the landing gear causing a fire. Beyond that, the dramatic tension for the first hour is limp and the story is slow and mechanical.
With the main focus on Readiness Alert, it's still a timely service film hampered by a bad performance from leading lady Mary Peach, an American looking gal with a heavy British accent. Chemistry between Peach and Rock Hudson is practically non-existent. Fortunately, ROD TAYLOR is fine in a co-starring role and BARRY SULLIVAN sympathetic as a man whose drinking problem gets him booted out by Hudson who says he's "not running a rehabilitation center". He shocks his wife with Sullivan's dismissal and his brusque behavior begins a strain in the marriage.
With Hudson dismissing Taylor from command, the story loses steam before the final Operation Readiness Alert goes into action with Taylor subbing for absent Hudson and eventually redeeming himself in Hudson's eyes in time for a happy ending.
Supposedly a tribute to the Officers, airmen and wives of the Strategic Air Command, it should be of above average interest to those service personnel but of limited interest for the average movie-goer in search of strong entertainment.