A pleasant enough Air Force propaganda piece, with appropriate thanks to this branch of our country's military service in the closing credits; it also includes all the requisite elements for a CinemaScope production – impressive widescreen shots of the titled aircraft taking off, landing and an in-flight refueling, and even some impressive aerial shots of North Africa (including the Pyramids). Its story and the dramatic elements that hold it together are fairly rote and not particularly compelling.
It begins with a 19 year-old Natalie Wood, playing the daughter of Karl Malden and Marsha Hunt, and being courted by 40 year-old Efrem Zimbalist Jr.. Of course, Malden's character isn't too keen about it while, surprisingly, Hunt's doesn't seem to care. The fact that Malden plays a career master sergeant mechanic that doesn't trust nor respect flyboy Zimbalist Jr. (per their history during the Korean War six years earlier), who's now his commanding officer, is a regularly recycled plot point as well.
Then again, the film's message is meant to convey the value of the B-52 to our nation's security to the audience of its time (during the Cold War) whereas other superior dramas (Strategic Air Command (1955) and, later, A Gathering of Eagles (1963)) were focused on the U.S.A.F.'s leadership challenges.
Directed by Gordon Douglas, its screenplay was written by Irving Wallace from the novel by Sam Rolfe. Movie fans will recognize Dick Elliott, Juanita Moore (don't blink or you'll miss her), and Stuart Whitman among the uncredited actors in the cast.
It begins with a 19 year-old Natalie Wood, playing the daughter of Karl Malden and Marsha Hunt, and being courted by 40 year-old Efrem Zimbalist Jr.. Of course, Malden's character isn't too keen about it while, surprisingly, Hunt's doesn't seem to care. The fact that Malden plays a career master sergeant mechanic that doesn't trust nor respect flyboy Zimbalist Jr. (per their history during the Korean War six years earlier), who's now his commanding officer, is a regularly recycled plot point as well.
Then again, the film's message is meant to convey the value of the B-52 to our nation's security to the audience of its time (during the Cold War) whereas other superior dramas (Strategic Air Command (1955) and, later, A Gathering of Eagles (1963)) were focused on the U.S.A.F.'s leadership challenges.
Directed by Gordon Douglas, its screenplay was written by Irving Wallace from the novel by Sam Rolfe. Movie fans will recognize Dick Elliott, Juanita Moore (don't blink or you'll miss her), and Stuart Whitman among the uncredited actors in the cast.