The 1957 cars are just -- well -- swell! Natalie Wood gets to drive a creamy yellow Ford convertible and Efron Zimbalist has a snazzy scarlet sports model. Why it could turn you green with envy -- seafoam green.
The rest of the movie is a disappointment. Nothing seems quite right; it's all a little cockeyed. The plot: Zimbalist is an Air Force officer and Malden is the best flight engineer that ever existed. Malden is devoted to the USAF but his family, especially his daughter, Wood, want him to retire and take a job where he'll wear a suit and tie and "be somebody important." Well, there's a conflict right there.
On top of that, Zimbalist has a reputation as a ladies' man and becomes seriously interested in Natalie Wood -- as who wouldn't? -- and Malden dislikes Zimbalist intensely and does everything but move mountains to end the romance, even though it's as innocent a romance as 1957 demanded.
I don't know exactly what went wrong. The USAF/CEO problem is hackneyed. I mean, after all, that was a sub plot in just about every military movie John Wayne ever made -- career versus marriage and a settled existence. I should add that the settled existence as represented here is utterly bourgeois and materialistic, a spiritless void of apricot carpets and sparkling kitchens. Yukk.
The Zimbalist/Malden conflict is botched from the beginning. In Korea, years earlier, Zimbalist endangered the field by insisting that his F-86 be repaired at night, requiring the turning on of lights and consequently "visitors" from the other side. After Zimbalist's take off, a crewman is killed by strafing. Throughout the movie, for six years, Malden believes (mistakenly) that Zimbalist forced the take off because of a hot date in Tokyo. So Malden certainly doesn't want a guy like Zimbalist courting his daughter, probably uttering hoarse, goaty cries while humping her in the back seat of his crimson convertible. The problem with this plot is that the movie shows us Malden as disliking Zimbalist BEFORE the lethal event. And the clumsy writing gives us no reason for the animus.
The acting is as dull as the furniture except for Malden. Malden overacts. Every word is shouted. If he's supposed to be nervous, we watch a manic episode. The direction is careless. At the end, with Malden in a hospital bed, Natalie Wood must apologize to him for being bratty and demanding. It's her scene, and it's a long one. And the director, Gordon Douglas, doesn't allow her to build up to sobs. The whole SCENE has her in a torrent of remorseful tears, making the episode not just tedious but embarrassing.
The scenes of flight are pedestrian. No sense is given of life within that thin aluminum tube at 40,000 feet. We don't get a sense of the layout. The flight deck is a mock up as are the other two sets. Leonard Rosenman's score matches the quality of the film itself -- lacking courage, vigor, and veracity.
Despite these weaknesses, I'm sure the production had the eager cooperation of both Boeing and the USAF. It's practically a recruitment film.
The rest of the movie is a disappointment. Nothing seems quite right; it's all a little cockeyed. The plot: Zimbalist is an Air Force officer and Malden is the best flight engineer that ever existed. Malden is devoted to the USAF but his family, especially his daughter, Wood, want him to retire and take a job where he'll wear a suit and tie and "be somebody important." Well, there's a conflict right there.
On top of that, Zimbalist has a reputation as a ladies' man and becomes seriously interested in Natalie Wood -- as who wouldn't? -- and Malden dislikes Zimbalist intensely and does everything but move mountains to end the romance, even though it's as innocent a romance as 1957 demanded.
I don't know exactly what went wrong. The USAF/CEO problem is hackneyed. I mean, after all, that was a sub plot in just about every military movie John Wayne ever made -- career versus marriage and a settled existence. I should add that the settled existence as represented here is utterly bourgeois and materialistic, a spiritless void of apricot carpets and sparkling kitchens. Yukk.
The Zimbalist/Malden conflict is botched from the beginning. In Korea, years earlier, Zimbalist endangered the field by insisting that his F-86 be repaired at night, requiring the turning on of lights and consequently "visitors" from the other side. After Zimbalist's take off, a crewman is killed by strafing. Throughout the movie, for six years, Malden believes (mistakenly) that Zimbalist forced the take off because of a hot date in Tokyo. So Malden certainly doesn't want a guy like Zimbalist courting his daughter, probably uttering hoarse, goaty cries while humping her in the back seat of his crimson convertible. The problem with this plot is that the movie shows us Malden as disliking Zimbalist BEFORE the lethal event. And the clumsy writing gives us no reason for the animus.
The acting is as dull as the furniture except for Malden. Malden overacts. Every word is shouted. If he's supposed to be nervous, we watch a manic episode. The direction is careless. At the end, with Malden in a hospital bed, Natalie Wood must apologize to him for being bratty and demanding. It's her scene, and it's a long one. And the director, Gordon Douglas, doesn't allow her to build up to sobs. The whole SCENE has her in a torrent of remorseful tears, making the episode not just tedious but embarrassing.
The scenes of flight are pedestrian. No sense is given of life within that thin aluminum tube at 40,000 feet. We don't get a sense of the layout. The flight deck is a mock up as are the other two sets. Leonard Rosenman's score matches the quality of the film itself -- lacking courage, vigor, and veracity.
Despite these weaknesses, I'm sure the production had the eager cooperation of both Boeing and the USAF. It's practically a recruitment film.