Strategic Air Command is a much a USAF recruiting film with heavy Cold War patriotism overtones as a major motion picture featuring one of America's top stars.
Jimmy Stewart stars as "Dutch" Holland, star third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals who is unexpected recalled for USAF duty. Stewart was an Air Force pilot during WW2, but at 46 is unrealistic as an MLB player. That angle is based on baseball great Ted Williams, a WW2 Marine pilot, being recalled for duty during the Korean War. Williams had re-upped for a role that was to be PR only, got recalled by mistake, but went with it as he felt his fans wouldn't forgive him. (How would that go today?)
June Allyson plays his clingy, annoying wife who calls him all over the base, including places that even if she knew he was there wouldn't allow a call - like the pressure chamber. I guess they had chemistry in other films, but here they are still and saccharine.
Holland dutifully joins up for 21 months but is quickly swept up in it all, pushed by a cigar-chomping Curtis LeMay clone. We're hit over the head how critical SAC is, a war without a war. (Cold War) Credit is due for showing how tough SAC was on its crews who are constantly off on long, boring, but dangerous mission. Credit also for showing that several SAC personnel aren't happy with the situation, including a member of Holland's crew who was similarly re-recruited - costing him his business.
The real stars of the movie are the massive, 10-engined B-36 Peacekeeper and the sleek B-47 Stratojet. Much of the film consists of long, adoring shots of these aircraft soaring through the skies. In VistaVision these would have been doubly impressive.
Anyway, the SAC mission starts eroding the Hollands marriage. Holland experiences an unrealistic crash in Greenland, coming out with only a sore shoulder and his fellow crewman an ankle injury. It's all treated as matter of fact. The rescue effort doesn't come off as any different than the pickup ride on the runway to their plane.
Mrs. Holland becomes pregnant, which Dutch somehow learns before she does! This amps up the stress. When the 21 month hitch is up, the Cardinals come calling as their new 3B is injured. (At 152 RBIs the year before, wouldn't they be calling Holland anyway?) He makes a 'command decision' to stay in the Air Force, not even consulting or mentioning it to his loving (him and baseball) wife. Very 1950s, because a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do - and do it poorly. In a burst of realism, she doesn't take it well - but Dutch leaves her crying on the bed while he takes off on yet another long secret mission.
The non-stop flight from FL to Japan affects Holland's shoulder, barely allowing them to land in Okinawa instead with terrible weather and barely any fuel. LeMay cusses him out, but the shoulder is the $1M injury. It gets him out of USAF but apparently won't affect his ball playing. WTH? Mrs. Holland apologizes for her burst of reality, as gets a way too convenient way out of everything. Cue the Air Force March.
Worth a watch with expectations set accordingly. It is a great look into the 1950s Air Force, and some of society too.
Jimmy Stewart stars as "Dutch" Holland, star third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals who is unexpected recalled for USAF duty. Stewart was an Air Force pilot during WW2, but at 46 is unrealistic as an MLB player. That angle is based on baseball great Ted Williams, a WW2 Marine pilot, being recalled for duty during the Korean War. Williams had re-upped for a role that was to be PR only, got recalled by mistake, but went with it as he felt his fans wouldn't forgive him. (How would that go today?)
June Allyson plays his clingy, annoying wife who calls him all over the base, including places that even if she knew he was there wouldn't allow a call - like the pressure chamber. I guess they had chemistry in other films, but here they are still and saccharine.
Holland dutifully joins up for 21 months but is quickly swept up in it all, pushed by a cigar-chomping Curtis LeMay clone. We're hit over the head how critical SAC is, a war without a war. (Cold War) Credit is due for showing how tough SAC was on its crews who are constantly off on long, boring, but dangerous mission. Credit also for showing that several SAC personnel aren't happy with the situation, including a member of Holland's crew who was similarly re-recruited - costing him his business.
The real stars of the movie are the massive, 10-engined B-36 Peacekeeper and the sleek B-47 Stratojet. Much of the film consists of long, adoring shots of these aircraft soaring through the skies. In VistaVision these would have been doubly impressive.
Anyway, the SAC mission starts eroding the Hollands marriage. Holland experiences an unrealistic crash in Greenland, coming out with only a sore shoulder and his fellow crewman an ankle injury. It's all treated as matter of fact. The rescue effort doesn't come off as any different than the pickup ride on the runway to their plane.
Mrs. Holland becomes pregnant, which Dutch somehow learns before she does! This amps up the stress. When the 21 month hitch is up, the Cardinals come calling as their new 3B is injured. (At 152 RBIs the year before, wouldn't they be calling Holland anyway?) He makes a 'command decision' to stay in the Air Force, not even consulting or mentioning it to his loving (him and baseball) wife. Very 1950s, because a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do - and do it poorly. In a burst of realism, she doesn't take it well - but Dutch leaves her crying on the bed while he takes off on yet another long secret mission.
The non-stop flight from FL to Japan affects Holland's shoulder, barely allowing them to land in Okinawa instead with terrible weather and barely any fuel. LeMay cusses him out, but the shoulder is the $1M injury. It gets him out of USAF but apparently won't affect his ball playing. WTH? Mrs. Holland apologizes for her burst of reality, as gets a way too convenient way out of everything. Cue the Air Force March.
Worth a watch with expectations set accordingly. It is a great look into the 1950s Air Force, and some of society too.