Herbert L. Strock -- a name to conjure with. He directed this undistinguished introduction to the helicopter air rescue teams in the Korean war.
It's almost like a training camp film. In fact, the audience joins a group of jet jocks as they sit and watch a film about the operations and instruments of air/sea rescue. Lots of pretty good shots of airplanes taking off, landing, and helicopters spinning around and emitting smoke. But Herbert L. Strock, I think, underestimates the perspicacity of the audience. A "chopper" whirls in for a landing, nicely done. Then there is an obvious cut and splice, and the helicopter flies BACKWARDS along the same approach route. Well, maybe a child would miss it.
The central theme is familiar. Arthur Franz is a jet pilot with some training in helicopters, and he's assigned to Captain Sterling Hayden's rescue unit in Korea. Franz is impatient and angry because he wants to climb into a jet and clobber those Commies, not fly slowly around in an unarmed Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw, retrieving downed flyers. You may find a similar conflict between Dana Andres and Tyrone Power in "Crash Dive." Actually, those models were loud and underpowered compared to, say, the famous Huey of Vietnam, but they were spacious and comfy. I caught a ride in one when I was stationed at the USCG Air Station at San Francisco International Airport. Perfect for scenic air tours of the Bay Area, if not for clobbering Commies.
Herbert J. Strock's direction comes on like a ton of bricks. Lots of shouting. The script lacks some of the usual elements of these genre films. Cherchez la femme? Not even a girl friend back home? I must say, though, that the story is both informative and at times even gripping, especially the final scene when Franz is lying on the ground, wounded, with a medical team trying to get him into shape for evacuation, and North Korean mortar shells are being walked into their position. Another combat scene in which an unarmed helicopter attacks a tank is more amusing than anything else.
There are only two real performances -- Hayden's and Franz's. They're professionally competent. Both men are from New Jersey. I mused, during the duller parts, about whether they reminisced about going to "the shore" in the summer.
2 out of 2 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink