Cheap Memphis Belle (DVD) (Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz) (Michael Caton-Jones) Price
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| ACTORS: | Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz |
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Michael Caton-Jones |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 12 October, 1990 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Warner Studios |
| MPAA RATING: | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) |
| FEATURES: | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen |
| TYPE: | Feature Film-action/Adventure |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 085391204022 |
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Customer Reviews of Memphis Belle
Corny, yes, but a good film about B-17s Memphis Belle, Michael Caton-Jones' fictionalized 1990 account of a real-life World War II B-17's final mission, harkens back to wartime morale-boosting films. Like Wake Island or Air Force, it depicts the crew of a Flying Fortress taking part in the bloody aerial campaign over Western Europe - and trying to survive the last of a 25-mission tour of duty.
Produced by Catherine Wyler, whose father William had shot a documentary about the real Memphis Belle, this version takes familiar clichés from World War II films and fleshes them out with fresh Hollywood faces. Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Sean Astin (best known now as Samwise in the Lord of the Rings trilogy), Reed Diamond, and Harry Connick, Jr. are among the ten actors who portray the fictional crew of the Memphis Belle.
Released during the buildup to Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, this very retro movie failed to excite audiences, but even so, Memphis Belle is impressive once it gets off the ground and dispenses with expository material.
Set in England in May of 1943, the story starts somewhat slowly as an Army Air Force PR officer (John Lithgow) annoyingly prepares the crew and squadron for the Memphis Belle's return to the States. The bomber has completed 24 missions over Nazi-occupied Europe. Now the only thing standing between the war-weary flyboys and home is one last mission over Bremen. There are the usual war movie get-to-know the crew scenes and even a quick (but not graphic) sexual encounter between one of the lads and a British lass...ho hum.
But when dawn comes and the bombers are sent to bomb a German fighter-aircraft factory, Memphis Belle draws the audience into the harrowing yet mesmerizing drama of a daylight bombing raid over Germany. Here there are no Stealth fighters with laser-guided smart bombs flying with relative ease over the enemy. Instead, we are treated to almost every danger faced by bomber crews in World War II - mid air collisions, flak, enemy fighters, and even a case of friendly fire. Naturally, most of the havoc inflicted on the B-17s falls on the Memphis Belle, which in real life was not damaged as badly as this movie would have viewers believe.
The Warner Bros. DVD presents this film on both full and Widescreen formats on a double-sided single platter, making it necessary to handle with extreme care. The image is less-than-awe-inspiring on an ordinary television or computer screen, at least for those few who caught this flick at the movie theater. It's somewhat predictable and corny at times, but it is one of the few movies released in the past 15 years that treated its topic with an eye for accurate detail. And while some of the shots did involve model aircraft, the filmmakers managed to round up all the surviving B-17s (in addition to a few American and German fighters), giving audiences a stirring tribute to all the aircrew who fought and died in World War II.
Almost Realist
This is the first of a line of movies depicting shear guts in the face of a real enemy. Afterwards came the likes of Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Thin Red Line, The Windtalkers, Blackhawk Down and We Were Soldiers.
Memphis Belle gets a bit schmaltzy in the beginning, focusing on the crew and not the reality, but the scenes of flying into the fire makes you respect the guts that generation displayed.
I really thought that using the actors (all around 21 to 25) was a great touch, and made me sit back and think about what I was doing at that age (Nam) and what my dad was doing (WWII). Whew, take a bunch of amped up young men and throw them into harms way. I wonder if older, more comfortable men would have done that?
And I thought flyboys had it easy. Everyone directly engaged was slugging it out. My Uncle used to say that the papers in WWII wouldn't focus on both fronts simultaneously, if the European campaigns were having a fight, the Pacific theator was talked about briefly or that the Marines were doing okay... he said that wasn't the case, everyone was fighting hard to stay alive, not just to win the war. From the individuals perspective it was a matter of survival, not glory. The glory came later.
Great movie!
This is a movie that I was introduced to when I was young. It really made me appreciate what men like the ones in the movie did for our country. It also turned me on to WWII aviation as well as movies that go for the heart. I would recommend this movie to anyone.
See how many familiar faces you can spot.