Twelve O'Clock High (Special Edition) | Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe

Twelve O'Clock High (Special Edition) | Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe | "Private Ryan" it ain't. Thank Goodness!

DVDs:

Twelve O'Clock Hig...

	Twelve O'Clock High (Special Edition) Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe 20th Century Fox, 2007 average customer review:based on 151 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

12 O'clock High

Superb movie. I met B/G Frank Armstrong, the real man the movie was about. I flew several trips in B-17 and only one minor flaw in the cockpit procedure.
I do question all the pilots requesting transfer at the same time - I think that was Hollywood stuff, as such would constitute mutiny, which requires harsh punishment. The movie also does not show how severe the losses were in
the B-17 crews. Highly recommend to people who have no idea about the great sacrifices of those crews. Lt.Col. Ed Robertson (ret)

"Private Ryan" it ain't. Thank Goodness!

In comparing "Saving Private Ryan" to "Twelve O'Clock High", a previous reviewer made a very strong case for "Twelve O'Clock High" being the better film. I agree 110%. Both were nominated for Best Picture and both lost, but "Twelve O'Clock High" is by far the better of the two if only because director Henry King didn't put his ego on display to ruin things. "Ryan",of course, won El Speilbergo a Best Director statue in honor of the most obvious, I WANT THAT AWARD!! "front loading" of a film in the history of motion pictures. "Twelve O'Clock High" features only one combat scene and that comes near the end of the film. Up until then you have great actors in a great film about tough decisions and how they need to be made in times of war. Gregory Peck takes over a "hard luck" bomber wing, makes some unpopular changes and whips the men into a winning team. My review makes it all sound so cliche', but please don't let that fool you. When it comes to the relationships between the characters, it's very much on a par with "The Best Years of Our Lives". It's such a great film about war that it doesn't even matter that there's just that one brilliant battle scene near the end where it belongs. Sure, Henry King could have "front loaded" the picture with lots of bombs and flying bullets to hook the audience from the get go, but he did what was best for the film. In my opinion, "Twelve O'Clock High" is one of the best WWII movies ever made because it focuses on the men and their fragile states of mind. It focuses on the all too real effects of war on the men rather than to showcase the war itself. It also benefits from the fact that it was made only four years after the war ended. There's just no substitute for the film having been produced while WWII was still fresh in everyone's mind. All the money in Hollywood couldn't buy that kind of authenticity today. So El Speilbergo spent most of his budget on that overblown frontloading of "Ryan" and snagged an Oscar in the process, while Henry King simply placed his masterful action scene where it worked best for the movie. Anyway, if you ask me, Henry King didn't do so badly after all. He didn't win an Oscar, but Dean Jagger did, which is one more than any actor in "Ryan" won. If Speilberg had really deserved that "Best Director" Oscar, then at least one of his actors should have won an Oscar too. So if you haven't yet seen "Twelve O'Clock High", buy it, borrow it or rent it. I've seen it no less than a dozen times and it's aways a pleasure to behold. ENJOY!

for more information click here

Bombing the Most Strategic Target

From 9,000 feet, the daytime air raids against Germany seemed hopeless and unending. The unspoken goal: fly 25 missions with all limbs in tact and you've done your duty. One mission arrested my attention in the middle of this remarkable movie. General Frank Savage (Gregory Peck) announces a strategic target: the ball bearing factory. Bomb just one factory (Germany's sole ball bearing supplier) and you'll disrupt assembly lines throughout the country. Brilliant!

That's a great lesson for companies and organizations. What's your strategic target? Is there one big bold action or one fork-in-the-road target that will change the battle for you? Often, it's not just one thing--but many factors, but maybe it's time to think outside the plane--get up higher and evaluate where you're dropping your bombs. It's not the number of bombs you drop, it's the targets that you hit.

Note to leaders and managers: order popcorn and soft drinks and plan a "Staff Meeting at the Movies" afternoon event. The film showcases a phenomenal study in leadership and team building--with two distinct leadership styles in play. It's often used in MBA courses (Harvard, etc.).

By the way, last month I heard John Maxwell speak on servant leadership and Jesus' model of washing the disciples' feet. He said "the secure are into towels, and the insecure are into titles." Think about that if you screen this movie with your team.

for more information click here

Life in a Bomber squadron

Give a good idea of the life in a Bomber Squadron in the begining of Day Light Bombing over Germany. Gregory Peck plays the role of a Hard General who takes over command over a "Bad Luck" Squadron and softens whens things change.

War as a Deadly Business

The film begins when a man buys a mug, then bicycles to a cow pasture. A few years earlier this had been a busy US Air Force B-17 bomber airfield. Then we return to the early days of WW II. A damaged B-17 lands roughly with its combat wounded. Spare planes will arrive, and their next mission will be to fly at 9,000 feet to bomb St. Nazaire and its submarine pens. This lower height results in more accuracy and then fewer missions. [Bombers are long-distance artillery.] Some in the group think they have a jinx for bad luck. [Or at the low end of the learning curve?] No plan is perfect, there is always the unexpected. The film shows how good management can handle problems. Daylight precision bombing is the key to winning the war. It is about production, destroying enemy factories results in a loss of supplies and a less effective armed force. The final target was the ball-bearing factories, the critical part for any mechanical armed force.

A new general starts by enforcing the rules. Visitors will be checked, men will be in uniform and on post; no more slacking off. It's a war, maximum effort is required. General Frank Savage challenges his men to perform better. They should stop worrying about dying and accept the fact some men will die; life will be easier. They will perform better when they have pride in themselves. The best defense against enemy fighters is to fly in close formation so each airplane can defend the others. Any bomber that drops out of formation is likely doomed. These new rules result in better morale and good luck. [The result of more training and experience.] Now men want to sneak aboard to take part in these missions.

The last part of the film shows actual battle scenes from both sides, and the casualties. Gunners are told to use short bursts to save ammunition. Their bombs are dropped when they reach their target. One bomber takes a direct hit and explodes in the air. Others are damaged and fall behind. Enemy fighters are shot down. At the end General Savage suffers from burn out, the result of "maximum effort". Everyone has a breaking point, man or machine. The ending shows 19 of 21 bombers returning, a heavy 9% loss. [The later use of long-distance fighters like the P-51 reduced losses.]

This film is unusual in being primarily about the control and management of a military force (a specialized form of business management). Few films made during WW II are now shown on TV since the 1970s. You can compare this to "A Walk in the Sun" for its point of view. While "Frank Savage" is fictional, there was a reference to "Kirk May"; that could be the real Curtis LeMay. The Strategic Air Command (STRAC?) of the 1950s was a monument to the Air Force, but also massive inefficiency in preparing for a war that never happened. One fault in this film is its worship of authoritarianism, a Great Leader who can do no wrong. Wasn't this what we were fighting? The peace-time draft did two things: it soaked up men to keep unemployment down, and worked to support American hegemony after the defeat of the Axis powers and the declining colonial powers. It provided brain-washing of a generation to a military point of view. [Lately the anti-gun nuts are claiming a .50 caliber rifle could shoot down a jet airplane. This film shows .50 caliber machine guns firing at slower propeller-driven airplanes and mostly missing. They usually needed the combined fire from many machine guns to damage enemy fighters.]

for more information click here