Red Tails

[DrPhil]

Because this movie deserves its own thread.

This thread will include "spoilers."

I shall cut and paste one of my "spoilers" from the current movie reviews thread and place them here.

[DrPhil]

Starting with....

Originally Posted by Cen1aur 1963

I liked the movie. But it was pretty predictable. When dude who was about to get married to ol girl, died, I knew what was about to happen. That part was very predictable. At the beginning of the movie with dude being kind of a maverick, I was under the impression that he might not be the one to die. I thought that maybe they were going to state some facts about him at the end. As soon as he got engaged to ol girl, I knew right then that dude was going to get killed. That was predictable as hell. That's the only thing I didn't like about the movie. To me, shit like that is kind of irrelevant to what the movie was about.

I thought Lightening would die because he was crazy as hell but I wanted it to be less predictable than that. I thought that perhaps Easy would die. It was hypocritical how Lightening and Easy preached to each other about alcohol and risk-seeking behavior. They both had low self-control and were both risk-seekers. They had no reason to lecture each other.

I knew Junior was not dead.

It was funny when the Red Tails were invited to have drinks with the white pilots. The Red Tails looked shocked and speechless like someone pissed in their whiskey. LOL.

[DrPhil]

On Race and Red Tails

Originally Posted by MSN Winter Movie Guide

The results are in. After weeks of hype and hyperbole, executive producer George Lucas's World War II action film "Red Tails" has finally had its moment in the spotlight, and now we have a chance to examine what the box office totals say about race and racism in both Hollywood and America. But first, let's have a quick recap for those who haven't been following the story from the beginning.
For decades, Lucas -- the man who brought us "Star Wars" and all that comes with it -- wanted to make a film about the Tuskegee Airmen. An all-black division of pilots during World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen fought for respect and the opportunity to prove themselves in combat, neither of which came easy. Despite the desire of Lucas to make this film -- which to a certain extent was made by HBO a few years ago -- no one in Hollywood would finance it. The prevailing logic being that most Americans don't want to see a movie with a predominantly black cast, at least not one that would cost what Lucas's film would cost to make. Undeterred, Lucas decided to finance the film himself, and when no one wanted to release it, the wizened Jedi master decided to release it himself, but not before going on a publicity campaign that recounted this whole story, and accused Hollywood of being racist.

http://movies.msn.com/winter-movie-g...S5&GT1=MOVIES5

[DrPhil]

Holy Spambot, Batman!

I cannot stand seeing the spammed threads on top.

[Cen1aur 1963]

Hey Doc, I'll be over to this thread later tonight. I'm still at work LOL, but I'm about to leave now.

[AXOmom]

I haven't seen this movie yet - really want to - love history movies. I'm interested to see how it compares to "The Tuskegee Airmen" - a movie I liked but never see around anymore.

[SOM]

I saw it and enjoyed it a great deal. As an entertainment movie-job well done by all.
History? May have been far from perfect. BUT a great deal of what was shown I have either seen or read about. And in some cases have been told about it by WWII pilots and crews.
And yes, there are a few points that one could wonder it happened that way or not. But at that point one is trying to nit pick.
Both this and The Tuskegee Airmen make the very same "error". While the Airmen DID attack a large German "PT" Boat/small "DE", they did it with P-47's and not P-51's. And not clear if boat was sunk or just put out of the war due to heavy damage.
And yes, during the mission to Germany, they did shot down at least three German jets.
I plan on seeing it again this weekend.
I hope that those who see it take some more time to look up more information not only about The Airmen, but about the other segregated units that fought in war. They all had a great deal to do with the Civil Rights Movement. Something that will be covered if Part II ever gets made. Yes, there are Part I and III to this movie. GL has been working on this for over 21+ years with the full support and backing of The Airmen.
For reviews, I suggest:
Movie Review Intelligence:
http://moviereviewintelligence.com/
Rotten Tomatoes:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by SOM

I saw it and enjoyed it a great deal. As an entertainment movie-job well done by all.
History? May have been far from perfect. BUT a great deal of what was shown I have either seen or read about. And in some cases have been told about it by WWII pilots and crews.
And yes, there are a few points that one could wonder it happened that way or not. But at that point one is trying to nit pick.
Both this and The Tuskegee Airmen make the very same "error". While the Airmen DID attack a large German "PT" Boat/small "DE", they did it with P-47's and not P-51's. And not clear if boat was sunk or just put out of the war due to heavy damage.
And yes, during the mission to Germany, they did shot down at least three German jets.
I plan on seeing it again this weekend.
I hope that those who see it take some more time to look up more information not only about The Airmen, but about the other segregated units that fought in war. They all had a great deal to do with the Civil Rights Movement. Something that will be covered if Part II ever gets made. Yes, there are Part I and III to this movie. GL has been working on this for over 21+ years with the full support and backing of The Airmen.

Thanks for sharing, SOM. This is the first time I have read a detailed post in which you shared your own thoughts. I appreciate it.

I agree about the history part. I posted about that in the current movies thread. I do not expect movies and especially mainstream movies to be exact. They will take liberties. If people want to learn the true history behind the Tuskegee Airmen they need to watch a documentary, read some books, etc.

[christiangirl]

I also knew Lightning would die within the first 20 minutes of the movie. The only thing unpredictable for me was the timing. I thought he would die way sooner (when he went rogue against that big German ship).

Which brings me to something I thought of in the theater. Lots of people brought their small children to show them "history." This is a war movie--characters are going to die. That was a given. Someone if not multiple someones who you may like or are really attached to is going to die in a war movie, probably in a graphic way. People should know if their children can handle something like that then act accordingly.

Someone at school said that there should have been more sistahs in the film, especially since there were some Black nurses during this time. Meh. I think there were so few of them that it's not far-fetched to say there was a base that had none, especially overseas. Also, yes, Black women fought to be allowed to be nurses and that was a huge victory--but that plight is not the focus of this plot. Leave that for another movie.

[Cen1aur 1963]

Originally Posted by AXOmom

I haven't seen this movie yet - really want to - love history movies. I'm interested to see how it compares to "The Tuskegee Airmen" - a movie I liked but never see around anymore.

If you love history then you'll really enjoy this movie. I'm big on history, too, and I enjoyed it. I'm buying it when it comes out on DVD.

[Cen1aur 1963]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Starting with....



I thought Lightening would die because he was crazy as hell but I wanted it to be less predictable than that. I thought that perhaps Easy would die. It was hypocritical how Lightening and Easy preached to each other about alcohol and risk-seeking behavior. They both had low self-control and were both risk-seekers. They had no reason to lecture each other.

I knew Junior was not dead.

It was funny when the Red Tails were invited to have drinks with the white pilots. The Red Tails looked shocked and speechless like someone pissed in their whiskey. LOL.

The thing with Lightening is at the very beginning of the movie, I thought dude was going to die because he didn't always follow orders. But when I saw him doing all that crazy shit throughout the moive, and still surviving, then I didn't think dude was going to die. As soon as he got engaged to that white girl, I knew then, that his black ass was grass LOL.

[SOM]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

I also knew Lightning would die within the first 20 minutes of the movie. The only thing unpredictable for me was the timing. I thought he would die way sooner (when he went rogue against that big German ship).

Which brings me to something I thought of in the theater. Lots of people brought their small children to show them "history." This is a war movie--characters are going to die. That was a given. Someone if not multiple someones who you may like or are really attached to is going to die in a war movie, probably in a graphic way. People should know if their children can handle something like that then act accordingly.

Someone at school said that there should have been more sistahs in the film, especially since there were some Black nurses during this time. Meh. I think there were so few of them that it's not far-fetched to say there was a base that had none, especially overseas. Also, yes, Black women fought to be allowed to be nurses and that was a huge victory--but that plight is not the focus of this plot. Leave that for another movie.

Sadly, there is a blogger trying to lead a boycott of this movie because it does not show any Black women in it. And that it had this inter-racial relationship instead which is rude to "sistahs". Which over looks the fact the The Airman found the local Italian, in many cases, friendlier to them than follow Americans. And I have seen several interviews with Airman saying how good their relationships were.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Cen1aur 1963

As soon as he got engaged to that white girl, I knew then, that his black ass was grass LOL.

LOL. Hello white woman, goodbye life?

[SOM]

Here is a non-spoiler as it is not in the film but really happened: A B-17 was shot up and was struggling to stay air-borne. Saw an allied air base and crash landed on it. All ten crewmen got out and got the shock of their lives. They had landed on a Red Tail base and it was the first time they learned that they were Black. They stayed with them for 3-4 days-sleeping and eating with them. All the crew seemed to have gotten along well with the Airmen. Seems as if all did but for one Officer. During a standard mail review, his letter home was read. Within it he was begging his wife's forgiveness for living with and eating with Black men. He hoped that she would find it in her heart to take him back.

[Cen1aur 1963]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

LOL. Hello white woman, goodbye life?

Especially back then. It really didn't matter, because if dude would have brought her back to the states, they would have lynched is black ass LOL. That would have been one Italian speaking mofo, because that's exactly where he was going to stay if he lived. I was cracking up at that part. My girl, and some other black women in the movie were talking shit when dude was diggin that white girl. Especially the part when he said "you're so beautiful" because some other dude said the same shit about white girl in Miracle at St. Anna, that Spike Lee movie. I personally really don't understand that shit either (interacial dating), but to each its own.