From: rjg@umnstat.stat.umn.edu (Robert J. Granvin)
Subject: Re: Movie Jets (was Re: PEARL HARBOR)
Organization: School of Statistics, University of Minnesota
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 22:39:12 GMT

In article <BzG4EH.1zH@plato.ds.boeing.com>, prang@plato.ds.boeing.com (Ron Wanttaja) writes:
|> In article <4190@eastman.UUCP> luh700@gosset.kodak.com (Jeffrey D. Morris) writes:
|> >MEMPHIS BELLE accurate???  Please explain what you mean.  Certainly not
|> >the accuracy of the story of the final flight.
|> 
|> Sorry, I meant accurate in equipment.  Gawd knows the plot was awful.
|> 
|> It's a good indication on how bankrupt in ideas and deadly conservative
|> Hollywood is today.  If the producers had approached the studios and said,
|> "We want to do an expensive movie about a bomber in World War 2" they would
|> have been quickly shown the door.
|> 
|> HOWEVER, all they had to say is, "We're remaking an academy-award-winning
|> film" and the backing was found.

Oh, man, and don't I know it.

I spent four days with four gentlemen from a B-25 crew who were reunited
for the first time that weekend since they were watching each other's
parachutes decend after being totally blasted out of the air by the non-
existant flak on a milk-run.  The aircraft exploded in air just seconds
after the last survivor bailed out.

The story is incredible - The story of the mission is fascinating enough,
but when you hear them tell all about what happened after -

Three spent the next few months travelling through the countryside trying
to escape enemy territory and avoid capture.  One had to follow later because
of severe leg woulds from shrapnel.  One of his escape attempts was via a
South African C-47 sent deep into Yugoslavia to get him and others, but
crashed on take-off, bursting into flames.  He spent time with a Russian
partisan unit that had the resources to serve _steak._  He met several
German officer's face to face who were looking for him, but never realized
they had found him.  The first time he heard Lily Marlene was hiding in a
cave from a German border guard.

One of the crew was lit on fire before leaving the aircraft, having been
doused by gasoline.  The slipstream fortunately blew him out, almost
instantly after is when the ship exploded.  He landed on the wrong side of
the river, couldn't walk and could get to the other side.  He was captured
by Italian fascist soldiers who were about to execute him on the spot when
they discovered he had an Italian parentage.  He was saved at the last second
by the German gunnery officer who took charge of him and had him identify the
bodies of the killed crew at the crash site of the B-25.

He then spent several months in German hospitals (one was the Waldorf
Astoria) and ended up once in a town of all Germans (an R&R&R town) -
the only allied person in town.  The bed next to him held an SS officer
who snuck him out of the hospital one day to bring him to a beer hall
where the officer tried to convince people (unsuccessfully) that he was
an American flyer.  He also got a Christmas present from Adolph Hitler.
He spent the rest of the war in different POW camps, got attacked by
American P-47's, could hear rallies from one camp at the stadium at
Nuremburg and met Patton when he personally liberated their camp.

The aircraft they crewed (except for that day) survived over five times
more missions than the famed Memphis Belle.

There's much much more to the story, but the point being that these are
just regular guys doing their job.  They aren't heroes, or at least never
felt like heroes.

But is their story movie material?  When you listen to their interviews,
there is no doubt.  And it's got all the material that Hollywood looks for:
Danger, shock, surprise, romance, terror, pride, excitement and humor.

Will it ever be made?  Even if a professional script had been written and
submitted to every agent on the planet with a strong follow-up policy, it's
highly unlikely.

Unfortunately, really, because there are LOTS of stories like this - 
fascinating and riveting.  And they don't have to be embellished at all
to make them "movie quality."

|> Yeah, for the most part the plot stunk.  But the technical details were
|> apparently accurate.

Agreed.  The amount of _positive_ things done in the movie is worth note.
The technical aspect was very good - not entirely perfect, such as the
use of P-51's instead of Spit's, but hey, that's life.  :-)

-- 
// Robert J. Granvin                                         rjg@stat.umn.edu
// School of Statistics - University of Minnesota        System Administrator
// ``One of the `right' people.''
Xref: sparky rec.aviation.military:1400 rec.aviation.misc:1082