Claim: The Great Waldo Pepper's cast almost included Edward Herrmann.

The Great Waldo Pepper is a 1975 American drama film directed , produced , and co-written by George Roy Hill . Set during 1926 -- 1931 , the film stars Robert Redford as a disaffected World War I veteran pilot who missed the opportunity to fly in combat and his sense of postwar dislocation in 1920s America . The cast also includes Margot Kidder , Bo Svenson , Edward Herrmann and Susan Sarandon . The Great Waldo Pepper basically depicts barnstorming activity in the 1920s and the accidents that led to aviation regulations by the Air Commerce Act .