MovieChat Forums > Strategic Air Command (1955) Discussion > America!!! *insert patriotic roar here*

America!!! insert patriotic roar here

posted 16 years ago by stealthblue2001
10 replies | jump to latest

That is all managed to grasp from this film. Woman basically acts like the model housewife of the 50's while Stewart defends America from the terrible Ivan that was feared in the 50's.

[–] straker-1 16 years ago

Albania! *roarrrrrrrrrrr!* Oh, whoops, sorry. Armenia!!! *roarrrrrrr!* Oh, what? That's not it either? What's the damn place called? Ah right..ahem...

AUSTRALIA! *roarrrrrrrrrrrr!*

Huh? Wrong AGAIN? Arrrgh! Look, you do it, I'm leaving......

[–] vosges1945 16 years ago

*****
Albania! *roarrrrrrrrrrr!* Oh, whoops, sorry. Armenia!!! *roarrrrrrr!* Oh, what? That's not it either? What's the damn place called?
*****

SPARTAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[–] pnmiller4-1 16 years ago

Aw, screw you. Freedom freeloader.

[–] Signet 15 years ago

Yup, I think you got all of it.

I was 17 years old when this picture came out and I saw it in a theater then. As I recall, I fell asleep while Allyson and Stewart were having one of their on-screen tiffs. Even the action sequences were tedious.

[–] gd5150 9 years ago

That is all managed to grasp from this film. Woman basically acts like the model housewife of the 50's while Stewart defends America from the terrible Ivan that was feared in the 50's.

Amazing considering it was made in the 50's.

[–] Oediface 9 years ago

It's more like "SAC!"  than "America!" to me — certainly, compared to pretty much every war movie made from 1942 through the '50s. But, it's never felt like a propaganda film at all. It's there, but it's subtle, far overshadowed by the fabulous aerial footage and Stewart's prototypical quiet patriotism, the kind we don't see much of these days.

If it's a good movie, I don't care much about "messages." Over-thinking them can wreck it, so...

[–] GeorgiaDixie 8 years ago

I completely agree with your assessment Oediface. I love this movie and wish I could find it on DVD or at least a VHS copy of it somewhere (I still have a good ol' working VCR and about a dozen old tapes I watch every now and then of movies I don't have or can't get on DVD).

However, I guess I'm somewhat biased towards this movie. My paternal Granddaddy was a highly decorated Chief Master Sergeant who served in the Doolittle Raid and then as a B-24 Crew Chief in the Pacific during WWII, plus a tour over Korea (51-52). He served from 1940 until retirement in 1963 and most of the post-WWII assignments were in SAC. My dad (also an Air Force vet, 2 tours in Vietnam with the 14th Air Commandos) said this movie was required viewing in his house growing up! ;) The only thing that brings this movie down to me is June Allyson's selfish behavior in relation to Stewart's career decisions, but it only means I give this movie an A instead of an A+! I've seen B-36s on the ground, but I wish I could have seen one flying, what a sight that must have been!

"Courage is being scared to death- and saddling up anyway"

[–] Oediface 8 years ago

I wouldn't call Sally Holland's behavior "selfish." She married a ballplayer, not a SAC bomber commander, and when Col. Holland was recalled, she wanted a semi-normal life, especially with a baby on the way.

I mean, when Hope was born, where was her dad? In Thule, Greenland, sending confusing telegrams.

[–] GeorgiaDixie 8 years ago

I see and understand your point, especially since he was a ballplayer when they got married. Still, she never really gave the Air Force an equal chance. I get that the constant deployments and moves (which actually weren't as often in SAC in the 50s, since they would just "forward deploy" units temporarily) are hard on the family, but thousands dealt with it very well, including wives of WWII vets who went back in. I guess I just saw it through Stewart's POV, not that of the wife.

P.S. This the situation the opposite of my family (every male on both sides of my family served and on the paternal side over half going back to the founding of the country were career), where all the wives knew what they were getting in to when they got married. ;) Although there were still a lot of divorces...

"Courage is being scared to death- and saddling up anyway"

[–] movies789 8 years ago

I agree with both of you, Oediface and GeorgiaDixie. The wife should have been more flexible; after all, she'd married not only a baseball player but an Air Force Reservist as well. On the other hand, the husband was selfish and presumptuous to make a major career decision without first discussing it with the wife - a decision that would affect the wife and child at least as much as the husband.