In this film? In spite of the General's need for propaganda over honorable actions, "sharing" his wife and then letting Sachel die at the end, the aristos seem to be the ones talking about honor and following the rules. Willi isn't concerned that some of his kills weren't official. The Captain wants Sachel court martialed for his disobeying orders and getting men killed needlessly. Sachel is the one putting his own ambition above country and duty.
If everyone's thinking the same way, someone isn't thinking. Gen. Patton
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RbSnedlap
11 years ago
Think about this though, the way the film sets things up Stachel had spent two years in the trenches before even transfering to the air service and at the beginning of the film throws a bottle of schnapps to a group of bedraggled soldiers at the side of the road.
He`s treated as much of an outsider by the more aristocratic members of the unit who always seem to accuse him of having the worst possible motives for his actions so in the end is it all that surprising that he acts the part?
He knows that he probably isn`t going to live very long so can he really be blamed for taking what he can get when its freely available.
He may have started out as rather idealistic and patriotic but what he`s seen over the last couple of years has rather brutalised him and he just sees the attitude of some of his squadron mates as rather hypocritical.
To me it looks like in the film Stachel has a rather decent side to is character which gets more driven into the background as the story progresses.
The `Blue Max` becoming a way for him to say "I`m just as good as you are" to the rest of the squadron.
"Any plan that involves losing your hat is a BAD plan.""
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