Great film. But I can't for the life of me find a Senator Conyers listed anywhere. Was John Lithgow's charactar fictional? I've even looked in the US Congressional Biographical database...and zero. Does anyone know????
shareSince all of the characters in the movie (save B.O. Davis and Mrs Roosevelt) were fictional, I think it's safe to say Conyers was made up, too. I think he was one character to represent the political obstacles these men faced, even by their own government.
shareNot only was the Senator fictional, but I turned up this comment from a David Robb, to MotherJones.com:
This was a movie about the first black airmen during World War II, where the bad guy was a general at the base where these guys were training, and the good guy was a white congressman. Well, the army said they didn't like that, so they ended up changing it. I have a letter where the producers wrote to the military, to Phil Strub, who's the head of the Pentagon's film office. The producers wrote, "The following changes are in the works and will soon be fully executed by the writer. It is our intention to reverse the characterization of General Stevenson and Senator Powell, making the senator the source of bigotry. General Stevenson will be revealed as someone who is loyal to the efforts of the Tuskegee Airmen." Now when people saw that film, they had no idea that the good guy and the bad guy had been reversed, just so the military could meet its recruiting goals.
(it appears some names and ranks also got changed)
This is why I prefer documentaries. I haven't yet seen one about these men, but I hope to.
If you run across a good one, let us know.
shareInteresting. But then I think it's better this way. They didn't need two *beep* officers on the base during training, and it was interesting to see the political resistance they had to fight against as well.
For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco