I ran out to see "Flyboys" (featuring Philip Winchester and Lex Shrapnel of "Thunderbirds") yesterday morning and was pleasantly impressed with both the film and the number of folks in the audience. The press on the film has repeatedly mentioned that no one is sure who the audience for this film is in America (other than plane enthusiasts!) and, truth to tell, they've only put $10m into advertising (which isn't very much). Either way, this movie has been getting mostly favorable reviews and I can certainly see why---it's really brilliant!
Without revealing much, I have to say that both Philip and Lex are great in their roles, and, pleasantly, there's more to Lex's role as "Grant" than just seeing him getting decked after using some rather nasty racial slurs against the sole African-American character. He eventually becomes a charmer and gets to flash that lovely smile of his. It's still hard not to giggle at seeing him with a suitable-for-the-time period but rather silly mustache, though; it makes him look like a young Terry Thomas, darn it, and that's not a good thing in what's meant to be a serious-enough look at war and not "It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World!" He's no John Tracy this time out (as in "instantly likable"), but he and all of the airmen depicted are equal to the bravery and fearlessness of any of the Tracy boys. (Actually, it took a lot more guts to jump into the cockpit of a soapbox with wings than into one of Brains' flawlessly designed vehicles)!
I don't recall when the film is opening in the UK and elsewhere, but I'm sure it'll be greatly loved over there, what with Biggles lore still being relatively strong there. Meanwhile, it's been debated whether or not the US public will embrace "Flyboys." I believe that, with a bit more advertising this week, more people just might. There's enough light, frothy but realistic romance to keep the bulk of the audience interested and, just as we saw back in July at Comic-Con, the CGI-work is flawless and will keep the video game generation happy. (I heard today that there's already a tie-in game so that you can play the aerial dog fight scenes at home....oh joy)....
I'm attending a special screening with cast and crew for "Flyboys" on Thursday night and will be interested to see if our flesh-and-blood Scott Tracy, Philip, shows up (since Lex is otherwise engaged with the RSC). It was a true pleasure to see two of our "real" Tracy brothers up there on the screen together again and it would be great to let him know that his work in both films was appreciated.
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