Tonight I watched "Twelve O'Clock High" (1949) starring Gregory Peck (as always, correct pronunciation is requested, and btw, if you ever need a refresher for any name, don't hesitate to ask). Peck stars as General Frank Savage, a tough-as-nails Air Force man, second in command of the 918th Bomb Group based in England. The setting is World War Two, the year 1943. Narration provides some context, letting us know that the Eighth Air Force were the first US military unit to strike German strongholds, beginning in France in 1942. At that time, the Bomb Group was small in number. According to the movie, Peck's fictional 918th had only 50 B-17s at their disposal. I don't know how accurate this is historically, but no doubt it's close to the reality, and a far cry from the 150.000 planes Peck promises are being manufactured back home. He has to say something to bolster his troops. They are called a "hard luck" squadron, one that has flown too many missions and suffered great losses. Some of the men are experiencing psychoses gently referred to as "combat fatigue" by the company doctor, but now they are being asked to suck it up one more time, to make daylight bombing runs inside Germany, against Kraut manufacturing plants.
Up until now, the leader of the 918th had been Colonel Davenport (Gary Merrill). The pilots love him, and he will go to any lengths to protect them. He won't send a battle scarred man back up in the air, no matter what the Generals want. The opening scene shows what it was like for a bomber crew whose plane was hit by enemy fire in the course of a run. It's strong stuff for 1949, with dialogue about heads getting blown off, etc. Gary Merrill is shown entering a plane that has crash landed, to retrieve the dismembered arm of a crewman who was blasted by the gun of a Focke-Wulf fighter. I think I've mentioned that when I was little, one of my earliest memories was of having model airplanes suspended above my bed. I was about four or five, and my Dad would show me all these pamphlets, from the toy model packages, that contained information about the airplanes. This was how I learned about Messerschmitts, and Junkers, Henkels and Focke-Wulfs. Dad knew about them because he'd been in a radar battalion that tracked German aircraft.
But about the movie, to recap what we have so far : The 918th is a small group that is part of the also undersized Advance Bombing Unit that is in England to destroy German manufacturing plants. The War Department feels that it's the only chance the Allies have of winning the war. Currently the Germans have more planes, more tanks, more artillery - more of everything. Hitler has been amassing his Wermacht and it is overpowering all who stand in it's way. If the Air Force can knock out German industry, it might turn the tide of the war.
But the pilots of the 918th are beat up, psychologically worn down. The Generals now want them to make daylight bombing runs at low altitude, which will make them sitting ducks for German anti-aircraft fire. Colonel Davenport is fighting against this. He tells the Generals that he will not send his men on what amounts to a suicide mission. So, General Pritchard (Millard Mitchell), replaces him. He sends in Gregory Peck to whip the pilots into shape, and man, Peck has no mercy for them, no sympathy whatsoever. He is ruthless in this movie. He calls a meeting of the pilots and tells them to stop feeling sorry for themselves. These are men who've been through unbearable stress and horror, but Peck doesn't care. One pilot, a Squadron Leader, has gone temporarily AWOL. When found, he is drunk, trying to numb the pain of seeing his friends die. In one of the most macho scenes in any war movie I can remember, Peck castigates the man, calling him a coward and worse. His adjutant, Major Stoval (Dean Jagger), is mortified by Peck's tirade. He advises Peck to lighten up, to try leading the men instead of denouncing them, but Peck won't budge. And then it becomes too late, because the next day, every pilot in the group puts in for a transfer. They want Colonel Davenport back and are gonna abandon Gregory Peck.
Peck is now in a bind. He has General Pritchard above him, demanding results. The War Department wants those daylight runs to begin. Below him, he's got a mutiny on his hands. The pilots are gonna transfer. But they have to go through the proper channels to do so. Peck's got 'em for another ten days. In that time, Dean Jagger will try to convince Peck to work with the men instead of against them. He suggests calling back Gary Merrill to act an an intermediary. Can Peck change his iron ways enough to get these shell-shocked pilots to fly? Can he inspire them? Well, this is Hollywood, and Peck was a great actor. My money says he can do it.
I had seen "Twelve O'Clock High" once before, but it was long ago (at least a decade), and I'd forgotten how intense Gregory Peck was as General Savage (an apt name for the character). I think it's one of the greatest roles he ever played, and the movie itself is one of the greatest WW2 Air Force films I've ever seen, maybe the greatest, although there isn't as much air combat as in - say - "The Battle of Britain" or "The Dam Busters". The movie runs 132 minutes and most of it is a tense psychological study : Can Peck get these men to fight, and if so, will he have to change his methods? It's brutal, right up there with George C. Scott slapping the bedridden soldier in "Patton", or Jack Nicholson berating Tom Cruise in "A Few Good Men", except here it feels even more heartless. Peck should've gotten a Best Actor for this film, he's that good. And though you only get twenty minutes of air combat at the end, it's from actual combat footage filmed by German and American airmen, so you're seeing real FW Fighters screaming at you as you ride in a B-17, and man is it scary. The fighter planes move so fast, and seem to come out of nowhere. The gunners have only seconds to get a fix on them and shoot them down, before their bomber gets blasted, and you do also see actual footage of American planes blown from the sky.
And there were real men on board. You are watching soldiers who lost their lives at that moment. It's sobering stuff, but then "Twelve O'Clock High" is that kind of movie. It pulls no punches in showing the sheer determination and sacrifice it took to beat the Nazis. There was later a TV series of the same name that ran in the mid-1960s. I used to watch it as a kid, before I ever heard of the movie. I wish they'd put the series on dvd, I'd love to see it again.
"Twelve O'Clock High" the movie is an all-time classic, and it gets Two Gigantic Thumbs Up, my highest recommendation. It's an absolute must-see for WW2 buffs, Air Force fans or anyone who appreciates great acting. Peck knocks it out of the park. ////
That's all for now. We had good singin' in church this morn. Hope you enjoyed your weekend. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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