Reviews
The Lady Takes a Flyer (1957)
3-Stars for 3-Stars
The war is over and there are still some heroes left. A few of these former military pilots get together to deliver war-surplus aircraft to their new (mostly civilian) owners, and these deliveries take them around the world. As a wanna-be (or wish-I-could-have-been) combat pilot I got to see some of the true aircraft stars of WWII. Even the soap-opera romance scenes were kinda cute and light-hearted. I actually enjoyed the movie and think it was very entertaining. The 3 stars interacted well and the movie was not too unbalanced. Was the plot familiar and the ending predictable ?? ABSOLUTELY !!!! So what ?? Name a single Elvis Presley or James Bond movie that wasn't as well ?? This film was not Academy Award material but it is much better than several films I have seen that have won Academy Awards. It is also much better than most of the trash that is being produced for TV and movie theaters today. I, for one, hope it makes it to DVD. If you don't like it...(heck, this IS America)...don't watch it !!
Police Story (1973)
Do you like NYPD BLUE ? So do I but this series was MUCH more realistic !!!
Hollywood didn't get it (they seldom do) and I guess the general public didn't either or these great shows would still be on re-runs or even DVD. My experiences from the 60's & 70's as a street cop were never so dramatic or intense as those shown on "POLICE STORY" but the stress and emotion they portrayed hit a level of realism that has never been repeated. Jack Webb's "DRAGNET" and "ADAM-12" presented cops as never-bend-the-rules moralists while "Dirty Harry" could still get work in "NYPD BLUE". Both were entertaining but I suspect that many viewers came to believe that the cops always catch the bad guys and/or that most cops think that it is OK to beat confessions from suspects or otherwise violate the Constitution they swore to defend. Most of the other cop shows were (and are) just silly. I'm sorry that every police cadet does not have the opportunity to see the "POLICE STORY" series......in particular: "STIGMA", which was probably the best show of them all. It is also probably Mike Connors best performance ever, and Martin Milner is excellent as well. Some of the "POLICE STORY" series made it to commercial VHS but only in PAL (British) format. Too bad.