navyflir

Feel good movie. Maybe not technically accurate but it is nice to see a move about people who work hard and are willing to risk their lives on a fairly regular basis doing a job that not everyone can do or is willing to even try. The bad reviews miss the point entirely. It is about hard work, sacrifice, personal pride and the love of a man for child and young woman. We need more moves that have a positive theme and make you feel good about your fellow man.

I was a VA-176 attack pilot in 1967 flying form the USS Saratoga in the Mediterranean. They used footage of my squadron flying on a weapons impact range off of Italy for one scene in this movie. We were flying Navy A1H Skyraiders, not around in WWII. They have a couple of clips of us doing run-ins on a target that they used at the end of the movie when Mitchum was in a shoot out with a German sniper. They were great airplanes used in Korea and Viet Nam for close air support. Also call Sandys or Spads by those who flew them, loved them and those troops on the ground who were protected by them. That;s my 5 second claim to fame in a Robert Mitchum movie.

Not a bad move, a little heavy handed on the anti-war message. Not one of Mitchum's better movies but worth a look..