Perry Kate
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
EssenceStory
Well Deserved Praise
Skyler
Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
kfo9494
For whatever reason, this film had slipped pass me and I was viewing this movie for the first time. And I have to say that I was very entertained by most of the scenes, especially the ones involving Steve McQueen and his not-so-normal view about war. It was a pleasant surprised as I got caught up in the story and followed the players right to the end of the film. In fact, the relationships with the flying crew were so well done, that I was somewhat disappointed when they threw in a female love interest taking the story into an even more irrational mind-set of our main player, Buzz Rickson.A written summary of this movie will not do the film justice. A person really has to view the production in order to see the development of characters and the quirky plot that is laid out with its slight references to the line between sane and insanity. Steve McQueen gives an excellent performance as the viewer is caught up in the action of the B-17 crew leader that has a fondness for this horrible situation called war. One cannot wait until the next air- raid to see how character is going to react to the crisis and also to each other.At times, the movie did get a bit slow but overall an entertaining watch. A movie that most people will not be disappoint in viewing.
grantss
Interesting war movie, based around a B-17 pilot (Steve McQueen) and co-pilot (Robert Wagner) and their bombing missions over Germany in WW2. Reasonably predictable, but the action sequences are great, utilising WW2 footage plus footage filmed especially for the movie.
st-shot
Once they arm his B-17 "The Body" with bombs they become Buzz Rickson's (Steve McQueen) and he will allow no abuse to come to them until he reaches target even if it involves disobeying orders. Rickson is a war lover, emotionally dead on the ground, unless competing for his co-pilot's (Robert Wagner) girlfriend, but it is in the air over enemy targets is where he finds his real ecstasy. Arrogant, fearless, cynical, courageous, his crew knows he's short a full deck but it is the fearlessness that they bank on to get them back home.As in any film it appears (12 OClock High, Catch 22) the B-17 is the star, making its way through the flak in imposing formation, the crew in the chaotic interior trying to jell as they fight off German Messerschmitts. Using actual footage War Lover in the air is an intense watch especially with Rickson at the controls. On the ground things tend to get dull with Wagner and a dull Sally Ann Field playing out a mawkish romance to perhaps distract from the well cast McQueen's psycho hero. But it is McQueen's Rickson and his battered B-17 that give The War Lover the thrust that it has.
thinker1691
World War II has always been a treasure trove of some of the finest moments of heroism known to Hollywood. For this offering, tinsel town selected a novel by John Hersey and made a movie called, "The War Lover." The late Steve McQueen, was very proud of his role as Capt. Rickson, during the filming. Added to that was the cast and crew from his co-star Robert Wagner as Lt. Ed Bolland, to the supporting actors, Gary Cockrell as Lt. Marty Lynch, Michael Crawford as Sgt. Junior Sailen and multi-talented Robert Easton as Sgt. Handown enhance this fine war time saga. The well written story about the war, it's effects on the characters and their ability to cope with it is what makes this movie a classic. Occasionally some pearls of wisdom are uttered which makes one think, such as the phase spoken by the Flight Surgeon Randall (Bernard Braden) who said, "I consider war to be a complete cession of rational thought." That is true, not to mention memorable. Like the tale itself which zeros in on the men, their loves and their own mortality. All in all, a worthy Classic from the Greatest generation. ****
