Strategic Air Command 1954

     Robert (Dutch) Holland is a third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals.  He is with the team for spring training and he sees a B-36 fly over the field.  Dutch is recalled to duty and he leaves for MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa Florida.  He also serves at Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado and Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.  Dutch had recently wed Sally and she is distressed that he will remain in the Air Force and they will not return to St. Louis.  Every time the phone rings, she is petrified that something has happened to Dutch on a mission.  Dutch does go down with a B-36 in the Arctic but he is rescued.  All of the crew members bailed out except Dutch and the radar navigation officer.  They stayed with the plane until it was too late to bail and a rescue helicopter arrived for them later. 

     Everything about this film seems very authentic and the aerial photography of the planes is spectacular.  A special citation by the American National Board of Review was awarded for the aerial scenes.  This film had the full cooperation of the United States Air Force to maintain accuracy.   The planes need a lot of thrust and torque to get into the air and their structure seems too massive to lift!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

112 min, Action directed by Anthony Mann with James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy, Barry Sullivan, Alex Nicol, Bruce Bennett, Jay C. Flippen, James Millican, James Bell, Rosemary DeCamp, Richard Shannon, John McKee.

Note:  Imdb 6.4 out of 10, 51% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 606 reviews, Leonard Maltin 2.5* out of 4* user rating 4.5* out of 5*.

Special Note:  James Stewart was a B-17 instructor pilot, B-24 squadron commander and a bomb group operations officer.  He completed 20 combat missions and he was promoted to brigadier general.  He continued to fly in his later years and he did Operation Arc Light missions in Vietnam as a non-duty observer aboard a B52F.  Stewart’s character is based on the real-life military career and an actual mission flown by Brigadier General Clifford Schoeffler.  He crashed his plane on an Arctic mission.  A Boston Red Sox legendary player also inspired the character of Dutch.  Ted Williams was a WWII veteran recalled for Korean War service as a Marine Corps aviator at the height of his baseball career.