The Blue Max 1966

     This film is based on a novel written by Jack Hunter.  The setting is WWI in 1918 from the perspective of the German soldiers.  Lt. Bruno Stachel has been fighting in the infantry but he has just completed flight school.  He sets a goal of obtaining the medal the Blue Max.  This medal is given to a pilot with 20 confirmed enemy kills.  He tries to fit in with the officers but they feel he is lower-class and not chivalrous.  Stachel is very vocal about his disappointment about one of his kills not being verified.  It is thought that he shot at and killed men on the other side that were not shooting at him?

      This film is based on a novel written by Jack Hunter.  The setting is WWI in 1918 from the perspective of the German soldiers.  Lt. Bruno Stachel has been fighting in the infantry but he has just completed flight school.  He sets a goal of obtaining the med the Blue Max.  This medal is given to a pilot with 20 confirmed enemy kills.  He tries to fit in with the officers but they feel he is lower-class and unchivalrous.  Stachel is very vocal about his disappointment about one of his kills not being verified.  It is thought that he shot at at killed men on the other side that we not shooting at him?

     There is one thing that Lt Bruno Stachel makes very clear from the beginning, he only cares and thinks about  himself!!  There are differences in the film from the book about the plot and the portrayal of the characters.  George Peppard was 37 years old and the character in the novel was 19 years old.  Stachel is a deeply troubled alcoholic with a habit of lying in the novel but not so in the film.  Heidemann exhibits an immediate favoritism toward Stachel in the film.  At the end of the novel, Heidermann reveals that he has been secretly boosting Stachel’s achievements as part of an experiment in publicity management.  There is a change in the ending of the novel and the film too.  The scenes of this war show how violent it was and how many men lost their lives!!   

156 min, Action directed by John Guillermin and written by Ben Barzman, Basilio Franchina, David Pursall, Jack Seddon, Gerald Hanley with George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Jeremy Kemp, Karl Michael Vogler, Anton Diffring, Harry Towb, Peter Woodthrope, Derek Newark, Derren Nesbitt, Loni von Friedl, Friedrich von Vedebur, Carl Schell, Hugo Schuster, Alex Scott, Roger Ostime, Ray Browne, Timothy Parkes, Ian Strauss.

Note:  Imdb 7.1 out of 10 with 6,076 view, Rotten Tomatoes 76% audience with 3,085 ratings, Empire Online 3* out of 5*, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 46 reviews, Letterboxd 3.3* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed at County Cork, County Wicklow, County Dublin, County Kildare, Ireland.  There is a mistake with the DR1 triplanes, they never carried overall lozenge pattern camouflage.  The Iron Cross national insignia on the German aircraft were incorrect for this period of WWI.  The makeup and hairdos of Ursula Andress are very much of the 1960’s.  TV antennas can be seen on the roof tops on the houses in the town?  Author Jack Hunter was very disappointed in the appearance of planes since it was not accurate!!  The art director said that a D-7 with curve-sided crosses photographs better!!  The machine-guns with no ammo feed tracks, no big deal, people just watch the muzzle flashes!!