Jump to content

12 O' Clock High


m1ashooter
 Share

Recommended Posts

I just watched it again last night for the unknownth time. At Squadron Officers School we watched it as a classic example of the relationship model of leadership approach, high tast low relationship etc. When I watched it last night I saw it from a historical viewpoint and a personnal point. It is one of the most outstanding films about the Mighty 8th Air Force and day time bombing. However I wish someone would make a B24 movie.

 

Sky Bird This Is The Mighty 8th Air Force Command Post With A Test Of The Primary Alerting System

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my favorites, too! As a cadet at The Citadel, in our NROTC academic class for freshmen, we watched it, too, for leadership examples. Otherwise, those first year NROTC classes were the most boring ever, and I was glad to move on to Marine ROTC the next year so we could learn some useful applications never to be learned from the Navy classes.

G

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yet another excellent Gregory Peck role! I think my favorite scene was after the big raid when Peck confronted the chaplain and XO who had snuck aboard a B17 for the raid. Peck got off a great zinger line about the XOs shooting skills (or lack thereof). All in all, a very fine movie.

Terry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree, one of the greatest WWII movies ever. There was a great piece in After The Battle magazine years ago about the making of the film. It was shot mostly at Eglin Air Force Base. They actually belly landed a B17, that isn't spliced-in original footage. Here's a link to a photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Twelve_O...ash_landing.jpg

 

A lot, I am sure, had to do with the fact that the screenwriters were both 8th AF vets and filming so close to their wartime experiences, only four or five years later.

 

Best,

Bill K.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
El Bibliotecario

I think the word 'classic' --along with 'awsome'--is one of the most cliched words in current english. But I concer that 12 O CLOCK HIGH is a classic in that it is just as powerful a drama today as when it was made. I'll give a negative example--a contemporary film, AIR FORCE, which features German blonde beasts flying P51s with German insignia and snarling "Das schwein!" at their US opponents. That one is NOT a classic.

 

I have a particular fondness for 12 O CLOCK HIGH because it helped me in a college literary criticism course. The instructor was discussing Randall Jarrell's poem, 'The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner.' Everyone he called on tapdanced around the way one does when one doesnt know what one is talking about. Finally the instructor said in exasperation, "Does anyone even know what a ball turret is?" No one answered. I was dumbfounded--had none of them ever watched 12 O CLOCK HIGH? After revealing myself as the only one in that group of wannabe literati who could describe a ball turret, for the rest of the semester I could do no wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Johan Willaert
IMHO = 100% real ww2 uniforms

 

Including a dozen of ultrarare WW2 US Army bicycles visible in the background of most airfield scenes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was used in Navy Surface Warfare Officer School basic for a portion of leadership classes. In 1981 in SWOS at the Amphib Base Coronado,Ca I remember we would watch it in parts- stop the film and discuss the styles of leadership portrayed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great Movie! I also really loved the TV series. I'll admit, some episodes are a little off, but overall it's really great. Paul Burke was great!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 3205th Drone Group at Eglin operated radio-controlled B-17's, the QB-17 - we've got some info on it here: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=26802

 

 

That plane was actually flown into the crash scene by the great stunt pilot Paul Mantz. They had a reinforced steel pole in the center of the tent that he struck and that was supposed to spin the plane around.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Mantz

 

All done in one take! Beats the heck out of CGI!

 

There is a great biography in print about Paul Mantz. After WWII he bought up so many surplus aircraft that he once owned the world's seventh largest air force! He could not maintain that many aircraft, so a good number of them were scrapped.... only later for him to resell the parts to the USAF in the short supply days of the Korean War!

 

Along with the above posts, I have it on good authority that it was also used for training USAF officers in the 1970's on the challenges of leadership. It's all there... the old commander failing, the new commander coming in and establishing himself, turning a bad luck unit into an efficient machine only to see it ground down by mission tasking, the eventual burn out of the new commander until he himself is replaced... you just can't tell it any better!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
Air Force Collector

One of the best! This is one of the movies I watches as a kid and it got me interested in collecting WWII military. Been collecting militaria ever since. :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMHO = 100% real ww2 uniforms

 

0.jpg

 

twelve_oclock_high_gregory_peck.jpg

 

12high002.jpg

Not all were the real thing. In the opening scene when Lt. Bishop belly lands the B17 look as he disembarks the aircraft...he turns his back to throw up and you can see he is wearing a repro A2 jacket. It has the seam across the back of the shoulders. I communicated personally to Col. DeRussy who was the 8th AF technical advisor to the movie and he told me that all uniforms were original.. I told him no sir...with all due respect. Asked him to watch the scene and get back to me. He called me back and said that I was right and he must have been short on some items and the wardrobe department had to provide them. He was in charge of getting the uniforms as well as aircraft and just about everything else. After our conversations he sent me a nice 8x10 glossy of him, autographed of course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ww2reproductions

I went and watched the movie the other night and now I salute like they were...I have the book packed away somewhere ...must read it.

Leo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The belly landing scene site is now at Fort Rucker. It was called "Ozark Field" at the time, and that's where most of the flying scenes were done from. Duke Field as the "Archbury" set in Florida.

That plane was actually flown into the crash scene by the great stunt pilot Paul Mantz. They had a reinforced steel pole in the center of the tent that he struck and that was supposed to spin the plane around.
Not exactly. The metal pole was hammered in place by a scenry person who had no idea why those tents needed to be there and didn't want them blowing down. Mantz found out he almost ate the pole, which sliced very far into the wing, I think it was between the # 3 and 4 engines. he was VERY upset afterward. No pole would have spun the plane around, it might have ripped the wing off if it were strong enough, but a B-17 wing would likely have snapped even a telephone pole in half.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes a truely GREAT AAF film. I love the ground crew in the flightline scenes and when they are "sweatin' out the mission" and waiting for the planes to land.

 

Scott

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree, it is one of those movies you never get tired of watching!

I always wonder about the scene near the end when Peck cannot raise himself through the nose hatch. All four engines are running, and trust me,

there is not much space between you and the whirling #2 engine! I have done the "Frank Savage swing" into the nose hatch many times, but never

with a running engine at my left shoulder!

Hat's off to Gregory Peck.

 

Best, John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anybody notice that the ficticious 918th BG .....divided by 3 equals 306th BG? And that the early C.O.was Col. Frank Armstrong vice Col. Frank Savage? Interesting.......

Bobgee

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...