"Der Rote Baron" (The Red Baron)

[HolyHappiness]

I just watched this yesterday. Initially was iffy on it due to the fact it got bad reviews on IMDB and such, but I gave it my time. I must say, this is the first decent ww1 air war film I have seen! There are some quirky mixed up facts and a background love stroy gets old (thank goodness it's not as congestive to the story as Pearl Harbor's was) the film for the most part is fictitious other than a few factual events. If you're in it for some good entertainment, ww1 aircraft (not just Newport 17's and Fokker DR1's which bugged me to high heaven in Flyboys), some superb CGI, and a perfect music score, this is for you.

 

Overal Rating: 7/10

 

[MAW]

Another good one is "Aces High", about a rookie pilot in a RFC squadron....made in the 1980's I believe. Excellent trench songs, good uniforms, and a typical "We're all gonna die" WW1 storyline. Highly recommended.

[Garandomatic]

Gotta comment on this film. I saw it tonight after catching a bit of it at my Dad's place. I have read Richthofen's own book, and one or two other biographies. Aside from him talking to Roy Brown and whatnot, I was pretty impressed with how much rung a bell with what I read a few years ago. The film crew did some homework. Read an interview with the writer, I think it was, and he claimed to have heavily used Richthofen's book, his mother's book, and even original letters to crreate dialog and the overall storyline of the film.

 

Seeing those Albatroses and the Dr. 1s flying into battle in a wide variety of colors was pretty danged special.

 

Heck, they even had the decency to let you know that the Jewish pilot was a fictitious composite to honor the German Jews that served the first time around.

 

I'd give it an 8/10 simply because Flyboys sucked so bad.

[ken88]

I have to agree.

 

Seriously, very good movie. Superb cast. You may recognize Til Schweiger from Inglorious Bastards and Joseph Fiennes from Enemy @ The Gates.

Matthias Schweighöfer starred in Valkyrie and Lena Heady is just a pleasure to look at..

 

Music is great, air scenes are terrific and they did a very nice job fitting his whole story in 2 hours of movie. The end is very dramatic.

Worth a watch... Now all they have got to do is make a movie about Erich Hartmann, that other great German pilot who fought in WWII.

[Chris_B]

Schweiger is a good actor, too. Looks like he wasn't the baron, unfortunately...but if another good WWI air war is desired, give the Blue Max a whirl

[canadian bacon]

let me put it this way me and kyrstyn were finally able to watch a war movie together (she hates war movies)

all in all i liked this a hell of a lot better than flyboys its worth watching

cheers michael

[Garandomatic]

Interestingly enough, my wife considered DEFIANCE to be a heck of a date movie. I'll be buying it on DVD, I think. I really think they did a much better job than they certainly could have. I want to watch it and really crank the volume, the sounds of the aircraft were nice.

 

let me put it this way me and kyrstyn were finally able to watch a war movie together (she hates war movies)

all in all i liked this a hell of a lot better than flyboys its worth watching

cheers michael

[mpguy80/08]

A better title for this movie might have been "Der Teufel Rote" (The Red Devil) or from his own memoires, "Der Kampfflieger Rote" (The Red Battle Flyer). Germans would never have used the english word "Baron" (The word baron in German is Freiherr, or translated to english, Free Mister). His full title was Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richtofen. He started the war as a Uhlen... or Cavalryman and transferred into the Fliegerkorps to become an observer initially and finally a "chaser" pilot. He was never a truly good pilot eschewing aerobatics for stealth and often derided the British for using similar tactics. His favored tactic was to maneuver behind and below an unsuspecting "bus" and pull up, raking the belly of the british aircraft at point blank range. After being shot in the head by a rather lucky long range shot, von Richtofen was never really right after that, often suffering from severe headaches up until his death on April 18th, 1918. Though reports vary as to who was ultimately responsible for his death, and most accounts give credit to Captain Roy Brown, in depth studies and studies of the forensic evidence of the time suggests strongly that he was beought down by Austrailian machine gunners as the killing shot hit him from a low angle, passing through the chest cavity and exiting at a higher point on the body than it entered.

 

Wayne