As a person who has a great love for movies, this relatively unknown is one of my all time favorites for a number of reasons!
1) I was already a fan of Tom Selleck, who was well entrenched in his Magnum, P.I. fame (had never heard of Bess Armstrong, but...).
2) This was the first movie I saw (at age 12) without another adult.
3) I saw this with one of my best friends. And event though our friendship has fallen by the wayside in recent years, the connection to this movie is not lost.
4) The music, by A-lister John Barry and
5) Pound for pound, the story is engaging, well paced, not overlong, with numerous scenes that are always a joy to watch -- a) Eve commissioning O'Malley, b) the first barnstorming flight "lesson", c) the WWI story O'Malley tells to British troops, d) Brian Blessed (period!), e) the argument after the dogfight, f) the "lonely" flight across the Himalayas, g) Wilford Brimley's long awaited entrance, h) etc. etc. etc., all this in just less than two hours.
I wish more people knew of this film because it is a great, safe movie (minimal violence, no nudity, tame profanity) for the whole family, with a great balance of adventure, romance and sentiment between friends, family and lovers.
Find it! Watch it! Pass it on! I wish it would experience a rebound and become a true classic among movie fans, as it is one of the more important films for me and my experience as a movie buff!
1) I was already a fan of Tom Selleck, who was well entrenched in his Magnum, P.I. fame (had never heard of Bess Armstrong, but...).
2) This was the first movie I saw (at age 12) without another adult.
3) I saw this with one of my best friends. And event though our friendship has fallen by the wayside in recent years, the connection to this movie is not lost.
4) The music, by A-lister John Barry and
5) Pound for pound, the story is engaging, well paced, not overlong, with numerous scenes that are always a joy to watch -- a) Eve commissioning O'Malley, b) the first barnstorming flight "lesson", c) the WWI story O'Malley tells to British troops, d) Brian Blessed (period!), e) the argument after the dogfight, f) the "lonely" flight across the Himalayas, g) Wilford Brimley's long awaited entrance, h) etc. etc. etc., all this in just less than two hours.
I wish more people knew of this film because it is a great, safe movie (minimal violence, no nudity, tame profanity) for the whole family, with a great balance of adventure, romance and sentiment between friends, family and lovers.
Find it! Watch it! Pass it on! I wish it would experience a rebound and become a true classic among movie fans, as it is one of the more important films for me and my experience as a movie buff!