Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

bkoganbing The Lafayette Escadrille was a group of young Americans who in 1914 could not wait for time and circumstance to bring America into World War I on the Allied side. They enlisted in the French army and were trained as aviators. One of those young man was a spirited rebellious young man named William Wellman.In fact Wellman is played here briefly by his actor/son William Wellman Jr. in what was William Wellman's swan song to films. It's all together fitting and proper that Wellman's last film be about the thing he loved even more than motion pictures, aviation.Bill Wellman made a lot of classic films and many like The High And The Mighty, Men With Wings, I Wanted Wings, Island In the Sky had to do with aviation. What's unusual about Lafayette Escadrille is that it did not concentrate on the war and the aerial combat. Instead it's coming of age story of a young man who enlists in the Lafayette Escadrille for all the wrong reasons.Tab Hunter plays a young juvenile delinquent named Thad Walker who to get away from home enlists in the Escadrille. He's there and still doesn't take to discipline. He does however take to Etchika Choureau and it's the call of the hormones rather than the call to the colors that Hunter responds to.Some of the comic moments are with the language difficulties as the French officers and non-coms try to drill the young Americans with neither understanding a word. But when Hunter hits Marcel Dalio and then breaks stockade to be with Choureau, he's down as a deserter.Two things immediately struck me about the film. The first is that in his final film the conservative William Wellman decide to test the almighty Code. Hunter can't get any legitimate work while AWOL if such a term exists in the French military. He has to go to work for French madam Veola Vonn as an escort, she's connected enough to provide some limited protection. Had Lafayette Escadrille been made a decade and a half later, you would have seen Hunter as a most explicit male escort for both sexes. Still it was a daring enough idea for 1958.The second is I'm wondering who back in the day in the Lafayette Escadrille was Wellman's inspiration for the story. It is in fact his original story that we're seeing. We do know that the happy ending that the film has is not the one Wellman wanted. But I guess you couldn't bend the Code too much. Among other treats in store in Lafayette Escadrille is a nice supporting cast of young players who would be making their marks soon enough as the members of the Escadrille. Tom Laughlin, Will Hutchins, David Janssen, and down the cast even further are James Garner and Clint Eastwood. Though it's not the film Wellman wanted, it's still a nice tribute to his comrades in the Lafayette Escadrille. Good thing that one of them lived and lived long enough to tell their tale.

thinker1691 The films involving early flying, aircraft and the conflict of air battle are very interesting. However, due to the limited equipment and the lack of good directors and writers, the earliest offerings of movie flying are greatly lacking. The late great Howard Hughes did one called 'Hells Angels' which was not bad, but difficult to follow. This is one of those attempts. The casting is overloaded with prime star material, in fact this movie has some of the best aspiring talent in Hollywood. If you'll look closely, you'll see, David Janssen, playing Duke Sinclair, Clint Eastwood playing George Moseley, Tom (Billy Jack) Laughlin as Arthur Blumenthal, Paul Fix as the General and Will Hutchins as Dave Putnam. Tab Hunter is Thad Walker in this story which is more love story than W.W.I fighting epic, is fine for it's day, but somewhat of a sleeper for modern audiences. Nvertheless, a good offering of primitive flying and fanciful storyline for it's time. ***

Boyo-2 **Spoilers Included** I saw a documentary on William Wellman, one of the best directors Hollywood ever had. I am a big fan of several of his older movies, most notably "The Ox-Bow Incident." He discussed this movie, said he liked it but the studio made him change the ending. It was a dear subject to his heart since it was autobiographical.Tab Hunter plays Thad, who was abused at home and causes an accident with a car so goes to France to help the French fight the Germans. You get some comedic touches at this point because none of the Americans understand a word their drill instructor is saying. They include David Janssen and a very young Clint Eastwood, so young he might have had his high school diploma in his back pocket.Thad strikes the drill instructor and is put in jail. His buddies get him out of it but he has nowhere to go so ends up with the girl he met when he arrived. Their language barrier is touching as they both try to communicate. But he can't leave the house, can't be seen outside since he escaped the military jail. They eventually get married in her apartment, and at the end get married for real.I never saw Tab Hunter in a movie before. I assumed, incorrectly, that he was a no-talent pretty boy but that was not the case. He gives a very thoughtful and real performance. It made me want to see more of his movies.I'm glad I saw this, even if it didn't turn out exactly as Wellman had wanted. 8/10.

Poseidon-3 A project very close to director William Wellman's heart, this semi-autobiographical account of his escapades in the title organization during WWI only partly succeeds. Hunter is a shiftless and troublesome youth who, after stealing a car and causing an accident, decides to enlist in a French air corp which allows American men to wear French uniforms and fight the war against Germany (the U.S. not having entered the war at this point.) On the sea voyage to France, Hunter meets up with older man Janssen and young, eager enlistees Hover and Wellman Jr (playing his own father.) They've scarcely downed their first glass of beer in a cafe when Hunter falls under the spell of misty-eyed French girl Choureau. He disappears with her for ten days, only resurfacing in time for his adventures in the Escadrille. The men are shown training for their flight careers in a comic, credibility-straining way with a bumbling Drillmaster barely able to communicate with them. Eventually, they take to the air and help the cause, though Hunter (due to his obsessive love for Choreau) runs into more trouble than he was in to begin with! Here the film becomes less about the Lafayette Escadrille and more about the troubled and contrived affairs of the young lovers. The films strengths lie in the cheerful, fraternity-like interactions of the men (even if narrator Wellman dwells on each one in the beginning, denoting their ultimate fate before the viewers have even met them), many of whom are played by actors who were just on the verge of greater things. It's interesting to see men like Halsey, Hutchins, Laughlin and especially Eastwood in these roles, though their lack of screen time ultimately becomes a bit of a frustration because their fame lends their smallish roles more weight than they were probably meant to have. Another big plus is gloriously handsome and beaming Hunter, though his looks are altered part way through the film. His charm is utilized throughout to help smooth over his character's selfish and foolish edges. It's also nice to get a glimpse into this little-known aspect of WWI and Wellman clearly wanted to bring various remembrances and details of his experience to the film. What doesn't work is the unevenness in tone of the film. It sways wildly from slapstick comedy to soapy romance to documentary to action. The title suggests a survey of the air corp along with action and aerial sequences (which do occur), yet the film turns into a "Let's Play House" love story complete with unintelligible murmurings from Choreau and a loopy, boozing, one-armed hotelier. This division of focus does more against the film than for it. Though he did manage to carve out a minor Hollywood career for himself, it should be noted that Wellman Jr, though amiable, gives a very stiff, flat performance as his father (though it couldn't have been easy to step into the role and be directed by Wellman Sr!) Hunter is beautiful and gives a committed performance. Janssen doesn't get to do a lot more than smart off and the rest of the men don't appear all that much (but they do show off their attractive physiques occasionally.) There is a (non-PC by today's standards) hilarious little part played by Nakamura as the men's human alarm clock and coffee pourer. In all, an okay film that could have been much better if the focus had remained where it belonged, which is on the fighting men of the Lafayette Escadrille. Studio tampering led to a happier ending for Hunter's character than was intended, much to Wellman's dismay.