This week’s pick is another salute to our WW II flyboys in Michael Caton-Jones’s Memphis Belle (1990). The film stars Matthew Modine (Captain Dennis Dearborn, Pilot), Tate Donovan (1st Lt. Luke Sinclair, Co-Pilot), D.B. Sweeney, (Lt. Phil Lowenthal, Navigator), Billy Zane (Lt. Val Kozlowski, Bombardier), Top Turret Gunner), Eric Stoltz (Sgt. Danny “Danny Boy” Daly, Radio Operator), Sean Astin (Sgt. Richard “Rascal” Moore, and John Lithgow (Lt. Col. Bruce Derringer, an Army publicist writing a story on the crew of the Memphis Belle).
The film is set in the spring of 1943 where American B-17 heavy bombers of the 8th USAAF have been practicing daylight strategic bombing for almost a year against targets within Hitler’s Fortress Europe. The crew of one bomber the Memphis Belle, are the first ever crew to successfully complete their twenty-fifth and final bombing mission before they are allowed to rotate home for R&R.
The film opens where the crew of the Belle are grounded due to their plane under repairs after their last severe mission. As the twenty or so planes from the group arrive back, personnel on the ground can see the battle damage inflicted on the bombers due to enemy guns and shrapnel from air bursts over the target. The last returning bomber’s landing gear is damaged and the plane crash lands on the field. They can hear the men on board screaming as they are trying to get out and then the plane explodes. The men look on as fire and ambulance crews respond to the fiery wreak.
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