Tuskegee Airmen Get the Lucasfilm Treatment
So here’s the trailer for Red Tails, a new movie detailing the WWII exploits of the Tuskegee Airmen, the African American pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps who had some notable combat success in Italy and Sicily.
Since it’s produced by George Lucas, you can get pretty excited knowing that George is going to make sure he’s using the latest cutting-edge camera and production technology for the air combat scenes and the trailer promises a lot on that front.
Since it’s produced by George Lucas, you might start to worry about things like plot and character development, two pretty important areas of moviemaking that gave him a lot of trouble in those last three Star Wars movies.
Fortunately, George has enlisted some help this time and stayed out of the director’s and screenwriter’s chairs. Even though this is Anthony Hemingway’s first feature film, he’s made his bones working on The Wire and Treme, two TV shows that sure as hell know a thing or two about character development. The script was penned by John Ridley, who wrote the original screenplay and gets a story credit for the awesome Three Kings and spent a few years writing the cop series Third Watch.
The cast features Terence Howard from Hustle & Flow and Law & Order: LA, Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad, Andre Royo (Bubbles from The Wire) and Method Man from the Wu Tang Clan. Since he’s surrounded by good actors, we can also hope Cuba Gooding Jr. gives a rare performance that includes some subtlety with a minimum of random shouting.
Lucas has never been as sentimental as Steven Spielberg so it’ll be interesting to see how his take on WWII compares to his old Indian Jones partner’s Saving Private Ryan. At the very least, let’s hope that Red Tails is good (and successful) enough to convince George to collaborate on more movies so he can stick to making everything look amazing and leave the storyline to the professionals.
![Der Gro?mufti von Jerusalem [Amin al Husseini] bei den bosnischen Freiwilligen der Waffen-SS. Der Gro?mufti ist auf dem Truppenubungsplatz ein[getroffen] und schreitet die Front der angetretenen Freiwilligen mit erhobenem Arm ab.](http://images-undertheradar.military.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/nazicollaborators300.jpg)
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21 Comments
I am excited that the Tuskegee Airmen are getting big screen treatment. The HBO movie a few years back was okay, but it lacked a lot in the history. My complaint about CGI movies though is that the aerial scenes in the trailer look like a dogfight over the death star and not something that should look more like the gun camera footage from the real deal. Oh well, I’ll still buy a ticket.
“so he can stick to making everything look amazing and leave the storyline to the professionals.”
Yeah, George Lucas is not a professional. He only created and directed THX 1138, American Graffiti, and Star Wars Trilogy. Five amazing films, with amazing stories, direction, etc. He’s only been nominated for 2 Oscars as a director, and two of his films nominated for Best Picture. He also created and wrote the story of the Indiana Jones films.
So yeah, the creator of some of the most amazing films in history is not a professional. Rolleyes!
What a dumbass.
You do realize that Lucas didn’t write and direct all three of the original Star Wars movies? No one is questioning his ability to create great movie ideas, it’s his ability to direct them that is universally panned.
Empire was neither written or directed by Lucas and is considered by many to be the best of all 6 movies. Not a coincidence.
My Dad is one of the last remaining Tuskegee Airmen and retired in Montgomery AL. Like millions of others, I’ve been a huge Lucas fan many many years so I’m very excited to see this project come to fruition. Thank you for channeling the words that went through my mind when I read this snub at Mr. Lucas. Just because someone feels the need to criticize his genius doesn’t require that critique need be hyperbolized to the point of ridicule. If you’re not qualified to wipe George Lucas’ sweat off the sidewalk “maybe” you shouldn’t be talking smack about one of the Greatest film geniuses in the history of film making…just sayin’.
Give it a break. You need to check the facts on the supposed “greatness” of this group…
What I find so interesting is you could never find this ayhnewre else.
@Joe:
You seen the Phantom Menace? Lucas might be a pro but those skills lie in special effect (of which he is the master). As a director and writer he lost is a long time ago.
Critics take the easy and cheap shots on directors and visionaries whose contributions to the art of cinema are beyond their sense of the comfortable and traditional. Lucas and Spielberg are two auteurs
that pay homage to the best of the Golden Age of Hollywood and use high tech tools to ENHANCE the story telling. I have long since given up trusting film critics whose standards are based on the cheap seats approach to a thumbs down, just so they can make their rating system seem more important.
Veterans of military service know the real thing when they see it up on screen.
What stinks is that we know the ending, Terence Howard gets shot down late in the war over Germany and causes all types of ruckus in a German POW camp with Bruce Willis, hehe.
I love Terrance Howard, Brian Cranston, freakin’ Major Dad, and the Wire. George Lucas is awesome when he’s not repeating his career mistakes, and it’s a cool story. It has everything for the making of a good movie. I don’t see a problem here.
I’ve always been colorblind and setting racism of any kind aside, this trailer makes me a bit nervous. This being a George Lucas movie means the special effects should be phenomenal and (as the trailer shows) incredibly realistic. However and as the trailer seems to do, I hope this movie itself doesn’t try to re-write history. The Tuskegee Airmen are ALL great Americans! I’ve known many of these fine Americans personally, have donated to their wonderful causes, etc. However (and I say this with utmost respect) they were the same flesh and blood as all our other fine fighter and bomber group veterans who flew combat in WW2. The fact that these brave men had to put up with a load of crap because of skin color differences is absolutely reprehensible and goes without saying. Prejudice and racism are a vile part of American history, but the flavor of this trailer seems to send the message that the 332nd saved the bombers when others couldn’t. I mean, who in the hell wrote the story line for this movie??? To me, this type of slight-of-hand historical revisionism sets a dangerous precedent, and is a disservice to ALL United States WW2 combat veterans, as well as the men of the 332nd themselves. The majority of the public is ignorant of a lot of history of any type, let alone the air war over Europe during WW2. Most of the public who’ll go to see this movie will soak up whatever they see in a film like this as actual events. Please do not spin my thoughts to seem like I’m putting the vile reality of racism aside, or that I’m not aware of the fact that the whole idea of putting these fine men together as an “experiment” was appalling. They were men who wanted to fly and fight for their country, just like any other fine Americans did, and it’s disgusting that they had to jump through hoops to do so. The simple point I’m trying to make is that despite the insane man-made obstacles that these fine men had to overcome, no American airman flying over Europe in WW2 was any better than any other. ALL the men of ALL the fighter groups protecting our bombers over Europe (and of course the bomber crews as well) were and are some of the most incredible human beings I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. Where many writers of films, books, etc. get it wrong, is that it’s a gross violation to the dignity and sacrifice of ALL our wonderful United States veterans to put any type of a slant of ANY kind on our history, whatever their ludicrous reasons are. To twist true history around in the name of “dramatic license”, because writers and producers think they’ll make more money than if they were to follow the truth, is incredibly selfish and disrespectful.
Very good points, and in retrospect that does bug me about the trailer. Why the hell can’t Hollywood stick to history (which was awesome enough)?
Having seen the trailer, I doubt that anyone will take this for actual events, unless he or she knows computer game graphics only. Most modelers build better looking plastic aircraft. Mtarte said it already and it bears repeating.
The aerial scenes, especially those worked into ground scenes, are so misleading they are an offense to whomever touched a real airplane, let alone those wo were wounded and died in, or through them.
More saddening: there are enough B-17s and P-51s still flying to do a real ‘actual’ job. Their owners and pilots sure could use the money to keep flying war monuments alive, to teach history as it was.
War is not a one-person-shooter game. I find this newly sanitized image of war truly disgusting and disturbing.
Are you aware that the Red Tails are the ONLY Fighter Group in HISTORY to NEVER lose a Bomber to enemy fighters?
None, zero.
Other groups had more kills, but the Red Tails did their job better then anyone else.
Maj Leaf, UASR Ret.
This is not true. They lost as many as 25 bombers in just 5 missions. If you know anything about the casualtie rates of the Air Corp during the war you know this claim is absurd. Just for measure here is a link.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007–04-01-tuskegee-airmen_N.htm
WRONG. You better go back and check your facts instead of listening to sensationalism. Heck, even their own veterans association admitted that claim was false.
“this trailer seems to send the message that the 332nd saved the bombers when others couldn’t.”
The main difference is that the fighters, of the 8th Air Force (out of England), were ordered to chase down the Luftwaffe, and destroy them. This often took them tens of miles away from the bomber stream. The 332nd, on the otherhand, were not under the same orders, so they chose to stick close to the bombers. If a German fighter engaged a fighter, of the 332nd, and try to lure him away from the bombers, they would just disengage and return to protect the bombers.
That is how they gained the record of never losing a bomber to an enemy fighter!
Hi Chris, My guess is that they look at it like a business only, in what they can do to make it (in their minds) sell better, with ‘creative license’ as the excuse. Look at what happened to the movie MEMPHIS BELLE. For some reason, the studio didn’t even recognize the real crew’s names. I’ve known most aviation veterans since the late 1970’s, and I don’t think they’re going to be pleased with this movie, if this is what they’ve produced. If I were the Tuskegee guys, I’d be angry at the way the real story (along with the true hardship and suffering it represents) is being abused. RS
Yes, the RED TAILS did a great job of protecting the bombers, just as other USAAC fighter groups did. That’s not at all in doubt. However, some bombers were still shot down when the RED TAILS were around, an inevitable consequence of the air combat over Europe. It’s not that THEY (the RED TAILS) specifically lost any. Bombers shot down by the Luftwaffe during air combat over Europe wasn’t anyone’s fault. It’s just that the RED TAILS weren’t the only group of fine and brave Americans to do a great job. It’s obvious that the trailer for the movie is wrong in its purposeful depiction that the RED TAILS themselves saved the day, or that they were better than the other same, fine Americans doing the same job fighting the air war over Europe. Even if it isn’t the trailer’s intention to be, this trailer is wrong and disrespectful to the other fine USAAC fighter groups of that time.
Thats because Hollywood is after the black dollar…