Genre	Action :: Drama :: War
Date Released	21 December 1949
Production	Vinland Productions Canada Inc.
Distribution	Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Related Links	1949 Movies December 1949 Movies
	1949 Action Movies 1949 Drama Movies 1949 War Movies
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Trivia and Quotes

Quotes

General Frank Savage: [Addressing the 918th for the first time at 0800] There will be a briefing for a practice mission at 1100 this morning. That`s right, practice. I`ve been sent here to take over what has come to be known as a hard luck group. Well, I don`t believe in hard luck. So we`re going to find out what the trouble is. Maybe part of it`s your flying, so we`re going back to fundamentals. But I can tell you now one reason I think you`ve been having hard luck. I saw it in your faces last night. I can see it there now. You`ve been looking at a lot of air lately... and you think you ought to have a rest. In short, you`re sorry for yourselves. I don`t have a lot of patience with this, "What are we fighting for?" stuff. We`re in a war, a shooting war. We`ve got to fight. And some of us have got to die. I`m not trying to tell you not to be afraid. Fear is normal. But stop worrying about it and about yourselves. Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead. Once you accept that idea, it won`t be so tough. Now if any man here can`t buy that... if he rates himself as something special, with a special kind of hide to be saved... he`d better make up his mind about it right now. Because I don`t want him in this group. I`ll be in my office in five minutes. You can see me there.

General Frank Savage: [on stalling the transfer paperwork] There can be trouble in this. Major Harvey Stovall: I don`t think so, sir. I never heard of a jury convicting the lawyer.

General Frank Savage: So for the sake of your roommate you violated group integrity. Every gun on a B-17 is designed to give the group maximum defensive firepower - that`s what I mean by group integrity. When you pull a B-17 out of a formation you reduce the defensive power of the group by ten guns. A crippled aeroplane has to be expendable. The one thing which is never expendable is your obligation to this group. This group... this group - that has to be your loyalty; your only reason for being. Gately! Lt. Col. Ben R. Gately: Yes sir? General Frank Savage: [referring to Gately`s "Leper Colony"] Here`s another one for you!

Maj. Gen. Ben Pritchard: I believe that to a certain degree, a man makes his own luck.

Maj. Gen. Ben Pritchard: I guess I don`t have to tell you what`s coming, Frank. I`m promising you nothing except a job no man should have to do who`s already had more than his share of combat. I`ve gotta ask you to take nice kids and fly them until they can`t take any more, and then put `em back in and fly `em some more. We`ve got to try to find out just what a maximum effort is. How much a man can take and get it all. [sighs] Maj. Gen. Ben Pritchard: I don`t even know if any man can do it. That`s what cracked Keith. [pause] Maj. Gen. Ben Pritchard: What time do you think you can get down there tomorrow? Brig. Gen. Frank Savage: Early, I guess. Maj. Gen. Ben Pritchard: No squawks? Brig. Gen. Frank Savage: Pretty hard to have one the way you put it.

Brig. Gen. Frank Savage: I take it you don`t really care about the part you had in breaking one of the best men you`ll ever know. Add to it that as Air Exec you were automatically in command the moment Colonel Davenport left - and you met that responsibility exactly as you met his need: you ran out on it. You left the station to get drunk. Gately, as far as I`m concerned, you`re yellow. A traitor to yourself, to this group, to the uniform you wear. It would be the easiest course for me to transfer you out, to saddle some unsuspecting guy with a deadbeat. Maybe you think that`s what you`re gonna get out of this, a free ride in some combat unit. But I`m not gonna pass the buck. I`m gonna keep you right here. I hate a man like you so much that I`m gonna get your head down in the mud and tramp on it. I`m gonna make you wish you`d never been born. Lt. Col. Ben R. Gately: If that`s all, sir... Brig. Gen. Frank Savage: I`m just getting started. You`re gonna stay right here and get a bellyful of flying. You`re gonna make every mission. You`re not air exec anymore. You`re just an airplane commander. And I want you to paint this name on the nose of your ship: Leper Colony. Because in it you`re gonna get every deadbeat in the outfit. Every man with a penchant for head colds. If there`s a bombardier who can`t hit his plate with his fork, you get him. If there`s a navigator who can`t find the men`s room, you get him. Because you rate him.

General Frank Savage: Rights, Gately? You`ve got a right to explain to General Pritchard cowardice, desertion of your post, a yellow streak a mile wide! And maybe he can explain it to your father so that they`ll both be proud of you! You can tell him right now.

General Frank Savage: [speaking about Keith Davenport] He`s gonna bust wide open. And he`s gonna do it to himself, too. Why? Because he`s a first rate guy... ”over-identification with his men", I think that`s what they call it.

Major Harvey Stovall: That is not why I am drunk tonight. I got drunk because I am confused. I was thinking, which is a thing a man should not do, and all at once I couldn`t remember what any of them looked like. I, I couldn`t see their faces, Bishop, Cobb, Wilson, Zimmy, all of them. All of you. They all looked alike, just one face. And it was very young. It confused me. I think I shall stay drunk until I`m not confused anymore.

General Frank Savage: [to the bomber crews] Well, I can tell you right now what the problem is. I saw it in your faces last night. I can see it there now. You`ve been looking at a lot of air lately, and you feel you need a rest. In short, you`re feeling sorry for yourselves. Now I don`t have a lot of patience with this "What are we fighting for?" stuff. We`re in a war, a shooting war. We`ve got to fight. And some of us have got to die.

Trivia

After the film was made, Gregory Peck became great friends with the character he had played, General Frank Armstrong, who clearly approved of Peck`s portrayal of him.

The film was delayed in its release because MGM`s "Command Decision" (1948) beat them to the punch. The similarity in content between the two films forced 20th Century Fox to hold back on "Twelve O`Clock High" for a few months.

William Wellman was attached to direct at one point.

A romantic subplot, which features in the book, was dropped at the studio`s insistence. They wanted the script to concentrate fully on the psychological effects of war and the theme of leadership.

The air battles were cut together from authentic World War II footage.

One of the first Hollywood films to deal with the psychological effect of war on its soldiers.

A replica of the 918th Bomb Group`s Robin Hood toby mug is in use by the Officer`s club at Whiteman AFB, Missouri, home of the 509th Bomber Wing. The real movie prop mug, which was the prized possession of the Frank Armstrong family, fell victim to theft in the early 90s and has not been seen since. The replica mugs are still in production and available from 918thpx.com.

This film is frequently cited by surviving bomber crewmembers as the only accurate depiction from Hollywood of their life during the war.

The B-17 bomber crash landing at the airstrip near the beginning of the movie was no special effect. Stunt pilot Paul Mantz was paid $4,500 to crash-land the bomber. Mantz of course walked away from the wreck. Until the 1970s, that was the largest amount ever paid to a stuntman for a single stunt.

John Wayne turned down the leading role that later went to Gregory Peck.

This film is used by the U.S. Navy as an example of leadership styles in its Leadership and Management Training School. The Air Force`s College for Enlisted Professional Military Education also uses this film as a education aid in its Noncommissioned Officer Academies.

See also Trivia Index (T) :: Quotes Index (T) :: Connections Index (T)

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