Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Sy Bartlett (screenplay) and
Beirne Lay Jr. (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

13 February 1950 (Brazil)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

A story of twelve men as their women never knew them...

Plot:

A hard-as-nails general takes over a bomber pilot unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.

Plot Keywords:

Bomber | General | Pilot | Bombing | Bomber Pilot

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	General Savage
Hugh Marlowe	...	Lt. Col. Ben Gately
Gary Merrill	...	Col. Davenport
Millard Mitchell	...	General Pritchard
Dean Jagger	...	Major Stovall
Robert Arthur	...	Sgt. McIllhenny
Paul Stewart	...	Capt. 'Doc' Kaiser
John Kellogg	...	Major Cobb
Robert Patten	...	Lt. Bishop (as Bob Patten)
Lee MacGregor	...	Lt. Zimmerman
Sam Edwards	...	Birdwell
Roger Anderson	...	Interrogation Officer

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | West Germany:16 (f) | USA:Approved (certificate #13818) | Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:S | Spain:T | UK:U | Sweden:15 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Eglin Air Force Base, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

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.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the aerial combat scenes of the movie's last mission, actual WWII combat footage is randomly inserted to add realism. However, three of these clips clearly show a closeup of an American P-47 fighter attacking the B-17's.

Quotes:

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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Star Wars (1977)

Soundtrack:

Deep in the Heart of Texas

I was an air-cre- member of the 306th Bomb Group(BG) the model for the 918 BG and I have been impressed with the movei ever since it came out.

The picture brings back the memories of excitement, terror and relief. Its a picture that the authors bring out. I knew the commanding officer portrayed by Gregory Peck, a Colonel Frank Armstrong, a replacement for Col. Overacker. Gregory Peck was a BG. The only error I saw was in the MGDb write up. Your article sites the planes as B-24 rather than B-17. We were first division originally sent to England to be transferred to North Africa. The 918 Bomb Group in the picture is 3 times 306 = 918 thats how they identified them. We had 87% casualty rate; 287 of us flew to England on Oct 21 1942, 87 survived, and are passing away rapidly now. I was 19 as a bombardier-navigator,flew two tours; the second was a pilot. The picture is my ideal. I have three copies of it and view whenever I feel depressed. Thanks for my connection of the past Im78 and need a boost eversince I gave up drinking and smoking. Horace Corigliano