Overview
MOVIEmeter: 
Up 1% in popularity this week. See
why on
IMDbPro.
Contact:
View
company
contact information for The Blue Max on
IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 June 1966 (USA)
more
Tagline:
MIRACLES IN THE AIR!
more
Plot:
A young pilot in the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and unchivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills.
full summary |
add synopsis
Awards:
Won BAFTA Film Award.
Another 4 nominations
more
Additional Details
Runtime:
156 min | USA:153 min (FMC Library Print)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1
more
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
With the exception of the two-seater recon-plane, all the British aircraft featured in the movie, were of the "Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5" model, or "S.E.5" in short. It was introduced in early 1917 and proved to be an excellent fighter that helped the Allies regaining air superiority in the summer of 1917. It remained in production throughout the war.
more
Goofs:
Factual errors: In "the Blue Max" Stachel and the other pilots are seen wearing the uniform of the 1st Uhlan Lancer regiment, uniforms modeled no doubt after Manfred Von Richthofen's, as he had a lancer officer before becoming a pilot. However, there never was a "standard" uniform for the German Luftstreitskraefte during WW1. It was made up of volunteers from all branches, and they wore the uniforms they were issued at the time they entered the service. Stachel, although he had been promoted to Lieutenant when he became a pilot, should have been wearing an infantry officer's uniform, not a cavalryman's. Also, there should have been more diversity among the uniforms worn by pilots as well as ground crew. Many of them came from the Navy.
more
Quotes:
General Count von Klugermann:
Stachel. I want him brought to Berlin immediately.
Holbach:
Yes, Herr General.
General Count von Klugermann:
There is some difficulty?
Holbach:
Well, I don't know what you have in mind, Herr General, but, uh, with the offensive at its height, well, there'd have to be some legitimate excuse to order him to come.
General Count von Klugermann:
He's wounded, isn't he?
Holbach:
Yes, Herr General.
General Count von Klugermann:
Hmm. A mentionable wound?
Holbach:
Uh, in the arm.
General Count von Klugermann:
Good. The people like soldiers who were shot in the right places. Order Stachel to Berlin for special hospital treatment. I want you to ensure that all our newspapers give full prominence to this gallant episode - photographs, everything.
more
FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
more (64 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on
IMDb message board for The Blue Max (1966)
more
Recommendations
Related Links
At the beginning of The Young Lions Marlon Brando tells Barbara Rush how difficult it is to rise in class in Europe as opposed to America. It's one of the reasons he's thinking that Adolph Hitler and the Nazis will be a good thing for Germany.
George Peppard plays a more ruthless version of the Brando character in the previous generation in The Blue Max. He's a survivor of the trenches who gets an opportunity to learn to fly and transfer in the Air Corps. What comes with it is a commission and while Peppard is now an officer he's no gentleman.
There's a whole different ethic operating in the Air Corps. The pilots see themselves as an updated version of the Teutonic Knights of old. A view by the way shared by both sides. The fliers on both sides see themselves as old fashioned chivalrous sorts who glory in single combat. They are also upper middle class and aristocratic types and Peppard doesn't quite fit in.
You can put him in a biplane and give him rank, but his outlook doesn't change. What Peppard does see is that if he makes 20 confirmed kills he gets awarded the Blue Max decoration and his future and respectability is secure.
James Mason who commands the Flying Corps takes an interest in Peppard's rise. His political instinct tells him revolution is in the body politic. Make heroes out of someone like Peppard who would be part of the proletarian masses will help give those masses a vested interest in the Wilhelmine regime and would forestall revolution. Of course wife Ursula Andress has some different ideas about Peppard.
I like The Blue Max because it is a film about more than aviation. It is about what was happening in Germany during those last days of World War I when Germany was desperately trying to break the stalemate on the western front and pull out a victory before American troops were in sufficient numbers. They almost pulled it out in fact. It's about attitudes, old, new and changing. All three of the leads suit their roles perfectly.
As a veteran of World War I if he didn't gain the respectability out of the war he craved, Peppard would have been ripe for the Nazi propaganda that filled Germany and was finally heeded during the Depression. The Nazis filled their ranks with Peppards up and down Germany.
Which is why The Blue Max should be seen and learned from because it is not just about World War I aviators as good as the aerial footage is here.