The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) (TV)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Robert Markowitz

Writers (WGA):

Paris Qualles (teleplay) and
Trey Ellis (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

26 August 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot:

The true story of how a group of African American pilots overcame racist opposition to become one of the finest US fighter groups in World War II

Plot Keywords:

African American | WWII | Fighter Pilot | Training | Biplane

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 6 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Laurence Fishburne	...	Hannibal Lee
Allen Payne	...	Walter Peoples
Malcolm-Jamal Warner	...	Leroy Cappy
Courtney B. Vance	...	Lt. Glenn (as Courtney Vance)
Andre Braugher	...	Benjamin O. Davis
Christopher McDonald	...	Major Joy (as Chris McDonald)
Daniel Hugh Kelly	...	Col. Rogers
John Lithgow	...	Senator Conyers
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Billy Roberts
Mekhi Phifer	...	Lewis Johns
Christopher Bevins	...	Young Hannibal
Eddie Braun	...	Tail gunner
Max Daniels	...	Left waist gunner
Jack Dwyer	...	Operations officer
James Field	...	Conductor

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief strong war violence.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | Iceland:12 | Australia:M | UK:15 (video premiere) | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, USA

Company:

Home Box Office (HBO)

Trivia:

The Tuskegee Airmen (332nd Fighter Group) did not loose a single escorted bomber to enemy fighters during WWII.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the final dog fight the underwing droptanks keep appearing and disappearing.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Young Hannibal: [chasing after biplane] Hey! Hey! Hey! Wait for me!

Soundtrack:

Straighten Up and Fly Right

A story that should have been told long before...

THE TUSKEEGEE AIRMEN is a film that I tend to get very emotional about. I can never see the ending without tears of appreciation, joy and intense pride.

It all comes home for me as a self admittedly rednecked White bomber pilot says in the final briefing: "I have a crew whose lives are my responsibility. If it's all the same to you Sir, I want the 332nd to take me to Berlin and back".

That cinematic statement is a long overdue Thank You from America to the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group, both the living and the dead, for a job well done.

I personally owe the Tuskeegee Airmen a sincere vote of thanks, as does EVERY Black person who has ever had the honor of having flown a military aircraft for the United States. The Tuskeegee Airmen blazed the trail that made it possible for others to follow.

I've met a couple of the original Tuskeegee pilots, and I've heard their stories. The discrimination and bigotry shown in the film was NOTHING compared to the realities that they faced day after day. Even after the war, as decorated fighter pilots, the bigotry they faced on their return to the US was unbelievable.

One old fighter pilot told me of how he had just come ashore from the troopship in full uniform, and was almost immediately arrested by the military police in New York City on a charge of impersonating an officer and wearing unauthorized decorations; the MP just KNEW that there was no such thing as a Black fighter pilot.

Another told me of his postwar attempts to gain employment as an airline pilot as the lines geared up for the bright future that they saw coming. Ex military pilots with half his experience who were White were being snapped up without question... but after much beating around the bush, he was finally told that even as impressive as his credentials were, there was no place for him in the industry. He recalled that the airline representative that told him was so ashamed that he couldn't look him in the eye as he said it.

Lawrence Fishburn's portrayal of Lt. Hannibal Lee is probably typical of the men who were part of this, the SECOND "Tuskeegee Experiment". They were college graduates, the best of the best, who had survived a system deliberately designed to eliminate them from flight training.

Andre Braugher's testimony (as Col. Ben O. Davis Jr.) before the Congressional committee says it all when he asks what he, as a Black soldier, should think of a nation that despises him even as he lays down his life to defend it... a nation that asks him to fight for principles that don't apply to HIM personally.

The film has technical flaws... every film does... but beyond them it tells a story that, by design or negligence, has been ignored by American history for almost a half century.