Memphis Belle/Assignment 9-2

Assignment 9-2

Movie

"MEMPHIS BELLE"

Summary

I chose the movie "Memphis Belle" because it is a movie that is totally realistic, based of the true story of the Memphis Belle (a B-17 bomber) of the WW2 era, and actually show live footage of an air battle. The crew was part of the 8th Air Force for the United States fighting on the European front. They were the first crew to successfully finish their required 25 missions and get to go home heroes. It sounded simpler than it really was as the 25 missions were bombing runs over hostile territory where surface to air mortars where everywhere along with enemy fighters dive bombing them as the B-17s were large sitting ducks. The men of the crew where all excited about haveing only one last bomb run to complete and their was a large celebration for them the night before and they were the talk of the base about their success. However the next morning in the breifing they discovered they were going right into the heart of the war as opposed the the milk run they thought would be given to them since it was their last run. There were several hundred planes that took part in the attack on a large tank factory and they had to hit it just right because there were schools close by. They fought there way through the bomb run as one problem after another came up and they became the frontg plane. All planes were to drop their bombs on the Belles orders but when dense cloud cover appeared the bombadeir had trouble seeing the target so the practicaly commited a suicide run and went back around for another run almost loosing the plane and the entire fleet. Many planes and aircrews were lost and when all the rest returned the Memphis Belle had yet to show. Dissapointment was in the air until they saw her off in the distance sputtering in on only one of the four engines running. They crash landed and made history on that day as the first American flight crew to successfully fly 25 missions. The movie is worth watching twice and I personally own it and find it to be my favorite because I had a great uncle that was a tail gunner on one and he often sits and tells me stories for hours. He is 87 now and still can describe some of the things like they happened yesterday and others he wont tell ya about at all. My grandfather was also a member of one of the air crews as a flight engineer assisting the pilots in the operation of the plane and flight. The realisim of the whole movie does a wonderful job at keeping your attention without Hollywood style spice ups to keep your attention. Its a movie all should see and think about what the men and women of our country were doing in the early 1940s!

FORMULA

The formula for this movie is the crew has met all the requirement to go home except they must finish one last mission to be successful and meet the full 25 missions flown. They are faced with many problems from enemy gunfire to mechanical error to the crew altercations while in flight, but if they can make it back to the base alive they will be heroes forever.

The formula identified is simple, but from the charachters point of view its a possibility of death every minute they are in the air and especially over enemy territory.

The formulas change over the years, but there is usually a goal and an outcome where the goal is atleast tried to be met. Like in this movie and in the real life situation they have many obstacles to overcome but in the end they must remain alive. Some times in films the people you want to live die and those you want to die lives, but for the sake of reality and the sake of the movie this aircrew lived.

If I was the director of this film I would change nothing because the stroy is real and should be kept that way. The crew lived and therefore that is how it should be portrayed. A few of their buddies on other planes died in air battles and they watched them get blow away in mid air with bullets and blood everywhere, and it would have been nice to let them live, for tha sake of the movie but it did keep it interesting and at the same time you know that was the harsh reality behind war and actually happened.