JCountry was excited about World War I history on Friday. He had seen Flyboys in class and wanted us to see it. Movie was rented and Saturday night was family movie night.
It is rare anymore to get all five of us at home at the same time, so it was really nice. Well, it was nice once we got JCountry to stop talking about all the stuff he thought was neat in the film.
This was the 2006 Flyboys, directed by Tony Bill. Flyboys (2006). It is a tale of the adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille. These were young Americans who volunteered to enter the French military before the U.S. entered World War I. They became the country’s first fighter pilots.
We are talking bi and tri-planes and the Red Barron here. I had never seen Flyboys before and, once we got JCountry to shut up about all the things he was excited about in the movie, we really enjoyed it.
These young men were trained so crudely and quickly that the average life expectancy of a fighter-pilot was three to six weeks. The Germans had better planes, weapons and trained pilots.
I highly recommend this movie. The violence is sad more than gruesome. Planes do explode and there is some blood but, compared to a lot of movies of today, it is pretty tame and it is an excellend character study of people who are idealistic and have values and who learn and grow.
He might also enjoy reading Soldier’s Mail which features the writings home of U.S. Sgt. Sam Avery while on the front lines of American involvement in the Great War from the hot sands along the Rio Grande to the cold mud along the Meuse. Letters are posted on the same date they were written more than 90 years ago. Come march along with the Most Gallant Generation!
I’ll have to look for that. It sounds very interesting. We are all history buffs in this house.