Great Air Force movies

Great Movie

12 O'Clock High with Gregory Peck - an excellent movie about leadership
 
Strategic Air Command (1955) with James Stewart.

not available on DVD, but if you catch it on TV sometime, it is worth it.
 
A lot of the classic "flying and fighting" movies are USN or AAF.
BUT...How about Iron Eagles, Flight of the Intruder, or one of my favorites Firefox with Clint Eastwood.
 
It is not an Air Force movie, and half of it is about boxing, but I enjoyed Annapolis. It's good for whenever I'm getting pumped about the service academies.
 
Top Gun

When my son saw Top Gun, he made up his mind to be a fighter pilot and soon thereafter set his sights on USAFA. So for me, THAT is the best air force movie....despite it being a Navy flick.
 
Yup! After watching Firefox, I read the book too. I really enjoy it. It comes on rarely late at night. Wish it was available on Netflix!
 
The fact is, outside of a few movies mostly made in the 50s, and one comedy made in the 60s (Dr. Stranglove, which was more a statement on the stupidity of Nuclear War than it was a movie on the AF), I can't think of that many "good AF movies".

"Memphis Belle" comes to mind, which gives a pretty good account of the men who flew those missions over Germany, facing the highest sustained casualty rates of ANY US fighting force in WWII. A "good" movie focused on AF fighters? "Tuskegee Airman" perhaps (and not "Red Tails", which in my opinion confused special effects over good dialogue and acting as what makes a good movie)

The fact that someone mentioned "Iron Eagle" makes me chuckle, though...

BTW, Will Smith's character in "Independence Day" was initially supposed to be an AF pilot until the AF saw the script and refused to support the movie unless they took out those silly Area 51 references. Movie producers / directors wanted it, and got the Marine Corps to agree to support. Still not a "good" military / AF movie, but it had some fun flying involved (and cigars, always have to fly with a "Victory Cigar"), sort of like all the jets in those "Transformers" movies.....
 
The fact is, outside of a few movies mostly made in the 50s, and one comedy made in the 60s (Dr. Stranglove, which was more a statement on the stupidity of Nuclear War than it was a movie on the AF), I can't think of that many "good AF movies".

Here is a fairly exhaustive list of AF movies. It also supports Bullet's opinion that outside of a few movies from the 50's, there are not many good ones.
 
More favorites . . .

OK, so if we can include movies that aren't "strictly" Air Force, a few other favorites of mine are:
Flight of the Phoenix with Jimmy Stewart
In Harm's Way with John Wayne
Midway with Henry Fonda
(I know the last two are Navy movies, but they are great ones!) :smile:
 
Transformers 1,2,3.

Every AFSC is used in those movies.

Plus, Tyrese Gibson goes from Tech Sergeant to Chief Master Sergeant in two years. That is BTZ at its finest!
 
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