Air Force

Released Mar 20, 1943

2h 4m

War

List

82%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

On December 6, 1941, the crew of the Mary-Ann (including Arthur Kennedy, George Tobias, John Garfield) heads from California to Hawaii in a routine training flight. On the fateful trip, they witness the attack on Pearl Harbor and are unable to help in their unarmed B-17 bomber. With the Japanese strike spurring the United States into World War II, the crew is reassigned to aid in the defense of the Philippines and endures constant attacks from enemy combatants.

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Audience Member

The best thrilling and inspiring movie ever made!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

As a child, TV I watched "Air Force" and other war films some consider WW II "propaganda" on TV. As a young man, after a night of carousing, I'd come stumbling home and, if a channel were showing these types of films, I'd watch them on the Late, Late Show. Now, I watch these films for the excellent acting, action, and for their historical content significance as "propaganda" films during the dark part of WWII for the US and its allies. When it seemed as if Japan and Germany were conquering the world. And I could also enjoy the action and danger vicariously. Don't kid yourself that Hollywood no longer makes "propaganda" films. They are making them now more than ever. The films are just a different type of "propaganda".

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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s r

A wartime Air Force story that stands out among others.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

thank Turner Classics....thanks Amazon Fire Stick! Thanks Mom! thanks Howard Hawks....not so thanks to wars... thanks escapism and curiosity ...from the safety of... Turner

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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Audience Member

A B-17 crew arrives in Hawaii the morning of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor and then chases the enemy fleet to a showdown in the Phillipines--It's a richly textured work, with several sub-narratives weaved into one another... Tail gunner without a tail gun!!

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I truly wish movie reviewers would STOP forcing pre-1960 "eggs" into post-1960 square egg crates!! If you can't put your touchie-feelie indoctrinations aside when critiquing classic films - don't review them...PLEASE! Enough with the condemnation of the "racially offensive slurs and inaccuracies" vis a vis the Japanese. If you had been seen or heard ringing your hands over this stuff on December 8, 1941, you'd have been locked in a loony bin - or shot as a traitor. This film - a superlative film in EVERY way was made a year and a half after 3000+ American naval personal had been ambushed and murdered by the Empire of Japan in a heinous attack unequaled until September 11, 2001. My father served in the Pacific in WW II, and said the Japanese were feared and hated because they were merciless, vicious and certainly NOT PC - they did not pity or spare any - men, women OR children. The POINT of this film was to laud our brave service men out there slogging around in the Pacific theater and to inspire other young men to sign up and join them. The plot, dialog, photography and acting is wonderful and I believe it ranks as one of the four greatest WW II films of all time: They Were Expendable; Air Force; 30 Seconds Over Tokyo and Saving Pvt. Ryan. Along with Resnais' Night and Fog documentary you have it pretty well summed up. This film beautifully shows Hawks' gift for building camaraderie and unity of purpose in an often disparate and hostile group. The cast is superlative...then again, you could have Harry Carey (Sr) sit in front of a camera and read ten pages from the phone book and be witness to an Academy Award-worthy performance. By-the-way, His Sgt.Robbie White in this flick SHOULD have gotten him that very award - along with two or three other roles in his career. James Wong Howe's cinematography is just magnificent. We of the sophisticated CGI-generation of cineastes KNOW many of the flying scenes are done with models - but they are done so well it never detracts. Howe's ability to film much of the action "in the fuselage" of the Mary-Ann - giving the claustrophobic sense of an air crew confined, yet never so cramped as to not allow each crewman his space to act and react to events as they take place - is wonderful to watch. Some have commented that the ending was "over-the-top". Maybe the highly technical, laser-beam-'em from 10 miles away style of modern warfare has clouded the ability of some to see that war in the 1940's was a much grittier, in-your-face proposition; one lucky break or just being in the right place at the right time was all that was needed to turn defeat into victory. I love this movie and cheered through the whole thing. So c'mon folks...pack away your granola bars, haul down the Kumbayah flag and watch those dastardly Japs get the smack-down from some good old Yankee flyboys. Thanks, Howard - ya done good.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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Howard Hawks

Director

John Ridgely

Pilot

Gig Young

Co-Pilot

Arthur Kennedy

Bombardier

John Garfield

Aerial Gunner

Charles Drake

Navigator

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Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Although it draws about the longest and most pliant bow that has ever been drawn in the line of fanciful war films and goes completely overboard in the last reel, it is still a continuously fascinating, frequently thrilling and occasionally exalting show.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 25, 2006

Full Review

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Howard Hawks finds a perfect vehicle for his study of the male group. William Faulkner polished the dialogue, but as a silent it would still be tremendously exciting and evocative.

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

James Agee

The Nation

I cannot be sure how I feel about Air Force. It is loud, loose, sincere, violently masculine, and at times quite exciting.

Feb 10, 2021

Full Review

Gilbert Seldes

Esquire Magazine

There isn't a literary line in Air Force; and there isn't a phony character.

Sep 20, 2019

Full Review

Nathanael Hood

The Retro Set

Air Force can't escape the shadow of its own jingoism. Its point wasn't just to inspire an American public but to make monsters of its enemies. It did so with chilling efficiency.

Rated: 6/10

Dec 29, 2018

Full Review

Christopher Lloyd

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

A cheery bit of war propaganda that feels cringeworthy today, in which American soldiers seem extraordinarily giddy about the prospect of near-certain death, coupled with some terrible special-effects miniatures.

Rated: 3/5

Jan 16, 2012

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Synopsis

On December 6, 1941, the crew of the Mary-Ann (including Arthur Kennedy, George Tobias, John Garfield) heads from California to Hawaii in a routine training flight. On the fateful trip, they witness the attack on Pearl Harbor and are unable to help in their unarmed B-17 bomber. With the Japanese strike spurring the United States into World War II, the crew is reassigned to aid in the defense of the Philippines and endures constant attacks from enemy combatants.

Director: Howard Hawks
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Warner Brothers/Seven Arts
Genre: War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 20, 1943, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 28, 2008
Runtime: 2h 4m

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