Daring aviators

Movie
German title	Daring aviators
Original title	The Great Waldo Pepper
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1975
length	107 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	George Roy Hill
script	William Goldman , ; George Roy Hill (story)
production	George Roy Hill, ; Robert Crawford Jr.
music	Henry Mancini
camera	Robert Surtees
cut	William H. Reynolds
occupation
	Robert Redford : Waldo Pepper; Bo Svenson : Axel Olsson; Bo Brundin : Ernst Kessler; Susan Sarandon : Mary Beth; Geoffrey Lewis : Newt; Edward Herrmann : Ezra Stiles; Phil Bruns : Dr. Dillhoefer; Roderick Cook : Werfel; Kelly Jean Peters : Patsy; Margot Kidder : Maude;

Robert Redford on the set

Reckless Fliers (Original title: The Great Waldo Pepper ) is an American feature film from 1975 .

action

Waldo Pepper is a stunt pilot who likes to show off fictional stories about dogfights in World War I that he only experienced as a flight instructor. In 1926 he travels with a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" through Nebraska in the midwestern United States and meets the competitor Axel Olsson, who is forced to crash-land in the village pond by Waldo's sabotage. Through the mediation of Mary Beth, they become friends and after a failed stunt that ends almost fatally for Waldo, they work together for Doc Dillhoefer's air circus. Mary is killed on a wingwalk , whereupon Waldo loses his pilot's license.

Pepper goes underground in Hollywood as a stunt pilot under a new name in order to be able to fly further. There he meets during the filming of a movie about the air battles during the First World War to the droves German flying ace Ernst Kessler, with whom he in the final minutes of the film a deadly serious dogfight in their mutually Fokker Dr.I and Sopwith F.1 Camel supplies . Both damage their planes so badly that landing is impossible and greet each other militarily on the last flyby - Waldo Pepper disappears in the clouds.

production

Optically modified Tiger Moth biplanes were used for the real crash landings .

The film was shot in Elgin , Floresville , Kerrville , Lockhart and Seguin , Texas .

reception

“An homage that fluctuates between burlesque and melodrama, which is not without problems in the glorification of combat flying. All in all, however, a delightful, deeply human conversation, technically complex, with fascinating aerial photographs. "

- Lexicon of international film

background

The film grossed over $ 20 million in the United States to date, making it a commercial success at around $ 5 million in production.

The figure of the German aerobatic pilot Ernst Kessler is based on Ernst Udet . Udet had made a lasting impression on the American audience through his performances in the early 1930s with his Udet U 12 "Flamingo" .

Web links

Commons : Reckless Fliers - Collection of images, videos and audio files

The Great Waldo Pepper in theInternet Movie Database(English)
Great Waldo atrotten tomatoes(English)

Individual evidence

↑ Release certificate for reckless pilots . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2009 (PDF; test number: 47 217 V).
^ Stefan Bartmann: The Great Waldo Pepper . In: Flugzeug Classic . No. 11 , 2009, ISSN 1617-0725 , p. 66-69 .
↑ Daring Aviators. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 20, 2018 .
↑ Daring Aviators. In: Filmdienst. Catholic Film Commission for Germany, accessed on October 20, 2018 .

[FSK-1] Release certificate for reckless pilots . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2009 (PDF; test number: 47 217 V).

[2] Stefan Bartmann: The Great Waldo Pepper . In: Flugzeug Classic . No. 11 , 2009, ISSN 1617-0725 , p. 66-69 .

[LdiF-3] Daring Aviators. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 20, 2018 .

[fd-4] Daring Aviators. In: Filmdienst. Catholic Film Commission for Germany, accessed on October 20, 2018 .