New Dambusters Film Remake By Peter Jackson..

[Amsel]

Wow! Is he a pilot or a WWII student/model enthusiast.

[Geedee]

I for one am dreading this re-make.

Original films should left alone as very very few re-makes, even with CGI et al, are as simply good to watch as the first one. The technology that was used on the originals in most cases actually 'makes' the film, along with the acting.

I would much prefer if new films where made about events that havent yet been put on the big screen.

On the other hand tho, I do sincerely hope that it is filmed and handled with passion and due respect !.

I'll add this little gem I found a long time ago (Its been posted on other forums and I have no-idea who the author was...he deserves a beer !). I personaly think its quite funny...could even be made into a film !....

A major new Hollywood film...

DAM BUSTERS II or WHO YOU GONNA BOMB?

Hollywood's authentic story of the Six-Seventeenth Eagle Bomb Squadron Of the Royal British Air Corps.

THE INTRO....
It is 1941. Hitler has invaded Europe and England alone fights back Aided by a handful of international volunteers, including GI Gibson (Tom Cruise)an American pilot who had already had a key role in winning the Battle Of Britain.
Intelligence has identified that the destruction of a giant dam in central Germany is the key to Allied victory.

THE FIRST RAID....
A raid on the dam by the British Lan-Casters of the 6-17th is ordered, to be led by its war-weary cockney CO (Michael Caine). The crews are filmed boarding the Confederate Air Force's Liberator.
A background of sun-drenched Texan prairie substitutes for Scamppington Air Force Base and the East Anglian Fens in January. Colour-enhanced black and white library shots are then used for the Raid - DC-6 engine start, taxiing Halifaxes, Spitfire mass take-off, formation of B24s, Lan-caster at night, bombs dropping from a Mitchell, a B-17 and Focke-Wulf Condor being shot down, the FAA's Boeing 707 crashing in flames. As with all US aviation films since the invention of "talkies", the aircraft soundtrack consists only of the roar of Pratt & Whitney radial engines, specially recorded during a Harvard mass flypast at the annual Oshkosh air show.

But the raid is a failure, and only GI and his crew survive to try again. Danny De Vito plays the part of the bomb aimer.

THE WEAPON....

After the disastrous first dam raid, it is obvious a new type of weapon Is needed. By chance Barn S. Wallace (Morgan Freeman), the leading US scientist And aviation expert, is in London explaining his invention of the jet engine to an unknown British engineer, Frank V. Tel. Thinking back to his childhood, Barn remembers skimming rocks across a Lake in native New Hampshire, and quickly comes up with a design for a Bouncing bomb - but it is too large for any British aircraft to carry.

THE AIRCRAFT....

Fortunately, Wallace has brought with him to England the only example of his latest bomber design, the B-29. Cut to the CAF's B-29, painted gloss caramel and vivid green with French roundels, being pulled from its Hangar at Midland, TX, so that GI and his crew can test fly the new bouncing munition over the neighbouring Scotland, and prepare for the raid.

THE RAID....

Shots of Cruise and gang boarding the B-29, plus take-off shots over The American Midwest. Then computer-generated images for outbound flight, the final - and successful - bombing run using the last remaining weapon on board, and the dogfights on the return leg.

Throughout, the standard CGI conventions are used. All WW2 single-seat fighters fly at a minimum Mach 0.9 in +7g manoeuvres, while any multi-engine aeroplane drones along straight and level at 130 kt.

THE COMMAND CENTER....

In a map-encrusted bunker, Barn waits tensely for the results of the raid.
Although the news is of success, he starts to become saddened by the loss of aircrew involved. But, just at that moment, a well-spoken Home Counties WAAF officer (Catherine Zeta Jones) in a starched Virginia McKenna military blouse appears, bearing a tray of Starbucks mugs. She utters that immortal line - "Cocoa Latte, Sir?" - and all is well.
Information comes in that the flooding from the broken dam has flooded Hitler's bunker (clip fromChaplin as the Great Dictator), thwarting the launch of a new V3 rocket aimed at the Summit Conference being held in buckingham Palace, London, England.
The water also slows the Russian advance, allowing Patton (Harrison
Ford) to capture Berlin and Eastern Germany for the Allies.

THE LANDFALL....

Meanwhile, with three engines blazing and feathered, Gibson and the surviving crew nurse the crippled B-29 back across the Channel. They just manage to climb over the White Cliffs of Dover to see in the Near distance the welcoming runway lights of their Lincolnshire airfield. Having studied brain surgery before joining up, the B-29's chirpy Australian assistant cook (Kylie Minogue) saves the lives of injured crew members as the bomber belly-lands onto its home base. It slides to a halt a few Feet from the control tower, where Winston Churchill (Dan Ackroyd) watches proudly.

Also in the scene, in a technology enhancement, is Ronnie Reagan on his horse Trigger.

THE FINALE....

GI stands framed by the blazing wreckage of a redundant Fokker Friendship airliner bought especially for this scene. Since a wholesome happy ending is mandatory in today's commercial cinema, in a final shot he is joined by "Native-African-American", his loyal dog. Despite the pair of Artificial legs and prosthetic tail fitted after being injured in three major road accidents on the Great North Road during his master's absence, the Labrador bounds joyfully into the sunset with some dame called Vera Lynn singing about the White Cliffs

[Maximowitz]

Superb! With a special guest appearance by Arnold Schwarznegger as Bomber Harris.

[Airframes]

Brilliant Gary!

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Pretty funny story, but hopefully Peter Jackson will try to be true to the story better.

[Njaco]

I kinda agree with GeeDee but only that there isn't any new material out there? The Dambusters movie was done in '55 and not bad but how about another slice of aviation war history? Maybe about the Allied shuttle flight to Russia. Something about the MTO (Marseillies?), hell, even a good film about Galland or someone unknown. I just think there is so much more out there instead of remaking old films.

[Airframes]

I agree Chris, although I admit to a 'technical' interest in how Jackson et al are going to make this movie. It would be good to see something 'new', and there are so many other well-known raids in Europe alone that could be covered. The 8th USAAF alone could provide a multitude of screenplays, then there's the ones we know about, but are rarely publicised, such as the Amiens raid, and the other low-level, long range attacks by Mosquitos on the Gestapo H.Q's in Denmark, Norway etc, and, of course, Ploesti. One of the Ploesti missions alone would make a superb movie, and educate 'the masses' who will never have heard of it, let alone know where it is and what it was/is.

[gumbyk]

Maybe he could make a Pearl Harbour movie. There hasn't been an accurate one done of that...


The thing is, this has been a life-long ambition for him, to make this movie, as a tribute to those who flew these missions. He is in a position to make the movies he wants to, and is fulfilling his dream. Yes, it would be nice to see other operations portrayed on film, but that wouldn't suffice.

[Soren]

I think a film on Erich Hartmann could be spectacular. They could start with his story as a kid going to China with his parents, eventually being forced out again because of the Chinese civil war etc etc.

[BombTaxi]

I always become slightly wary when Hollwood gets its grubby mitts on British history - 'U-571' or 'The Patriot', anyone? However, it sounds like Jackson wants to get this right, so good luck to him and I hope he makes it.

By thw way Gary, where did you get Mel Gibson's Dambusters script from anyway?

[pbfoot]

i'll sell them some Canada flashes to help make it more accurate then the last one

[Waynos]

Wasn't Tora Tora Tora accurate? I am always interested to see where movies went wrong.

Of course no movie can be truly accurate, real life always needs to be tweaked a bit to allow a coherent narrative that will carry an audience. An example of this is how all the Schneider Trophy pilots and Supermarine test pilots are merged into the character of 'Jeff Crisp' in first of the few. However there is a difference between a tweak (Battle of Britain) and a downright lie (U-571 et al).

[A4K]

We'll know if this film is accurate if Guy Gibson has a big pimple on his chin!! It was right under his flying helmet chin strap, and hurt so much he flew with it undone !
(From his censored autobiography 'Enemy Coast Ahead', produced as a morale booster for his fellow bomber pilots in 1944 (published as a book after the war), shortly before his loss in action. He was 24...)

[Negative Creep]

The problem with any historical film is that they have to find a balance between story telling and reality, then catering for enthusiasts and the general public. For example, if the film comes out and the Lancasters have the wrong paint scheme, most people on here would recognise that but 99% of the general public won't. In the same way if I went to see a film set in Ancient Greece I wouldn't know or care they used the wrong type of sword.

It does seem odd there are so few big budget WW2 aviation films. Unless you count the atrocity that was Pearl Harbor, the last one I can think of off the top of my head is Memphis Belle. Still, Jackson is a very talented film maker and I fully expect this to be awesome. More controversially, I'd love them to remake films like 633 Squadron and Battle of Britain as well

[A4K]

I'd love to see a revamped BoB film too - with Spitfire Mk.Is (not IXs), Bf 109s and He 111's without Merlin engines, aswell as all the other beautiful aircraft that got missed out due to lack of flying or even static examples...
The acting was great though - if that could be kept with the 'new' aircraft added...