I give Flyboys five stars despite all of the other reviewers who empty their colons on this film. This film captures that particular era of flying better than most. James Franco and Jennifer Decker turn in outstanding performances, not that the rest of the cast didn’t deliver, because they did. Jean Reno was absolutely perfect as Capt. Thenault.
All His Friends are Dead
If you want to get to the heart of this movie, the central thesis if you will, it is that one line delivered by Jean Reno, “All his friends are dead.” When the Americans arrive at the Lafayette Escadrille base you hear that line. It is delivered deadpan, statement of fact.
What may seem shocking to you in this modern time is the fact these knights of the sky flew without parachutes. Most of the planes had a canvas or light wood body. Pilots routinely worked on their own planes, including swapping out engines with one from a downed enemy plane.
New arrivals routinely had to help remove the body of a pilot from the plane they would be flying. At the very least they had to clean up the blood and other body matter splattered around in there. Yes, they got to stay in the homes on nice estates that were confiscated to be airfields, but it was brutal. Today’s pilots have metal planes with ejection seats and the seats have parachutes built in.
We Have Plenty of Bullets – Give All Yours to the Germans
Another really good Jean Reno line. The pilots were really told to not return with any bullets left in their guns. If you happened to have a plane with a Chauchat machine gun, returning empty was a near impossibility. One thing this movie does a good job of pointing out is that the pilots of each side knew where the air bases were of the other. They would strafe each other’s bases but didn’t have enough fire power or bombing capability to destroy the base.
Give Them the Whole Nine Yards
Countless people attribute that line to American football or some other sport. They are all wrong.
Belt fed machine guns of the era (and possibly even now) had ammo belts that were 27 feet long. Exactly nine yards. There was a physical reason for this, I just don’t remember what it was.
The French didn’t care if you were black
Kudos to the movie for pointing this out. If you were willing (and able) to fly, the French didn’t care what color or nationality you were. This lead to problems with the Donald Trump white supremacists that were also part of the squadron. As long as you weren’t a German the French would put you in a war plane and send you out to fight. Squadron leaders just had to tamp down the race/class battles until the assholes at the root of the problem got shot down. Flyboys does an excellent job with this storyline.
Summary
This film does an excellent job telling the actual stories that need to be told about the Lafayette Escadrille. One thing many viewers may miss is just how ramshackle the planes of the squadron are. Bi-planes, tri-planes, different guns, different engines. Had to be a maintenance nightmare. It looked like they bought whatever a used plane lot had to offer. That was the reality of the Lafayette Escadrille. Flyboys does an excellent job telling the intricate little stories that make up that place and time.
You can watch this outstanding movie for free on ElectricNow Television.
For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.
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