The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)

The Tuskegee Airmen: Both Historic and Dramatic

Historically accurate? Pretty close. The Tuskegee Airmen is a 1995 film based on a World War II fighter squadron called the Tuskegee Airmen. This fighter squadron was the first all black fighter squadron in the U.S. Air Force. It was first activated on March 19, 1941 in Rantoul, Illinois and was called the 99th Pursuit (later, Fighter) Squadron. Later, it moved to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The 99th began missions in North Africa, mainly doing ground attack missions. It later joined the 332nd Fighter Group with three other all black fighter squadrons. Since they joined the 332nd, their missions changed to bomber escort. Much of the film was based on this information.

Most of the events and people in the film were based on their historic counterpart. Almost all of the characters are fictional, but are based on real people. Only two people were real, them being Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. (Andre Braugher) and Eleanor Roosevelt. The other main characters, such as Hannibal Lee (Laurence Fishburne), were representations of real Tuskegee Airmen and the events that they went through. An example of this representation is when Hannibal takes Mrs. Roosevelt up in his training airplane; this is based on Charles Alfred Anderson taking the real Eleanor Roosevelt in his training airplane. Despite this accuracy, some details were left out. An example is the fact that Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. was the real commander of the 99th, although this is not pointed out until the North Africa campaign. He was actually placed in command of the 99th since its activation. Another element of the film's historic accuracy was its use of WWII footage. A great deal of the fighter scenes made use of WWII footage. It gives the film a bit of authenticity. The film also films along side the fighters, giving a person the feeling of flying with the fighters, while looking out the cockpit.

In addition to this feeling of authenticity the film also shows how bad the racism was for blacks at the time. Racism did play a part in the making the 99th fight in WWII. An example was a committee that was considering whether the "experiment" was worth the go ahead. Some committee members did submit a scientific paper that said that black people do not have the intelligence to operate complex machinery, but the majority of the committee voted in favor of the Airmen. What added to the effects of racism was the acting. An example is when three of the main characters were forced to move to the back of the train in order to make room for German POWs. The characters showed great surprise and anger, but kept that to themselves like many blacks probably did at the time. All of the actors had also clearly displayed the pride and determination that many of the Airmen had. An example is when Leroy Cappy (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) was about to give up trying to graduate from the Air Force academy, but Lee, Walter Peoples (Allen Payne), and Billy Roberts (Cuba Gooding Jr.) put pride back into Cappy by questioning him if he was going to give up as if they were Cappy's commanding officers. After this, Lee, Cappy, Roberts, and others graduated from the academy despite growing pressure from racism.

Despite little details missing or slightly altered, this film is a tightly wrapped package. It represented what really happened with the 99th with few elements and details changed. It used real footage from WWII, along with footage from its own production. It used racism to show how the airmen were treated, despite the fact that they were going out to fight a war for a country that discriminates against them. This film strived for historical accuracy. June 2, 2008

Glory earned the hard way.

An excelent reproduction of true facts, it got here so fast I think they dropped it from of the
P 51's they flew. May 26, 2008

Unfortunate

I was extremely happy with my purchase of the Tuskagee Aiman as I hunted high and low and Amazon was the only one that had it ,so you can understand how happy I was when I put it in the DVD player and I got a message saying it would't play.This was unfortunate especially for me and I realise that it isn't your fault.These things happen sometimes when people buy from overseas.but that's the way it goes.I would be most happy to have written a good review but this time I can't.

John Kirby
P.s. I repeat, it isn't any fault of your's April 25, 2008

Una película formidable

Aparte de ser una gran película, tiene un argumento de fondo muy importante sobre la discriminación a la raza negra. Muy de moda en las elecciones de EEUU. March 3, 2008

Excellent male role models!

I used this movie for a Citizenship Group for adolescent boys with serious conduct and self-esteem issues. They not only watched it, but they were excited about the fact that the movie was based on real-life. Several have asked to have it shown again soon. I highly recommend it, especially for minority kids and adults. January 21, 2008

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