mycatslyone

Lots of sensitive portrayals here. This is NOT a Rambo, shoot'em up type of film. It's a true story about how 511 Americans were rescued out of a Japanese camp by Phillipinos & Americans but doesn't go the blood & guts routine. I don't know how James Franco remembered all those lines he had about direction, maps, instructions, etc! He played Capt. Prince while Benjamin Bratt played his superior. The tall blonde was a treat to watch (Connie ?, pardon me for forgetting). I think the R-rating was given because of the actual war footage shown of dead

& charred bodies. (Horrific & NOT for the squeamish!) This one won't be in my Franco Collection of films simply because one viewing was enough. Probably ANYone could have played the 2 main roles here & the film would've been just as good a history lesson.

This film was colorful & exciting! The dogfight scenes were amazing! Those cardboard box WW1 fighter planes with NO parachutes were like flying coffins! Too bad this great invention had to be used for something as appalling as WAR! Anyway, this is the true story of the Lafayette Escadrille in France, the very first pilots fighting against the Germans. Franco's part is as a Texas rancher named Blaine Rawlings who loses said ranch & goes over to France to give it all a try. Along the way, he becomes an ace pilot, falls in love with a pretty French girl named Lucienne (Jennifer Decker) & then loses said girl - never to see her again. (That's so sad!) At the end when everyone's "bio" comes up on the screen, it's said that Franco's character goes back home & builds the largest ranch in Texas & never flew again. They never say why...

Side Point - Franco actually went & got his pilot's license FOR REAL just before shooting this film. (Congratulations!)