Let's be realistic.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I remember 1975 well, I was living in the New Orleans area and my 4th child was born, a cute little daughter. That daughter is 38 now. And I remember this movie, by title only, but never saw it. For some reason the title didn't draw me in. Now, in 2013 I found it on Netflix and find it to be a very nice, very enjoyable movie.Being a guy I never identified with the "star power" of Robert Redford, but I know why many of the ladies did, he was a really good-looking guy in his 30s. But could he act? Well in fact he was a very good actor, and I witnessed that over the years in other movies.Here he is Waldo Pepper, the story starts in 1926 after WW1. He is a pilot, apparently a very good one, but had spent the war as an instructor and had missed the aerial battles. But he spoke of them, as if he had been there, as if he were the war hero. That comes to an abrupt halt when he encounters the hero he was talking about, Bo Svenson as Axel Olsson. Eventually they form a friendship and fly for one of those traveling aerial carnivals, doing stunts and giving rides.This was the time of transition, planes were getting more common and the government was stepping in, to regulate planes and pilots, to make sure there was a baseline safety factor. Waldo Pepper did not deal easily with those new regulations. The other key character is Bo Brundin as Ernst Kessler, the famous German fighter pilot of WW1. Everyone knew he was regarded as perhaps the best, while he also knew of Waldo Pepper, and knew he was one of the best. The climax of the story is when Ernst and Waldo are hired in a movie-filming job, they are to simulate an aerial battle. But the two rivals, once in the air, were determined to see who was best, and with dummy guns resorted to close passes and physical contact.The last few scenes pay off very well, first as the two men discuss the famous WW1 battle, and then the aerial battle of the biplanes. It was also nice seeing a young Susan Sarandon and a young Margot Kidder, a full 3 years before her famous role as Lois Lane in one of the Superman movies.All-in-all a fine example of a 1970s movie, and Redford was already at the top of his form.

Watching all these wonderful actors in their prime, the great storyline and the great cinematography for the first time has had me enthralled. This is a really enjoyable film with considerable depth. In my mind it is an exploration of the competitive nature of the flyers themselves - whether friends or rivals, one soon becomes acutely aware of their constant need to push their limits, not only amongst themselves but also within themselves. For some reason this film is only averaging a rating of 6.4, and it deserves much more than that, so my vote will hopefully help to reflect a more appropriate rating for what is a really enjoyable movie.Even if you are not into aviator flicks, you will enjoy this movie - it is an excellent example of the filmmakers and scriptwriters art. I give it my heartiest recommendation.

As someone who loves the notion of flight as adventure to the extent of having been in a microlight, hot-air balloon, helicopter, twin-seater single - propeller aircraft, best of all a twin-prop civilian charter flight over the Grand Canyon, and lover of the devil-may-care spirit of 1920's America, this particular movie celebrating a barnstorming "flying-circus" troop was always going to be right down my street, or should that be flight-path... Throw in heavyweight participants hot from "Butch Cassidy..." and "The Sting", like director George Roy Hill, screenplay writer William Goldman ("Butch Cassidy" only) and of course Robert Redford in the lead and you just know this one is going to straighten up and fly left.The film title and introductory scenes where we first see Redford's "Pepper" character are however deceptive. These entertaining almost playful scenes where we witness Pepper's good-natured rivalry with fellow-flier Bo Svennson not only for the patronage of the target awe-struck thrill-seeking populace of little-town Americans but also for, of course "the girl", Susan Sarandon in an early role, have a touch of whimsy, even sentimentality as Pepper takes a hero-worshipping young tyke up for a spin.However the film grows more serious as it continues, as we are made aware that in the end this is a business and that to make money and outdo rival companies for daring, the Barnum-type owner/entrepreneur Dilhoeffer (well played by Philip Bruns) exhorts Pepper and his confederates to ever more dangerous stunts with nary a thought for the consequences (health and safety doesn't get a look in here!). The outcome is predictable as first of all, Sarandon and later Pepper's friend, boffin-type aircraft designer Stiles die horribly in stunts which go disastrously wrong, leading the film to its ultimate and overriding motif about the "otherness" of people like Pepper, gifted with a rare talent but with a bent for living on the edge, outside everyday society.Such people are of course rarely long for this world, as is tacitly underscored at the end where we learn of Pepper's death at a young age from a commemorative picture on a wall but are overall left with a great admiration for all those risk-taking individuals from those times, unforgettable photographic images of whom (you know the ones I mean, wing-walking or even playing tennis on bi-planes, workmen casually eating sandwiches on girders atop the under-construction Empire State Building etc) can still draw gasps of admiration from people like me living our ordinary, mundane earth-bound lives.The cinematography is fantastic, thirty years before "The Aviator", the air stunts are brilliantly pulled off and photographed. Redford is at his winning best as the "out-there" Pepper and he's well supported by his band of high-flying misfits. Part of me was repelled however by the seeming disregard for the deaths of Mary Beth and Stiles by Dilhoeffer, Pepper etc not to mention the rubbernecking general public and believe a little more humanity could have come through in the writing.On the whole though this is a charming, greatly entertaining movie, not without its darker side and for me belongs in the same air-borne formation with "Only Angels Have Wings" and "The Aviator" as a classic movie celebrating the lives of those fascinated by and/or who make their living in the skies above. Mere days after Captain Sullenberger's near miraculous emergency descent into the Hudson river, amen to that!

I'm sorry to hear that this film is not as respected as I had assumed. This is a great film on so many levels and I highly recommend it. I saw it aged 13 and it absolutely thrilled me. Waldo's friend's death in a crash and fire may correctly need a PG warning but the film will still give most kids a love of flying. For the next 10 years I knew I would be a fighter pilot! There are obvious comparisons with The Blue Max, made 9 years earlier. I like the civilian side to this film. Susan Sharendon's sudden exit was a real shocker, which took me months to get over. In conclusion, I think that this was the first film that I watched, thinking I am an adult enjoying an adult story. It made me feel great and I've had a fascination with film ever since. All thanks to Waldo!