Despite not being released theatrically in the US, Jack Gold’s 1976 WWI action movie is one of the best war films of the 1970’s, and while this impressed me as a teenager when I saw it as a Saturday Night Movie on the BBC, it looks even better now. War films hold a difficult line between lecturing us about the futility of the fight and creating notable action scenes for us to cheer; Aces High somehow finds a sweet spot between the two.
Croft (Peter Firth) is the baby-faced new recruit who turns up at the base of a Royal Flying Corp based on the Western Front circa 1917. His life expectancy is short, not more than a few weeks, and will be even shorter if he doesn’t learn quickly from his follow fight-place pilots. The men in the barracks are exhausted; Christopher Plummer keeps a stiff upper lip, but Simon Ward is incapacitated by fear, and Ray Milland and John Gielgud are amongst the big-wigs behind lines, and seemingly in another movie.
The synopsis above might tip off the reader that Aces High’s screenplay, written by esteemed playwright Howard Barker, makes some use of the classic WWI play Journey’s End by R.C. Sherriff, but Gold lifts this from the stage and tent-poles the whole enterprise with elaborate action sequences. Even better, Croft’s mentor is John Gresham, played by Malcolm McDowell fresh of a run of anti-establishment figures in If…, O Lucky Man and A Clockwork Orange, and his presence makes Aces High more than just another musty tribute to British bravery and public-school ‘fagging’. There’s a sense of self-doubt about Gresham that McDowell does brilliantly with, through the highs of derring-do to the lows of grief, McDowell does a great job of making Gresham the reflective Han Solo of this story, the real hero if not the central figure.
Unlike most war movies, Aces High manages to have its cake and eat it. It’s an all-star, all action film that’s hard-wired into sacrifice and sadness, and the ghostly coda is well-handled. It’s a shame this film isn’t better known; in pandemic times, WWI seems closer in 2020 than in any time since, and it’s an eye-opener to see the technology and attitudes of war from a hundred years ago.
Thanks to Studio Canal for access to this film. Link below…
Of course, my dad was in the RAF, airplane fuel is in my blood. The Blue Max with George Peppard 10 yrs prior is still my fave though.
Snap on both counts! Blue Max is awesome too!
It’s good to slip the surly bonds of earth now and again, it was a great movie.
It is! Didn’t think anyone else had seen it!
There was a time when I never watched movies about war because well, they simply didn’t appeal to me. Usually because of the fact that it’s obviously based on real life, and often quite depressing events. But as I got older, I definitely found a new appreciation for the genre. After reading this I can understand why you say it’s a shame this film isn’t better known, as it really sounds, pun intended: Aces!😊 That said, thanks as always for a great review and sharing this one!😀
Like you, I’ve found that the right story and attitude can bring me into the genre; flag waving doesn’t do it for me. But this film is pretty obscure, and yet the cast, action and defiant feel make this one of the few I’ll make a stand for!
Yeah, that’s the same with me. Big grandstanding or patriotism doesn’t do it for me either. But interesting stories or relatively unknown ones are the warmovies that I really like. Hacksaw Ridge for instance was amazing because it told such a unique story.
Well…as you know I like obscure films, so I like it that you made a stand for this one! 😊
Haven’t seen this. Did watch The Battle of Britain a couple of months ago and was just so impressed by seeing real planes and not CGI. I don’t think they could even make a movie like that again.
The plane sequences in this are equally good, all the better for the lack of fake-ness, except a few close-ups that are clearly staged. But it makes CGI look tame.
Since I’ve been out on my own, WWI and WWII movies and books have never appealed to me. I don’t know if it is the death of innocence in a cultural sense that seemed to occur within that 30 year time frame, or what, but something about it always grates on me.
Same here, but there’s a few films that fly under the radar for me. That death of innocence is exactly to topic of this film, and it sticks the landing. Two aviation metaphors in one comment!
Good job. You win all the “Metaphor” awards today!
Thanks! Off to a flying start (that’s three!)