Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

hoffmanaz Anyone assuming this film is about World War I aviation will be seriously disappointed. More than half the film is about Thad Walker (Tab Hunter) who deserts from the Lafayette Escadrille to be with his French girl friend. The only footage of a dogfight is almost at the end of the film and lasts about three minutes. Walker improbably is forgiven for his desertion and gets a commission (!) in the U.S. Army Air Corps. The film overlooks the little detail that while he was with his girl friend the other pilots were all undergoing training; no mention of how Walker learned to fly a plane during his desertion, though the film may have skipped over a time period for this to happen. The movie ends on a note so implausible that it fools no one, and issue other reviewers have noted was due to the studio putting in an ending that differed from William Wellman's version (he quit). I am in sympathy with Wellman who after all directed the Academy award-winning "Wings." "Lafayette Escadrille" is NOT the film Wellman really wanted to make, done in by a mediocre script and a low budget.

dglink William Wellman's soaring aerial drama, "Wings," won the first Academy Award for Best Picture in 1927, and, three decades later, the director returned to World War I flying aces in his 1958 picture, "Lafayette Escadrille." Although Wellman's second depiction of early pilots and dogfights pales in comparison to his first effort, the film nevertheless has its moments. The aerial scenes, well photographed by William H. Clothier in black and white, are reminiscent of the earlier film. Evidently shot in the air, the fragile aircraft sweep across the French countryside, well, California actually, and we get point-of-view shots of pilots in their cockpits, similar to those in "Wings."Although Tab Hunter was never known as a great actor, he plays young American troublemaker turned expatriate pilot, Thad Walker, quite well. The handsome blonde is hunky eye candy and quickly falls under the spell of equally blonde and winsome Etchika Choreau. Unfortunately, the film details the romance, trials, and tribulations of the dewy-eyed pair, which border on the clichéd, and neglects the camaraderie of Walker's fellow pilots and their daring exploits in the air. Among Walker's neglected comrades are a pre-"Fugitive" David Janssen, a pre-"Billy Jack" Tom Laughlin, and Brett Halsey. Oh, and there is another young actor among the pilots, a tall good looking guy, Clint Eastwood, whose subsequent career would overshadow those of both the film's star and its Oscar-winning director. Albert Sidney Fleischman's screenplay has problems with credibility and evasiveness. Despite his wholesome demeanor, Walker is supposed to be troublesome, having suffered at the hands of his father. His conflicted behavior results in some melodramatics involving a French officer, the stockade, and desertion, none of which is convincing. Seeking a job because his "wife," who may or may not be a lady of the evening, is supporting him,he goes to what viewers may perceive as a madame to work at what the audience may construe as a pimp. Not only are the proceedings purposely vague in a 1950's Production Code way, they are at odds with the character as we perceive him and certainly at odds with the image Tab Hunter enjoyed. In "Wings," Wellman focused on the aerial spectacle and relegated the personal stories to supporting status. With "Lafayette Escadrille," he goes in the other direction. If the drama had been as compelling as the dogfights and biplanes, the movie would have been successful. Unfortunately, the travails of two beautiful people do not sustain interest, despite Tab's often well-exposed torso. Despite the flaws, "Lafayette Escadrille" is not a disaster and worth a look; the aerial photography is good, the vintage planes are wonderful, Tab's muscles are well defined, and young Clint is obviously on his way to a brilliant career.

bkoganbing The Lafayette Escadrille was a group of young Americans who in 1914 could not wait for time and circumstance to bring America into World War I on the Allied side. They enlisted in the French army and were trained as aviators. One of those young man was a spirited rebellious young man named William Wellman.In fact Wellman is played here briefly by his actor/son William Wellman Jr. in what was William Wellman's swan song to films. It's all together fitting and proper that Wellman's last film be about the thing he loved even more than motion pictures, aviation.Bill Wellman made a lot of classic films and many like The High And The Mighty, Men With Wings, I Wanted Wings, Island In the Sky had to do with aviation. What's unusual about Lafayette Escadrille is that it did not concentrate on the war and the aerial combat. Instead it's coming of age story of a young man who enlists in the Lafayette Escadrille for all the wrong reasons.Tab Hunter plays a young juvenile delinquent named Thad Walker who to get away from home enlists in the Escadrille. He's there and still doesn't take to discipline. He does however take to Etchika Choureau and it's the call of the hormones rather than the call to the colors that Hunter responds to.Some of the comic moments are with the language difficulties as the French officers and non-coms try to drill the young Americans with neither understanding a word. But when Hunter hits Marcel Dalio and then breaks stockade to be with Choureau, he's down as a deserter.Two things immediately struck me about the film. The first is that in his final film the conservative William Wellman decide to test the almighty Code. Hunter can't get any legitimate work while AWOL if such a term exists in the French military. He has to go to work for French madam Veola Vonn as an escort, she's connected enough to provide some limited protection. Had Lafayette Escadrille been made a decade and a half later, you would have seen Hunter as a most explicit male escort for both sexes. Still it was a daring enough idea for 1958.The second is I'm wondering who back in the day in the Lafayette Escadrille was Wellman's inspiration for the story. It is in fact his original story that we're seeing. We do know that the happy ending that the film has is not the one Wellman wanted. But I guess you couldn't bend the Code too much. Among other treats in store in Lafayette Escadrille is a nice supporting cast of young players who would be making their marks soon enough as the members of the Escadrille. Tom Laughlin, Will Hutchins, David Janssen, and down the cast even further are James Garner and Clint Eastwood. Though it's not the film Wellman wanted, it's still a nice tribute to his comrades in the Lafayette Escadrille. Good thing that one of them lived and lived long enough to tell their tale.

rjw26 I saw this movie while stationed on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA42 sailing in the Mediterranean sea in 1959. It's true that it was more a romantic than an action movie. However, at the time I was thinking more about meeting women than flying airplanes, and I was completely caught up in the engrossing love story. It was a movie that I walked out of on air, and couldn't get out of my mind for months! My visits to Med ports such as Cannes and Nice, France, Majorca and Barcelona, Spain were totally changed as I looked for, and eventually found, a real-life Renee (although in Majorca not France).The true action movie of this story has now been made in the form of "Flyboys", which I just saw and liked also. The story had a bit of the romance in it, with a very appealing French girl as well, but told much more of the flying, and heroic side, of the story. Aside from some hooky computer effects, this was a great flying tale, appealing equally to the flier and action fan in me.Both are highly recommended.