Tonight I watched "The Great Waldo Pepper" Released in 1975 this was a personal project of director George Roy Hill. He could basically make any movie he wanted for Universal after the success of "The Sting". It starred Robert Redford who had worked with Hill on The Sting and on "Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid". Not only did Hill direct the film, he also wrote it and produced it.
Hill's love of early aviation shows in every frame. The aerial sequences are fantastic and I can only imagine what they would have looked like on the big screen.
The story is about the fading days of stunt flying in the late 1920's. Redford plays Waldo Pepper a man who feels he missed out on the most important moments in his life by not being a fighter pilot in WWI.
I was surprised by the tone of the movie. I was expecting an adventure film with comic overtones, but there are serious dramatic and dark elements to the film. The film has an ambiguous ending that would never happen in a Hollywood film today.
Everything about the film is well done. The acting is excellent throughout. The recreation of the 1920's mid west and Hollywood is excellent. Henry Mancini's score is rousing with out being over bearing and as I said earlier the camera work, especially in the air is great.
Movie House rating ***1/2
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