MEMphis Belle

This is a first for the Village Tavern. While it may seem to revolve around sports, we have other intersts at the Village Tavern as well. Like movies! And although Ek promised a 'Rambo' review quite some time ago, this is the "VT's" first movie review...

I picked up this little dandy on DVD recently while I was at Best Buy with J-Lew and my boy JoNo. It’s the 1990 Theatrical release, ‘The Memphis Belle’. It’s a movie I remember watching as a kid, and always loving. This was largely because I was so fascinated with World War II history, and also because the B-17 Flying Fortress was one of the sweetest aircraft ever invented (only surpassed by the Lockheed P-58 Chain Lightning). The viewing of this DVD was the first time I had watched the movie in years, so I tried to approach it somewhat objectively, in order to offer a solid review.

What it's about:

A B-17 bomber crew on their 25th and final mission is sent to Bremen, Germany. Surrounded by the likes of ‘Sweet Dreams’, ‘Mother and Country’, ‘Mama’s Boys’, and ‘The Scintillating Virgin’, the crew of ‘The Memphis Belle’ is trying to become the first team to complete a full tour of duty as a bomber unit in the European Theatre. After this, they’re on their way back to the States to be “wined, women-ed and song-ed” as they give speeches and tour the entire country as a moral-raising event. But they have to survive their 25th Mission before they’ll get that chance…

Who’s in it that you should care about:

Billy Zane: Although probably more remembered for his breathtaking performance as ‘The Phantom’, this is definitely a fine performance from the man who Hansel once describe by saying, “he’s a cool dude”.
Harry Connick Jr.: Harry is trying to break the record for most roles with a forced musical performance as he continues to try to have a “slashie” career as an actor/singer. Add this one to the list of movies that help him in his quest.
John Lithgow: What a great name! And let’s be honest, who WOULDN’T want to watch a performance from the dad from ‘Harry and the Hendersons’. And to top it all off, he’s had a successful career with ‘Third Rock from the Sun’, and did a fantastic job of voice acting as Lord Farquaad in ‘Shrek’.
Sean Astin: I place this performance right behind the Oscar-caliber acting in ‘Rudy’ and 'The Goonies', but ahead of Astin’s performances as Samwise Gamgee (in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy) and the steroid using brother (Doug) from ‘50 First Dates’. That’s right, this movie is THAT good.

Best Line:
“Hey fellas, the target’s clouded over, we’re delayed”
“S-N-A-F-U, Situation-normal, all-fucked-up”
*Does Hollywood make these things up? Don’t get me wrong, it’s funny and it’s catchy, but between SNAFU and FUBAR, you almost have to wonder if anyone from World War II actually said those things.

Best Character:

Jack, the navigator, who is convinced that their mission has been jinxed by all the press and hype that John Lithgow’s character is generating as the Army PR guy assigned to their crew. He’s determined that even if the ‘Belle’ makes it, he’s a dead man. As a result he spends most of the movie drinking, and trying to give away all of his personal belongings. By the time they’re over Germany he’s given away his father's watch, a nice pen ("It's the best pen money can buy!"), and all his best baseball cards. But as the mission continues he'll play a pivotal role in saving the life of one of his fellow crew members.

DVD Features:

Is there anything better than first-generation DVD releases!? The double-sided releases, with widescreen on one side, full-screen on the other. Then you have the cheap card-board cases; clearly they hadn't mastered the format at the time. But I think the best feature of any old-school DVD (this one included) is the "JUMP TO A SCENE!" feature. As if the smaller format, along with the improved visual and audio quality weren't enough, you can jump to any scene you like! It's not that it isn't a great benefit of the format, it's jus the way it's presented. Like on the back, how it will say under "Special Features": Dolby 5.1, Interactive Menus (boo-yah!), Subtitles, and JUMP TO A SCENE!!! Maybe I'm the only one amused by this..

'The Memphis Belle' DVD has one other feature that makes it really worth the purchase. In case you finish the movie, and it's just not enough. Maybe you're looking for another movie to watch. Well imagine that, get a recommendation from the DVD itself! Search by actor, Producer and Genre (of course, it only shows movies on DVD from the same studio, but who needs to know that...). Classic stuff.

Rating: B+

This is overall a well above-average movie. It’s got action aplenty, a good story line, good and mostly believable characters and it’s well acted. It’s even based on a true story to boot (not to mention the loaded extra features). If you like war movies, if you like action, this is definitely worth checking out.