Memphis Belle (film)

Memphis Belle
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by	Michael Caton-Jones
Produced by	David Puttnam, Catherine Wyler
Written by	Monte Merrick
Starring	Matthew Modine Eric Stoltz Tate Donovan D. B. Sweeney Billy Zane Sean Astin Harry Connick Jr. Reed Diamond Courtney Gains Neil Giuntoli David Strathairn John Lithgow
Music by	George Fenton
Editing by	Jim Clark
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	October 12, 1990
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$23,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	$27,441,977 (USA)

Memphis Belle is a 1990 film directed by Michael Caton-Jones and written by Monte Merrick, starring Matthew Modine and Eric Stoltz and introducing Harry Connick Jr. in his screen debut. It is a fictionalization of the 1943 documentary Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress by director William Wyler, about the 25th and last mission of an American B-17 bomber, the Memphis Belle, which was based in England during World War II. The 1990 version was produced by Wyler's daughter Catherine and dedicated to her father.

Plot

In May 1943, the crew of the Memphis Belle, a B-17 of the Army Air Force stationed in England, are grounded while their aircraft is being repaired and they wait for the return of their comrades from a daylight bombing mission over Europe. All of the aircraft arrive back at the airfield, but the last returning aircraft crashes on landing and explodes, killing all aboard. At a party that evening it is announced by Army publicist Lt. Colonel Bruce Derringer (John Lithgow) that the Belle's crew is about to complete its twenty-fifth and final mission. As they will be the first to accomplish this feat in the whole air force, Derringer intends to conduct an elaborate celebration upon their return. His plans are opposed by base commander Colonel Craig Harriman (David Strathairn), who wishes to avoid granting any special treatment to the crew.

The ten-man crew of the Memphis Belle is:

• Captain Dennis Dearborn (Matthew Modine), Pilot. A humorless perfectionist, Dennis worked for his family's furniture business before enlisting. He named the aircraft after his girlfriend and keeps a black-and-white snapshot of her in the cockpit. He is openly teased by his crew for his unwavering professional attitude during preflight checks, and inflight briefings which the crew have reviewed dozens of times. Regardless, he proves to be a competent and capable leader.
• 1st Lt. Luke Sinclair (Tate Donovan), Co-Pilot. The carefree former lifeguard believes himself to be undervalued by Dennis and desires to get his hands on a gun at least once - which he does, with terrible consequences - but proves himself at a critical moment during the mission.
• Lt. Phil Lowenthal (D. B. Sweeney), Navigator. Phil is nervous before their final mission and, convinced that he is doomed to die, drinks too much at the party and distributes his possessions to the rest of the crew.
• Lt. Val Kozlowski (Billy Zane), Bombardier and Medic. While everyone believes the confident, self-assured Val to be a doctor, it is later found that he attended only a few weeks of medical school before enlisting.
• Sgt. Danny "Danny Boy" Daly (Eric Stoltz), Radio Operator. An earnest Irish-American, Danny was editor of the school paper, graduated as valedictorian, and joined up right after graduation. He is often seen taking pictures of his crewmates with a small camera which he frequently takes on missions, and writing poetry in a notebook. When his crewmates pick on a group of rookie airman, frightening one of them to the point of vomiting, he shows compassion by reassuring the airman, also a fellow radio operator, he'll survive.
• Sgt. Virgil "Virgin" Hoogesteger (Reed Diamond), Top Turret Gunner and Flight Engineer. Virge worked for his family's restaurant and plans to open a chain of identical restaurants after the war despite his crew-mate's warnings that such an unheard-of enterprise could never succeed. He is constantly teased for not having lost his virginity, hence his nickname.
• Sgt. Richard "Rascal" Moore (Sean Astin), Ball Turret Gunner. The diminutive Rascal considers himself a ladies man and delights in teasing his crew mates, especially Virgil. He becomes increasingly nervous of the ball turrets' tendency to jam during combat.
• Sgt. Eugene "Genie" McVey (Courtney Gains), Right Waist Gunner. A religious and superstitious Irish-American, Genie carries a St. Anthony's medal on missions with a tendency to lose it. His fellow waist gunner, Jack, often teases him for his superstitious nature, calling him "Genie the Weenie".
• Sgt. Jack Bocci (Neil Giuntoli), Left Waist Gunner. A hot-tempered Chicago hoodlum, Jack appears to look out only for himself but proves surprisingly kind to his fellow waist gunner Genie. He's always eager for a fight, and will often sweet talk to his gun, which he affectionately calls "Mona".
• Sgt. Clay Busby (Harry Connick, Jr.), Tail Gunner. After his father lost the family farm in a poker game, the laconic Clay earned money playing the piano in a New Orleans cathouse. A talented singer, he performs "Danny Boy" (dedicating it to his crewmate) at the party before their final mission. A gambler himself, Clay is frequently asked by his crewmates what the odds are if they survive the mission that day, odds which he seldom predicts favorably.

The morning after the party, the officers of the squadron are informed that their target for the day is the city of Bremen, Germany. Almost immediately, the experienced officers in the squadron begin to worry. Earlier, it was established that the target was previously attacked a month earlier, and a quarter of the squadron was lost. After a delay due to poor weather over the target, the Memphis Belle and her squadron are airborne. After assembling their formation and collecting their escort of P-51 fighters, the aircraft fly toward their target only to face constant harassment by defending German Bf 109 fighters. Eventually the escorting fighters, low on fuel, turn away and the bombers continue alone.

Back at the base, Harriman and Derringer have harsh words as Derringer starts decorating the mess hall for a celebration upon the Belle's return. Derringer accuses Harriman of being concerned only with advancing his personal career. In response, Harriman brings Derringer into his office and angrily dumps a pile of letters on the desk - replies received from families of lost airmen that he himself had written to. In one of the most poignant moments of the film we hear the anguished voices of those families over actual black-and-white footage, taken by both sides, of the fierce air combat over Europe.

Meanwhile, the bombers have suffered significant losses on their mission. The German fighters focus their attacks on the aircraft leading the formation. The first plane to lead the formation, Windy City loses its engines and explodes in the path of the Belle. The bomber manages to fly through the debris unscathed, but frightens a few of the crew, especially Phil who becomes more terrified when he sees blood on the nose window. Afterwords, they rather callously discuss how the Windy City crew died so quickly, and reminisce about a few of her crew members whose faces they know, but names they can't remember. Their memories are soon filled with grief as they silently contemplate the dangerous nature of their duties. More attacks ensue, and the replacement lead plane, Sea Cup, leaves formation when its nose is crippled by a Bf 109. The crew of the Belle watch in horror when they see a body fall out of the stricken aircraft without a parachute. Now it is the Belle's turn to take over as lead aircraft of the formation. Finding the target (an aircraft assembly plant) obscured by a smokescreen, Dennis aborts the bomb run and orders the formation to circle again in spite of heavy anti-aircraft fire and the extreme possibility of suffering more casualties to the squadron. Meanwhile, Luke has been itching to do something other than sit in the co-pilot's seat and watch the battle around him. Before they took off he secured an agreement with Clay to fire the tail gunners gun when things got hot. His motives are in the hopes the women folk back home would find him more desirable if he had actually killed a Nazi. When the moment arrives, Luke get's his wish and scores a hit on a Bf 109. But, his moment of triumph turns to tragedy when his defeated target crashes into Mother & Country, the same flight of airmen the Belle crew had teased the night before, slicing the bomber in half. In horror and desperation, Danny tries to raise the stricken aircraft on the radio. The only response heard are their screams of agony, while Luke, struck with immense guilt, watches them plunge to their deaths. On the second run Val spots the assembly plant through a gap in the smokescreen and the bombers successfully hit their target but, once clear of the anti-aircraft fire, they are again engaged by fighters. Rascal's ball turret jams more than once during the mission, and each time it happens he calls for help from Virgil. The turret is eventually destroyed, but Rascal is spared thanks to his safety strap, and Virgil. The attacks continue, blasting a hole in the fuselage, tearing off a large chunk of the tail, and setting the number four engine on fire. Danny becomes injured in the attacks, which puts Val in a difficult position when the crew enlists his medical "expertise" to save the injured radioman. Meanwhile, Dennis and Luke skilfully drop the aircraft into a steep dive and put the fire out, despite great risk of losing the aircraft.

Back at base, the remaining squadron aircraft return from their mission, much to the dismay of the ground crews, without the Belle. They wait anxiously for the celebrated aircraft and her crew to return.

As the pilots prepare the Belle for landing, Dennis orders them to toss their guns and ammo to lighten their weight, while Val and the enlisted crewmen discuss what to do with Danny. Val, being the only officer with medical knowledge, recommends dumping Danny over German occupied territory believing he'd had have a better chance of survival if found by German soldiers who would take care of him as a prisoner of war, but the remaining crewmen vehemently object doing such an act. Phil interjects and pleads with Val not to throw Danny over, to which he agrees. He cares for Danny all the way back to base. When Dennis orders the landing gear dropped, only one wheel falls due to electrical failure from battle damage. With time running out, Virgil and Jack try to land the immobile wheel manually with a crank. Soon Phil joins them, having gained new confidence after surviving the mission. He takes over the crank and manages to bring the wheel down inches from touchdown. The ground crew, and a slightly humbled Lt. Colonel Derringer, race to greet them with jubilant cheers. The crew evacuates the battered plane, finally by Dennis, who discovers a bottle of champagne that Virg had hidden on board. He shows it to the crew, acting as though he is going to reprimand them, and then surprises his crew by joyously cracking the bottle and spraying it in celebration. In the final scene they celebrate their victory with Danny on an ambulance.

The film closes with a dedication to all airmen, friend or foe, who fought in the skies above Europe during World War II.

Historical accuracy

With the exception of the aircraft names, this film is fiction based on fact. The characters are composites, the names are not those of the real crew of the Memphis Belle and the incidents shown are taken from many missions. The final, 25th mission of the real Belle was to Kiel, Germany, but with a substitute crew, before being flown back to the United States.

B-17 "Sally B".

Five real B-17s were acquired for the filming of Memphis Belle, out of eight that were airworthy in the late 1980s. Three were located in America, two were in France, and one (Sally B) was later used in England. Since the original Memphis Belle was a B-17F model, almost all of the B-17s used in the film were heavily modified to look like the F models, having chin turrets replaced and the planes painted olive green. During filming, two B-17s portrayed the Belle (one was the movie version of the Belle, the other was Sally B, which can be obvious because there is a plate where the chin turret used to be), the rest had nose art changed numerous times to make it seem like there were more bombers. For the fighters, four P-51s were used, despite the fact that P-47s were the escort at the time in 1943. As there are no surviving flyable Messerschmitt Bf 109s, these German fighter aircraft were represented by Ha-1112s, a Spanish version of the Bf 109 (which were also used to represent Bf 109s in the 1969 film Battle of Britain).

The movie was filmed at the non-operational RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire, England with some scenes shot at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. All the extras for the film were obtained from auditions held in the area, and included current and former members of the Royal Air Force.

Flying sequences were filmed at Binbrook for take off and landing scenes while Duxford was used for the airborne scenes. The filmmakers also used Pinewood Studios to shoot interior scenes and to shoot various models of B-17s. Various professional pilots were used for the dogfight and bomber interceptions including Ray Hanna.

Notable filming incidents

One of the French B-17's used as a filming platform hit a tree and a pile of gravel during takeoff from Binbrook and was destroyed by the subsequent fire. The crew of ten escaped, with two of them suffering from serious injury and three from minor injury.

Whilst lined up on runway 21 awaiting takeoff a puff of smoke was observed by a ground engineer from the vicinity of engine three which he conjectured could have been due to an overboost. The aircraft commenced it's ground roll and after about 100 yards swung slightly to the left, which the commander (the handling pilot) corrected with the rudder and by reducing power to number 3 and 4 engines. Once corrected full power on all engines was resumed but the aircraft swung right. The commander applied corrective rudder and reduced power to number 1 and 2 engines, but this was not immediately effective and the aircraft left the runway before straightening, parallel to the runway. Knowing that the aircraft was capable of being operated from grass landing strips, the pilot opted to continue the take off, however, after 4-500 yards and at an airspeed of 90-95 knots the aircraft swung right and it's course was obstructed by a tree which hit the left wing and a pile of gravel which hit the number 4 propellor. The aircraft yawed to the right and came to rest in a cornfield, the fuselage breaking into two places aft of the bomb bay and caught on fire. ^[1]

Soundtrack

Memphis Belle (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by George Fenton
Released	October 1, 1990
Recorded	Abbey Road Studios, CTS Studios, and Angel Studios, London, England
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	42:47
Label	Varèse Sarabande
Producer	George Fenton Eliza Thompson
Professional reviews
The reviews parameter has been deprecated. Please move reviews into the “Reception” section of the article. See Moving reviews into article space. Allmusic link

"The Chestnut Tree", written by Tommie Connor, Jimmy Kennedy and Hamilton Kennedy appears in the movie but not on the soundtrack album. The upbeat version of "Danny Boy" performed by Connick at the party is not found on the soundtrack album; a slower version performed by Mark Williamson appears instead.^[2] The film score, by George Fenton, was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Original Film Score in 1991.

The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, CTS Studios, and Angel Studios in London, England.^[3] Included is Glenn Miller and His Orchestra performing "I Know Why (And So Do You)".

Track listing

1. "Londonderry Air" / "Front Titles: Memphis Belle" (traditional / George Fenton) - 3:50
2. "Green Eyes" (Nilo Menendez, Eddie Rivera, Eddie Woods) - 3:25
3. "Flying Home" (Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Sydney Robin) - 2:57
4. "The Steel Lady" (Fenton) - 1:44
5. "Prepare For Take Off" ("Amazing Grace") (traditional) - 2:39
6. "The Final Mission" (Fenton) - 3:51
7. "With Deep Regret..." (Fenton) - 2:02
8. "I Know Why (And So Do You)" (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren) - 2:55 - performed by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
9. "The Bomb Run" (Fenton) - 1:30
10. "Limping Home" (Fenton) - 2:25
11. "Crippled Belle: The Landing" (Fenton) - 3:26
12. "Resolution" (Fenton) - 1:06
13. "Memphis Belle" (End Title Suite) (Fenton) - 7:37
14. "Danny Boy" (Theme from Memphis Belle) (Frederic E. Weatherly) - 3:20 - performed by Mark Williamson

See also

• Strategic bombing during World War II

References

1. ^ Air Accident Investigation Branch - Boeing B17G Flying Fortress, F-BEEA 11-89 (Adobe Acrobat)
2. ^ "soundtrackcollector.com". soundtrackcollector.com. http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/catalog/soundtrackdetail.php?movieid=2875. Retrieved 2010-10-11. 
3. ^ "CD Universe". CD Universe. 1990-10-17. http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?PID=1044183&style=music&frm=frooglemusic. Retrieved 2010-10-11. 

External links

• Memphis Belle at the Internet Movie Database