A young rural enlistee is initially disappointed with his job as an air mechanic, but his great marksmanship skills make him a tail gunner in a bomber.A young rural enlistee is initially disappointed with his job as an air mechanic, but his great marksmanship skills make him a tail gunner in a bomber.A young rural enlistee is initially disappointed with his job as an air mechanic, but his great marksmanship skills make him a tail gunner in a bomber.
Photos
Dane Clark
- Benny
- (as Bernard Zanville)
Knox Manning
- Narrator
- (voice)
Frank Coghlan Jr.
- Gunnery Student
- (uncredited)
- …
Hank Mann
- Carnival Booth Man
- (uncredited)
Jack Mower
- Recruiting Officer
- (uncredited)
Richard Quine
- Pilot with Sun Glasses
- (uncredited)
Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Jack Shea
- Lieutenant Doyle
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBurgess Meredith, an actual Lieutenant in the US Army Air Corps at the time of filming (He later reached the rank of Captain.), portrayed a Private and was promoted to Corporal late in the movie.
- GoofsThe "Japanese Zeroes" are actually North American AT-6 Texans, popular flying training airplanes used by the Army Air Forces during World War II, Korea, and the early Cold War.
- ConnectionsEdited into The United States Service Bands (1943)
- SoundtracksThe Army Air Corps Song
Written by Robert Crawford
Sung by a chorus during the opening credits and played often in the score
Featured review
Shoot Straight.
Interesting and informative brief war-time documentary that takes through aerial gunnery school with a Kansas boy, Burgess Meredith, who learned how to shoot by downing crows that were eating his crops. Ronald Reagan is the captain who encourages him. Tom Neal is an instructor. Classmate Dane Clark is as close as the production should get to a stereotypical New York wise guy.
It's not bad, for what it is. I believe there is a feature film floating around in the ether starring Chester Morris in "Aerial Gunner." It covers much of the same ground as this training camp film but is mucked up with an unnecessary romance and equally gratuitous conflict among the men.
You know why it's interesting? Because every young boy wants to shoot a gun. They don't necessarily want to kill anyone. They just want to hit a target with a projectile. The dynamics of baseball are identical. The bat moves; the ball moves; and you try to hit one with the other. Golf likewise involves making a projectile (the golf ball) move to its target (the little hole in the ground with the flag sticking out of it). Bocce ball and darts ditto.
There's no drama in the film. It's not like Randall Jarell's "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner."
"From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose."
This is a flag waver from beginning to end and the viewer has to put up with a bit of corn, but the film isn't long. And it does have an educational narrative.
It's not bad, for what it is. I believe there is a feature film floating around in the ether starring Chester Morris in "Aerial Gunner." It covers much of the same ground as this training camp film but is mucked up with an unnecessary romance and equally gratuitous conflict among the men.
You know why it's interesting? Because every young boy wants to shoot a gun. They don't necessarily want to kill anyone. They just want to hit a target with a projectile. The dynamics of baseball are identical. The bat moves; the ball moves; and you try to hit one with the other. Golf likewise involves making a projectile (the golf ball) move to its target (the little hole in the ground with the flag sticking out of it). Bocce ball and darts ditto.
There's no drama in the film. It's not like Randall Jarell's "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner."
"From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose."
This is a flag waver from beginning to end and the viewer has to put up with a bit of corn, but the film isn't long. And it does have an educational narrative.
helpful•30
- rmax304823
- Feb 12, 2017
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Broadway Brevities (1942-1943 season) #10: The Rear Gunner
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime26 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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