IMDb > The Blue Max (1966)
The Blue Max
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The Blue Max (1966) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.0/10   2,081 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 28% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Jack Hunter (novel)
Ben Barzman (adaptation) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Blue Max on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 June 1966 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
MIRACLES IN THE AIR! more
Plot:
A young pilot in the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and unchivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 4 nominations more
NewsDesk:
The Blue Max Writer Hunter Dies
 (From WENN. 20 April 2009, 9:23 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
How a man with a dream, misuses it and falls from grace... more (64 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

George Peppard ... Lt. Bruno Stachel

James Mason ... General Count von Klugermann

Ursula Andress ... Countess Kaeti von Klugermann
Jeremy Kemp ... Willi von Klugermann
Karl Michael Vogler ... Colonel Otto Heidemann
Anton Diffring ... Holbach
Harry Towb ... Kettering
Peter Woodthorpe ... Corporal Rupp
Derek Newark ... Ziegel
Derren Nesbitt ... Fabian

Loni von Friedl ... Elfi Heidemann (as Loni Von Friedl)
Friedrich von Ledebur ... The Field Marshal (as Friedrich Ledebur)
Carl Schell ... Von Richthofen aka The Red Baron
Hugo Schuster ... Hans. Elderly Servant
Alex Scott ... The Orator
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Additional Details

Runtime:
156 min | USA:153 min (FMC Library Print)
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
6-Track Stereo | 4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) (Westrex Recording System) | Mono (optical prints) (Westrex Recording System)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
"Stachel" is the German word for sting. more
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): After arriving at his new air station, Lieutenant Stachel is interviewed by his squadron's commanding officer (CO). While looking through Stachel's personnel record, the CO asks him what rank he had attained in the infantry. This was a needless question, since Stachel's record would clearly have shown all ranks he had previously held. more
Quotes:
Willi von Klugermann: By the way, Stachel... there's an impression around that... you care more about your unconfirmed kill than you do about Fabian's death.
[long pause]
Bruno Stachel: Perhaps it's force of habit. In the trenches, we couldn't even bury the dead; there were too many of them. I've never had the time... to discuss them over a glass of champagne.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Top Secret! (1984) more

FAQ

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17 out of 21 people found the following comment useful.
How a man with a dream, misuses it and falls from grace..., 21 July 2004
Author: jlpicard1701E from Lugano, Switzerland

I will be brief. Buy it, it's a must! George Peppard plays his role, Stachel, to the hilt in this WWI war drama. He is supported by very talented and well-known actors such as James Mason, Ursula Andress, Anton Diffring and many others.

The image is sharp and the colors are vivid. The sound is a bit conventional, but since the story is all-encompassing and well developed you will probably forget all technicalities and just sit through an excellent movie as I did.

The story deals with a simple German infantry soldier, stuck in the horror of the trench warfare, who dreams to fly and become an ace.

Well, he doesn't have to wait long and soon he's a flyer. he also becomes an ace.

Unfortunately, his modest social origins, keep him from the Sun, the Blue Max in fact. The Blue Max is the highest ranking medal given to pilots in WWI.

Knowing that, Stachel (Peppard) decides to fight all the odds and becomes totally ruthless and opportunistic.

Unluckily for him, two can play at the same game. The German Reich needs a hero, an example to play its cards right, in order to have more draftees to send to the front.

Stachel becomes such a hero, but to a price...

It is a crude and cruel depiction of the rise and fall of someone who came from nothing and through war, thought he could make it in society, only to find out that certain games are better left alone.

A very good morals and ethics lesson, from which many people could still learn something.

I can only suggest it. The rest is up to you.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Blue Max (1966)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Inaccurate projection of WWI air combat dockbillin
Ammunition alplatt-1
Portrayal of Von Richtofen micaofboca
I think this is quite under-rated vivekrocks20
Was Willy in love with Bruno? kpd0943
George Peppard's Performance slokes
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