Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

A hard-as-nails general takes over a bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Sy Bartlett (screenplay), Beirne Lay Jr. (screenplay)

Stars:

Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill

Won 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gregory Peck	...	General Savage
Hugh Marlowe	...	Lt. Col. Ben Gately
Gary Merrill	...	Col. Davenport
Millard Mitchell	...	General Pritchard
Dean Jagger	...	Major Stovall
Robert Arthur	...	Sgt. McIllhenny
Paul Stewart	...	Maj. 'Doc' Kaiser
John Kellogg	...	Major Cobb
Robert Patten	...	Lt. Bishop (as Bob Patten)
Lee MacGregor	...	Lt. Zimmerman (as Lee Mac Gregor)
Sam Edwards	...	Birdwell
Roger Anderson	...	Interrogation Officer

Storyline

In this story of the early days of daylight bombing raids over Nazi Germany, General Frank Savage must take command of a "hard luck" bomber group. Much of the story deals with his struggle to whip his group into a disciplined fighting unit in spite of heavy losses, and withering attacks by German fighters over their targets. Actual combat footage is used in this tense war drama.

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Plot Keywords:

american abroad | b 17 bomber | reminiscence | military leadership | world war two | 

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Taglines:

A story of twelve men as their women never knew them...

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1950 (UK)

Also Known As:

Almas en la hoguera

Filming Locations:

Eglin Air Force Base, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Gen. Savage (Gregory Peck) gets back from his last mission, the one before he cracks up, he's in his room with Col. Davenport (Gary Merrill), Gately (Hugh Marlowe) and a drunk Col. Stovall (Dean Jagger). Davenport asks Savage if he knows that the "Old Man" went along on the just finished mission. After Savage tells him he didn't know, Davenport continues, "He slipped into Curt May's plane". During the era when this movie takes place, Maj. Curtis LeMay (later to become a general and eventually Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) was flying bombing missions as commander of a B-17 Flying Fortress unit, the 305th Bomb Group, which was part of the Eighth Air Force.

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Goofs

During the first attack on the ball bearing plant, when the bombs are released, you see two groups of bombs on the racks, one in front of the other. The B-17 carried all its bombs in one vertical stack. The American bomber in use at the time that would have had forward and aft stacks would be the B-24. The bomb bay doors on the B-24 roll up like garage doors, but you clearly see the doors hinged back, and the bombs have a round support around the fin. The American bombs of this time had a square support to the fins. The bomb release is shown from what appears to be an Avro Lancaster, a British bomber.

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Quotes

General Savage: [after Stovall is caught stowing away on a B-17] Did you get anything?
Major Stovall: My glasses were frosted over some, but I think I got a piece of one.
General Savage: Ours or theirs?

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: LONDON 1949

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Connections

References Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

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Soundtracks

Army Air Corps
(aka "army Air Force" and "Wild Blue Yonder") (uncredited)
Words and music by Robert Crawford (as Robert MacArthur Crawford)
Whistled by Robert Arthur

User Reviews

How did Gregory Peck do so many great films?

In writing reviews for IMDb, I have begun to notice just how many exceptional movies Gregory Peck did. Yes, I know he made a few stinkers (such as Days of Glory and Boys From Brazil), but look at all the great movies he did--3 of the best Westerns ever made (The Big Country, The Gunfighter and Yellow Sky), some dandy dramas (To Kill a Mockingbird, Cape Fear) and two of the best war pictures of all time (The Guns of Navarone and this movie, Twelve O'Clock High).

Twelve O'Clock High is exceptional in every way. It is very similar to the excellent movie Command Decision, but goes deeper into the emotional and psychological cost of commanding the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany. Whereas Gable is all alone and hated in Command Decision, Peck goes a step further and actually goes on bombing runs with his men--only to become deeply scarred emotionally in the process. As a result, this movie is a fantastic look at the psychological effects of war--something that only rarely gets addressed in war movies.