Red Tails (2012)

A crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard.

Director:

Anthony Hemingway

Writers:

John Ridley (story), John Ridley (screenplay)

Stars:

Cuba Gooding Jr., Gerald McRaney, David Oyelowo

2 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Terrence Howard	...	Colonel A.J. Bullard
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Major Emanuelle Stance
Nate Parker	...	Marty 'Easy' Julian
David Oyelowo	...	Joe 'Lightning' Little
Tristan Mack Wilds	...	Ray 'Junior' Gannon (as Tristan Wilds)
Ne-Yo	...	Andrew 'Smokey' Salem
Elijah Kelley	...	Samuel 'Joker' George
Marcus T. Paulk	...	David 'Deke' Watkins
Leslie Odom Jr.	...	Declan 'Winky' Hall
Michael B. Jordan	...	Maurice Wilson
Kevin Phillips	...	Leon 'Neon' Edwards
Andre Royo	...	Antwan 'Coffee' Coleman
Method Man	...	Sticks (as Cliff Smith)
Bryan Cranston	...	Colonel William Mortamus
Lee Tergesen	...	Colonel Jack Tomlinson

Storyline

Italy, 1944. As the war takes its toll on Allied forces in Europe, a squadron of black pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen are finally given the chance to prove themselves in the sky - even as they battle discrimination on the ground. It's a tribute to the unsung heroes who rose above extraordinary challenges and ultimately soared into history.

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Plot Keywords:

world war two | pseudohistory | tuskegee airmen | italy | battle | 

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Taglines:

High-Octane Action and Daring Dogfights!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sequences of war violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian German

Release Date:

20 January 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Escuadrón Rojo

Filming Locations:

Croatia

Box Office

Budget:

$58,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,782,154, 22 January 2012, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$49,876,377

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$50,365,498

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Lucasfilm, Pakt Media

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital Auro 11.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Anthony Hemingway is a longtime "Star Wars" fan. According to him, when he first met George Lucas, he was so excited that he awkwardly said "May the force be with you" which he regrets. When Lucas later hired him, he was so overwhelmed that he cried.

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Goofs

The P-51s used in the film were -D variants, as they have the distinctive bubble canopy. However, in reality the Tuskegee Airmen used P-51 C variants, which did not have the bubble canopy.

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Quotes

Colonel A.J. Bullard: Politics is the art of postponing a decision until it is no longer relevant.

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Connections

Featured in Lost in Adaptation: Die Hard (2015)

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Soundtracks

Moods in Brass
Performed by Robert Valentino
Courtesy of Valentino/Bug Music

User Reviews

Bad joke

After ten minutes I began to tell myself... this can't be it. I continued watching... it was it. A bad joke, a nightmare, rubbish. You know the constant sensation and the feeling that something is really wrong... I don't have that often with films... but this one managed. How I managed not to break it off and leave it be is something I still can't explain.

From the first to the last dialog... nonsense, flat, cheese, even stupid, not funny at all, even when they searched fun. The characters... why bother to play? How it is possible, that good actors make such movies will always astonish me. The story... there are probably a lot of teenagers writing better stories. An accumulation of stereotypes. Blacks are cool, fun, indisciplined, all buds, unbreakable, superheroes. The white pilots are mean, racists. The Germans are just the incarnation of robotic evil... or something like that. Realism... no way! Nothing was believable... nor the actions, nor the acting...

Lamentably it is not a film to forget easily... horrid films seldom are... because you are constantly reminded how stupid you were to have made the mistakes of believing it was something to see and then actually watching it till the end.