Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

wlb I knew of Wendover Airbase long before seeing this movie. Although the movie infers that Tibbets picked the field for its isolation (true) it was also where they taught heavy bomber crews during WW2. So the field hardly had to be developed for the special mission of the 509th.And today it has another famous reason - it is the site of many movie scenes, such as Independence Day and ConAir.In fact, when I went to visit the site - right on the Utah-Navada border, they were filming ConAir.Today all one sees as a reminder of its importance are the old concrete foundations of the many wooden buildings - with signs telling you what each building's purpose was.But to the movie - I know that the main points were factually correct - right down to the flight time a B29 required flying from Saipan or Tinian to Japan - and back.14 hours.It seems that the secrecy at this base was as stringent as Los Alamos, where the Bomb was developed.Besides being an entertaining movie it is educational.

mamalv I just finished watching "Above and Beyond" and could not believe what a wonderful overlooked film this is. Robert Taylor as Col. Paul Tibbets is amazing. What a horrible job he had to do, to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima ending World War Two. His life was nearly destroyed by this call to duty. Eleanor Parker is great as his wife, Lucey. She loves him, they have two children, and there life seems idyllic, until he is given this horrible task. Top secret, no talking, no telling, and certainly no way out. Duty comes before anything even the love of his wife and his children. He becomes sullen, withdrawn, and unable to give any affection to her, and in the pursuit of duty almost loses everything that means anything to him. James Whitmore is the aide that has to keep all together and his performance is one of restraint and conviction. I don't get why Taylor was always overlooked by the Academy, first for "Johnny Eager" then for "Waterloo Bridge" and then at the height of his maturity, "Above and Beyond." What a insult to this remarkable performer to never get his due as an excellent actor. This film gives us a look at the personal devastation of the private Paul Tibbets, and somehow we can understand that if the bomb had not been dropped, many more lives would have been lost. A great film, with insight and daring.

dickcl I recently spoke with Paul Tibbets and asked him about this movie. He was complementary about the movie and felt it fairly well represented the facts. Some names were changed to protect the guilty.Within the context of early black & white, 1950s movies, this one was entertaining in spite of typical mediocre acting by both leading characters--not unusual for the time. If one is interested in the project that led up to the bombing of Heroshima and the bombing itself, this is an easy way learn out how it happened.

Slim-4 This film tells the story of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Pilot Tibbets is played by Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker portrays his wife. The rest of the cast includes a bunch familiar faces, but the performances are standard. Taylor does a particularly good job as the officer tormented by the morality of his task and the disintegration of his marriage.This film has some good moments. One of them is uncharacteristically humorous. The colonel comes home one afternoon to hear sounds from the kitchen. His wife tells him that she has found someone to fix the plumbing. "Who?", enquires Taylor. "One of the sanitary engineers", she says, referring to the men in white coats she pointed out to her husband upon their arrival. The plumber turns out to be one of the scientists with the Manhattan Project. "He is very nice," she says, "but he's very smart."Another powerful moment is when the "Enola Gay" drops the bomb on Hiroshima. There is one word of dialogue in this scene. Taylor looks at the mushroom cloud and says "God." The enormity of this moment does not need words, and the film delivers.The film makes a sincere effort to deal with the morality of the bomb. In one scene the general questions Tibbets' feelings about his mission. If I wasn't concerned about what I'm about to do he says I wouldn't be much of a man. After dropping the bomb, he angrily responds to a reporter's question about how he feels about killing 80,000 people by saying "How do your reader's feel?" When his wife hears what he has done she retreats to her room in silence, ignoring the eager reporters.I found the scene in which Tibbets is selected for his mission to be problematic. It is hard to buy in to the premise that an officer would be rewarded for insubordination by a top-secret assignment.This film was a bit too long, but it is well worth watching. It may not be fun to watch the story of the atom bomb, but it is a story that deserved to be told. The movie does a credible job with it and should be recognized for that.