Clevercell Very disappointing...

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

kfo9494 For whatever reason, this film had slipped pass me and I was viewing this movie for the first time. And I have to say that I was very entertained by most of the scenes, especially the ones involving Steve McQueen and his not-so-normal view about war. It was a pleasant surprised as I got caught up in the story and followed the players right to the end of the film. In fact, the relationships with the flying crew were so well done, that I was somewhat disappointed when they threw in a female love interest taking the story into an even more irrational mind-set of our main player, Buzz Rickson.A written summary of this movie will not do the film justice. A person really has to view the production in order to see the development of characters and the quirky plot that is laid out with its slight references to the line between sane and insanity. Steve McQueen gives an excellent performance as the viewer is caught up in the action of the B-17 crew leader that has a fondness for this horrible situation called war. One cannot wait until the next air- raid to see how character is going to react to the crisis and also to each other.At times, the movie did get a bit slow but overall an entertaining watch. A movie that most people will not be disappoint in viewing.

Edgar Soberon Torchia When the old-fashioned melodrama «The War Lover» premiered in 1962 it did not impress anyone. The protagonist Buzz Rickson (a convincing unpleasant performance by Steve McQueen), a psychopathic American pilot, haughty and pedantic, hardly aroused sympathy among mass audiences, other than military and civilian population who might have shared with him his obsession with war, macho supremacy or boastful bragging. This aspect of Rickson only finds objection and disgust in Daphne Caldwell (Shirley Anne Field), a pacifist British girl who defends opposite values , which she expresses in her dialogues with Ed Bolland (Robert Wagner), Rickson's co-pilot. The script unfortunately reduces Daphne to a "war girl" that falls in love with Bolland, who just wants to have a good time, unlike Rickson, who is obsessed with her, but keeps a distance. I am amazed when I see these war films that exalt death, without taking a moment to think that, almost as a rule, every war usually responds to economic interests, concealed by political motives. I feel they are almost horror movies, preparing us for the death of the characters in a sinister conflagration. Similarly, they bother me even more when I know that they are propaganda vehicles that sell the image of an army - in this case, foreign and distant from the events that motivate the war - and overlooks the real drama of local human beings who have to endure so much tragedy. Richard Addinsell provides such a pompous score to «The War Lover» that it makes you think you are watching a major historical event. But no. It is a romantic-war melodrama, with a mad soldier leading the events and making propaganda for his army, in those days when that institution was intervening in the genocidal war of Vietnam and when England was producing the progressive "free cinema", to which this film is completely alien. Avoid.

wmarkley "The War Lover" isn't the greatest movie ever made, but it has some very good elements. The scenes of airmen inside B-17 bombers are excellent, with very good views of flight uniforms, equipment, flying instruments and the cramped conditions. The fearful aspects of aerial combat are also shown quite effectively. Some of the sound effects are muffled, but the general experience of flying on bombing missions over enemy territory is well portrayed.Steve McQueen gives an excellent performance. While his character "Buzz" Rickson is often arrogant and amoral, McQueen is mesmerizing. He also nicely shows how Rickson has moments of compassion towards others. Its good to see a character like Rickson depicted in a way that's not completely black-and-white. Robert Wagner does a very good job as McQueen's co-pilot, a man with more decency and quiet character than Rickson, but who is also flawed like all of us. Unfortunately, while Shirley Anne Field is beautiful and shows some charm, she does a poor job of acting."The War Lover" is especially good at showing the toll of war, and how men of various characters and backgrounds are thrown together in the military. And it is very frank about the sexual promiscuity that is often a part of war. While the movie effectively shows these things, it does so in ways that are not as explicit as many movies of today might do.The editing of "The War Lover" is quite poor at times, with a choppy quality, and minor characters sometimes pop up here and there in a confusing way. Overall, though, the film is very worthwhile for viewers who are interested in character studies and war movies.

Davido-2 The producers of this movie were lucky that black&white was still just possible for a cinematic release. This meant they could reuse a lot of newsreel footage although the joins do show.In the main the special effects are pretty good. The back projection of cockpit shots is believable. The real flying sequences are fantastic, particularly when Rickson "McQueen" buzzes the airfield in his Flying Fortress. The stunt pilot must have been pretty good.The final mission gives you an idea of what it was like to fly a heavy bomber. In part there is the adrenalin of shooting at enemy fighters but on the other hand the ever present risk of death. The Fortress looked like a state of the art bomber with its powered lower gun position – obviously the Star War's Millennium Falcon was based in part on the Fort.What of the movie? We don't find out much about McQueen. Shirley Anne-Field has an accent so posh even the Queen of England would sound like an pleb. Interesting that she beds a young and suave looking Wagner on the first date although the between the sheets action is kept to Field doing up her stockings while wearing a nightie. The moral of the film is possibly "don't put out on the first date"! Although British war girls did have the reputation of Teflon coated knicker elastic where Americans were concerned.The good thing with these old movies is spotting the bit-part players. The recently deceased Ed Bishop, who, apart from cult TV favorite UFO, made a career as a bit-part Yank and… who would believe it… Michael Crawford as the gunner, long before his madcap antics on SMDHE. Burt Kwouk (bit part Chinese – you would have thought that after 77 years he would have lost the accent !) even gets an unaccredited speaking role.