10 Comments

1. 

   tyrianacacia from United States
   22 Jan 2012, 11:15 pm

   This movie is the best production of the first A-bomb attack. ThoughHollywood produce another shortly after the war and despite the cast,Brian Donlevy, as General Groves, and Robert Walker it was highlyfictional.My late uncle served with Colonel Tibbits in the 509th and hesaid that Robert Taylor captured the colonel exactly. James Witmore isvery effective as the security officer whose task is as difficult asTaylor's. The film captures the enormity of the task of developing theA-Bomb in almost total secrecy from the public and the enemy.Thegrimness of this is clearly shown throughout the movie. There is verylittle flag-waving in this picture and one does not fail to realizethat the bombing was necessary to prevent a greater loss of life if theJapanese homeland was invaded.

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2. 

   bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York
   22 Jan 2012, 11:15 pm

   The actual development of the atomic bomb was documented in films likeThe Beginning or the End and in Fat Man and Little Boy. Above andBeyond concentrates on the pilot of the B-29 that actually did thedeed.
   
   Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker play Colonel and Mrs. Paul Tibbettswho’s marriage was put under an incredible strain due to the securitysurrounding his assignment. Taylor was between his marriages to BarbaraStanwyck and Ursula Thiess and was involved with Parker at the timeAbove and Beyond was being filmed. Probably that helped a lot duringthe romantic interludes in the film.
   
   Because this film sticks to the personal story of the Tibbetts marriageand avoids all the debate about the use of the atomic bomb, it stillholds up well for today’s audience.
   
   In the supporting cast I would have to single out James Whitmore whoplays the security head at Wendover field where Tibbetts is trainingthe potential crew for the mission as the most outstanding. He’svirtually the only one Taylor can bare his stoic soul to with theassignment he has.
   
   Even with the debate over Hiroshima still raging I would stillrecommend viewing this film.

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3. 

   Tom Martin from Lansing, Michigan
   22 Jan 2012, 11:15 pm

   This film tells the story of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. PilotTibbets is played by Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker portrays his wife.The rest of the cast includes a bunch familiar faces, but theperformancesare standard. Taylor does a particularly good job as the officertormentedby the morality of his task and the disintegration of hismarriage.
   
   This film has some good moments. One of them is uncharacteristicallyhumorous. The colonel comes home one afternoon to hear sounds from thekitchen. His wife tells him that she has found someone to fix theplumbing."Who?", enquires Taylor. "One of the sanitary engineers", she says,referring to the men in white coats she pointed out to her husband upontheir arrival. The plumber turns out to be one of the scientists with theManhattan Project. "He is very nice," she says, "but he’s verysmart."
   
   Another powerful moment is when the "Enola Gay" drops the bomb onHiroshima.There is one word of dialogue in this scene. Taylor looks at themushroomcloud and says "God." The enormity of this moment does not need words,andthe film delivers.
   
   The film makes a sincere effort to deal with the morality of the bomb. Inone scene the general questions Tibbets’ feelings about his mission. If Iwasn’t concerned about what I’m about to do he says I wouldn’t be much ofaman. After dropping the bomb, he angrily responds to a reporter’squestionabout how he feels about killing 80,000 people by saying "How do yourreader’s feel?" When his wife hears what he has done she retreats to herroom in silence, ignoring the eager reporters.
   
   I found the scene in which Tibbets is selected for his mission to beproblematic. It is hard to buy in to the premise that an officer would berewarded for insubordination by a top-secret assignment.
   
   This film was a bit too long, but it is well worth watching. It may notbefun to watch the story of the atom bomb, but it is a story that deservedtobe told. The movie does a credible job with it and should be recognizedforthat.

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4. 

   Alan Rosenberg from Toronto, Canada
   22 Jan 2012, 11:15 pm

   Considering that "Above and Beyond" was made during the height of thehysteria now known as McCarthyism, one would have expected a jingoisticflag-waver out of Hollywood. Instead, surprisingly, the screenplay aswritten allows the Paul Tibbets character (Robert Taylor) the opportunitytoregister a variety of emotions, in a most realistic and compellingperformance.
   
   This is ironic, seeing as the real Tibbets, decades after the event (thebombing of Hiroshima), is to this day unrepentant. Not to criticize hisposition in any way, because that was a different time and place, and it’sTibbets’ view that he had a job to do, and the morality of it all, he hasstated, is best debated by others.
   
   But the film is all the more compelling because of the ambivalence writteninto the Tibbets character, and Taylor’s especially fine work. There areuniformly strong performances throughout the cast, notably those ofEleanorParker (Lucy Tibbets), James Whitmore (the security officer) and LarryKeating (General Brent).
   
   Another surprise: the team of Melvin Frank and Norman Panama (screenplay,direction) had been best known for their Bob Hope comedies, when undercontract at Paramount. Their first dramatic effort was "Above andBeyond,"and they acquitted themselves admirably.
   
   Final note: the musical score by Hugo Friedhofer is immensely satisfying:stirring in an emotional sense, with just a touch of, but not too much of,militaristic flavor.
   
   Dore Schary, a Democrat, had succeeded fervent Republican Louis B. MayeratMGM in 1951, and had encouraged the production of "Above and Beyond." Onewonders if (a) the film would have been made at all on Mayer’s watch, and(b) if it had, would it have been more of a cornball, John Wayne-typeflag-waver. Thankfully, those questions are moot. "Above and Beyond" isastirring, finely-crafted film. I would stress again the unusual nature ofthe protaganist’s ambivalence as portrayed in a film made during a verysensitive time in America’s history.

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5. 

   mamalv from United States
   22 Jan 2012, 11:15 pm

   I just finished watching "Above and Beyond" and could not believe whata wonderful overlooked film this is. Robert Taylor as Col. Paul Tibbetsis amazing. What a horrible job he had to do, to drop the atomic bombon Hiroshima ending World War Two. His life was nearly destroyed bythis call to duty. Eleanor Parker is great as his wife, Lucey. Sheloves him, they have two children, and there life seems idyllic, untilhe is given this horrible task. Top secret, no talking, no telling, andcertainly no way out. Duty comes before anything even the love of hiswife and his children. He becomes sullen, withdrawn, and unable to giveany affection to her, and in the pursuit of duty almost loseseverything that means anything to him. James Whitmore is the aide thathas to keep all together and his performance is one of restraint andconviction. I don’t get why Taylor was always overlooked by theAcademy, first for "Johnny Eager" then for "Waterloo Bridge" and thenat the height of his maturity, "Above and Beyond." What a insult tothis remarkable performer to never get his due as an excellent actor.This film gives us a look at the personal devastation of the privatePaul Tibbets, and somehow we can understand that if the bomb had notbeen dropped, many more lives would have been lost. A great film, withinsight and daring.

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6. 

   planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida
   22 Jan 2012, 11:15 pm

   Despite my love for aviation films, I somehow never got around toseeing "Above and Beyond" until now. Much of this is because although Ilike airplane films, I incorrectly assumed that this movie wouldbasically be a by the numbers and very dull documentary about thedropping of the first atomic bomb. Seeing them recreate this somewhatmundane process depressed me and I only got around to seeing it finallybecause the film starred Robert Taylor–an exceptional actor.Fortunately, my assumptions about the film were mostly wrong–and itwas a very good retelling of this true story.
   
   I think the biggest reason I liked "Above and Beyond" is because itdoes NOT show as much of the technical aspects as I thought it would.Instead, it focused a lot of the film on the personal toll the projecttook on its commander, Col. Tibbets. Now this is NOT the toll on himafter the dropping of the first A-bomb (he actually seemed to have noproblems with this from everything I've read–saying that it DID helpend the war)–but how the secrecy demands of the project took a majortoll on the Colonel's marriage. I had just assumed, incorrectly, thatTibbets was some guy chosen at the last minute to command this missionand that he was already serving in the Pacific. Instead, he was pickedlong before and headed an unit in Utah that spent many, many monthsworking out the specifics of the bombing. The security for all thissurprised me–as I'd just assumed this was only for the ManhattanProject itself.
   
   Interesting, well-written and acted, this is a nice historical piecethat is both fascinating and entertaining. I was particularly impressedby the recreation of the atomic bomb drop from the point of view of thecrew as it happened–it was well done and believable. The onlynegative, if there is one, is that the film really doesn't even mentionthe second bomb dropped a few days later–a bit on an odd omission. Iguess being second doesn't hold a lot of interest to most folks.

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7. 

   wlb from Sacramento CA
   22 Jan 2012, 11:15 pm

   I knew of Wendover Airbase long before seeing this movie. Although themovie infers that Tibbets picked the field for its isolation (true) itwas also where they taught heavy bomber crews during WW2. So the fieldhardly had to be developed for the special mission of the 509th.
   
   And today it has another famous reason – it is the site of many moviescenes, such as Independence Day and ConAir.
   
   In fact, when I went to visit the site – right on the Utah-Navadaborder, they were filming ConAir.
   
   Today all one sees as a reminder of its importance are the old concretefoundations of the many wooden buildings – with signs telling you whateach 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 orTinian 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.

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8. 

   edwagreen from United States
   22 Jan 2012, 11:15 pm

   Highest rating with Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker giving phenomenalperformances, perhaps the best ever in both of their careers.
   
   After he has been chosen to test pilot the B-29 bomber, Taylor is soaffected by his work in the preparation of dropping the atomic bomb onJapan, that he becomes intolerable to live with and is extremely harshwith all those under his command. He had no choice as the objective ofhis work obviously had to remain top secret.
   
   This is definitely a superior story of the human spirit in triumph.
   
   Taylor is aided by an excellent supporting cast headed by Larry Gates,Larry Keating and the recently departed James Whitmore.
   
   The emotional pain of Taylor is sincerely etched in his face in anunforgettable performance.

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9. 

   sol from Brooklyn NY USA
   22 Jan 2012, 11:15 pm

   Taking off in the early morning hours of August 6, 1945 on the giantB-29 air base in Tinian in the Mariana Islands the super-fortress"Enola Gay" is on a secret mission to end the Second World War, and endit with a bang.
   
   Within sight of it's target the two escort bombers along the "EnolaGay" peal off from formation and head home as it flies over theJapanese port city of Hiroshima. At exactly 8:15 AM the Enola Gay dropsa uranium based Atomic Bomb that explodes with an blinding air-burst,some 1,600 feet above ground zero, wiping out the city and 100,000 ofit's inhabitants in less then a minute. With another Atomic bombing ofthe Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later the war in the Pacificas well as WWII ended with the Japanese government surrenderingunconditionally to the allies.
   
   The movie "Above and Beyond" reconstructs the development of the AtomicBomb as well as the means to deliver it, the B-29 bomber. It goes backto 1943 in North Africa where Let.Col. Paul Tibbets, Robert Taylor, issecretly chosen by the top military brass in the Pentagon to be the manto fly the B-29 that's to drop the bomb.
   
   Tibbets a maverick in his dislike of his superiors in sending him andhis fellow pilots out on suicide missions against the Germans inTunisia is just the man that their looking for to perfect the flying ofthe new giant B-29 bomber. The super-fortress is considered to be adeath trap at the time by USAAF pilots but was the only plane capableof carrying a 9,700 pound Atomic device that if dropped andsuccessfully detonated ,on either Germany or Japan, could very well endthe war
   
   Back in the states at Wendover AFB in Utah Tibbets is told by hisfriend and commander of the base Maj. Gen. Vernon C. Brent, LarryKeating, what his mission is to be and to keep it secret not only fromhis fellow airmen but also his wife Lucey, Eleanor Parker. This causesso much tension between the two that it almost wrecks their marriage.The sweet and lovable Tibbets quickly becomes an unfeeling robot to hiswife and two young children overnight. Worst of all is that Tibbets hasto keep his feelings, about being the one to drop the bomb, to himselfwhich almost leads him to have a breakdown.
   
   The movie goes on with the Atomic Bomb being perfected at the LosAlamos Manhattan Project army base in New Mexico and with the secretbut successful testing of the bomb in the New Mexican desert outside ofAlamogordo a town with a name eerily similar to Valley of Armageddon inthe Bible, where the last great war is to be fought between Good andEvil, on July 16, 1945. After the successful Atomic Bomb testingTibbets and his B-29 crew are then flow to the Tinian island B-29 airbase to write the final chapter of the Second World War.
   
   Tense filled and extremely accurate movie about the dropping of theAtomic Bomb on Hiroshima, were actually shown what the Atomic Bomblooks like and told how it works in the film. Robert Taylor gives oneof his best performances as Lt.Col, and later full Col, Paul Tibbets aswe see him overcome his fear and what seems guilt in piloting the B-29super-fortress "Enola Gay",named after his mom Enola Gay Tibbets.Flying some 2,000 miles and six hours to drop a bomb that wouldeventually kill more people then almost any of the 1,000 plane raids,with the possible exception of the allied 1945 Valentine Day firebombing of the German city of Dresden, on Japan or Germany during WWIIchanged Co. Tibbits life forever.
   
   Eleanor Parker as Let.Col Tibbets' pretty and long suffering wife Luceyis extremely effective in her concern for her husband who seemed tohave turned into an unfeeling zombie since he was assigned to thesecret Wendover AFB. Lucy later realizes, after the announcement of thedropping of the A Bomb and Tibbets being the pilot of the B-29 thatdropped it,why her husband acted that way to her and his friends.Tibbets had to keep all that about his secret mission over Japan insidehim which ate him up alive.
   
   "Above and Beyond" is unusually even-handed in it's depicting of thedevastating Atomic Bombings of Japan. The films unflinching anti-warand anti-nuke message, for as movie made at the hight of the Cold andKorean War back in 1952, seen now has all the impact and effect on it'saudience as it did back then.
   
   P.S it should be noted that the ultra-secret 509th Atomic Bomb Group,the only Atomic Bomb unit of any air force on earth at the time, thatCol. Tibbets Atomic Bomb fitted B-29 "Enola Gay" was part of made thenews again two years later. The very same 509th was involved in theJuly 1947 "Roswell Incident" where there was a supposedly governmentcover up of an alien controlled spaceship that crashed in that samedesert where the testing of the first Atomic Bomb took place place inthe summer of 1945!

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10. 

    Eric Chapman (caspar_h@yahoo.com) from Pittsburgh, PA
    22 Jan 2012, 11:15 pm

    Real good work. Its straight ahead, no frills film-making had me in itsgrip every step of the way. Just a good old-fashioned major studio Apicture; it’s like tooling around in a luxury car. And I don’t care whatanybody says – Robert Taylor was a fine actor. I’ve seen a number of hisfilms now and he hasn’t given a bad performance yet. It is a taddisconcerting to have Mr. McGoo playing General Curtis LeMay, but it’s asmall part and I let it slide.

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