In preparation for our spring break trip I've been watching war movies with the boys. Nothing too intense, and more weighted toward the Pacific theater, but they've gotten interest in the bomber war, so we've done that as well. Collin has usually skipped these, but Parker and Grayson have done most.
First up a few weeks back was Pearl Harbor and Midway so they understood the arc from prewar through Pearl Harbor. The a couple of weeks back we spent Friday night watching Memphis Belle, which was the worst bunch of war movie cliches I have ever seen. I had forgotten it was that bad. Then it was U-571 and The Hunt for Red October since Parker was kind of into submarines. Grayson has gotten some fixation of P-51's from somewhere (Daddy would have loved that - it was always his favorite plane and after listening to two books about it, I now understand why) so he, Jim and I went to see Red Tails. While the special effects of Mustangs and B-17s were better than I thought, the movie itself was abysmal. Cliche after cliche and wooden performance after cliche. The pilots never stopped the wisecracking in the cockpit during combat, and I'm not talking an occasional one while under intense stress - it was wisecracking instead of being under stress. Band of Brothers this was not. Terrible, terrible script.
But we loved watching the planes, and the story deserved better. (I broight Grayson and Parker P-51 and B-17 models from a trip to Austin Monday, so they're thrilled. I also got vintage Titanic, Memphis Belle B-17 and Enterprise (CV-6) models, so I'm thrilled).
Then a week later I pulled up the better version of a B-17 story, the episode The Mission from Stephen Spielberg's 1986 Amazing Stories. I liked it even better now.
Then last night after satisfying Parker's Titanic foc by watching the extended version of Ghosts From The Abyss, I put on the DVD of the 1944 documentary The Fighting Lady about the Yorktown in the Pacific War and they actually sat through it without complaining. Parker actually watched a documentary with me this morning about an expedition to the Titanic's sister ship Britannic, sunk in 400 feet of water off Kea in Greece, but as it wasn't primarily about the war, it really doesn't count. (He did express some outrage that we had not taken him diving on the wreck of the Britannic last summer when we were in Greece).
If nothing else, it does give me a little company in the workshop when I'm working on a model - at present Parker's 1/720 Titanic and Collin's 1/600 Enterprise (the Aurora classic). I'll get much more company when I actually start working on the old Revell Memphis Belle B-17. I built one growing up and it was always a favorite.