I saw The Great Waldo Pepper in its first theatrical release back in 1975. The story revolves around Waldo Pepper, a flight instructor from the post-Word War I era, who along with his buddies have a passion for stunt flying. Desperate for money, they preform numerous barnstorming stunts at various air-shows, such as Wing Walking, sometimes with tragic results. There are two noted aviation deaths in this movie, one in particular at a county fair, that is very painful to watch.
The cinematography is stunning. Robert Redford as Waldo Pepper, preformed all of his own stunts for the movie. Actual aviation and stunt pilots assisted in the production of the film with real aircraft used. There are no models or computer generated sequences of any kind in this movie. The result is a very realistic experience.
The problem with TGWP seems to be an apathetic approach that many of the characters have when a tragic circumstance occurs in the film. Although Waldo shows great emotion in the tragic air-show accident where his friend burns to death in a haunting scene that you will remember for the rest of your life, there are many quick shifts in the movie where the attitude becomes "business as usual" where "What are we going to do about our careers?" becomes more important than a person's life. There's a certain degree of arrogance about Waldo's character. But this is not in regards to how Redford plays him. Maybe the attitude of barnstorming pilots at the time was to become apathetic to tragic death, because they just accepted the risks associated with stunt flying and barnstorming as a way of life.
The film sputters a bit in the second half with the Hollywood stunt sequences after Waldo is grounded by the aviation authorities following a girl's tragic wing-walking death. The ending is memorable. But there seems to be something missing from The Great Waldo Pepper to make it "great." However, it is still strong enough to be "good." One precaution is that very small children may have some problems with the death scenes.
The cinematography is stunning. Robert Redford as Waldo Pepper, preformed all of his own stunts for the movie. Actual aviation and stunt pilots assisted in the production of the film with real aircraft used. There are no models or computer generated sequences of any kind in this movie. The result is a very realistic experience.
The problem with TGWP seems to be an apathetic approach that many of the characters have when a tragic circumstance occurs in the film. Although Waldo shows great emotion in the tragic air-show accident where his friend burns to death in a haunting scene that you will remember for the rest of your life, there are many quick shifts in the movie where the attitude becomes "business as usual" where "What are we going to do about our careers?" becomes more important than a person's life. There's a certain degree of arrogance about Waldo's character. But this is not in regards to how Redford plays him. Maybe the attitude of barnstorming pilots at the time was to become apathetic to tragic death, because they just accepted the risks associated with stunt flying and barnstorming as a way of life.
The film sputters a bit in the second half with the Hollywood stunt sequences after Waldo is grounded by the aviation authorities following a girl's tragic wing-walking death. The ending is memorable. But there seems to be something missing from The Great Waldo Pepper to make it "great." However, it is still strong enough to be "good." One precaution is that very small children may have some problems with the death scenes.