Above
Cats: True Story|“Tell me Colonel Tibbets, how do you feel?” asks a reporter. � “How do you think I feel” is the terse and incredulous response from Colonel Paul Tibbets (Robert Taylor). Colonel Tibbets has just come back from one of history’s most famous flights, and events, ever.� Colonel Tibbets was the pilot of the Enola Gay, the B 29 that dropped the atomic bomb on
The B 29 was not the largest plane built during World War Two but it was designed to win the war.� The B 29 is the basis for all commercial aircraft since World War Two.� It was the only pressurized plane used during war. � It had a range of close to 4000 miles and flew higher than any other aircraft of it’s time.� It was also the most advanced and complicated plane of it’s time as well.� As these behemoths began rolling off the assembly line, they had to be modified; all the bugs had to be worked out.� Enter Colonel Paul Tibbets,
After distinguishing himself as a pilot of a B 17 in the European front, Colonel Tibbets is called back to the
The pressures of the job and then the new burden of being chosen as the guy who will drop the atomic bomb takes it’s toll on the Tibbets’s marriage. � He cannot discuss any of what he has been working on with any body, including his wife.� Ultimately, as the time to depart for the south Pacific air base from which Colonel Tibbets will leave on his historic mission draws near, the Tbbets separate.� The strains are just too great.� Paul Tibbets is fully aware of what will happen when he drops the bomb.� Although the action is rationalized as ultimately saving lives by ending the war immediately, it is still a heavy burden.
The picture is narrated by Mrs. Tibbets (Eleanor Parker), the story told in flashback as she awaits the arrival of Colonel Tibbets plane.� She is also waiting to see if there is any love left between them and can their marriage be salvaged. I ain’t gonna say but the picture is worth the trip.�
I remember my first reaction to the picture when it came out finally on VHS years ago.� I felt that it had a slight bent to the left.� It was in no way a jingoistic picture.� What helped that is the movie was made in 1952.� There was a little distance between the war and the release of this picture and that a great deal of information about the mission and the B 29 had become declassified.� The B 29 had become obsolete very quickly after the war with the coming of the jet age so it’s specialness had worn off. � The portrayal of what can happen to marriage and a human being when faced with these types of burdens is very realistically done; war is not healthy for marriages, people’s emotional wellbeing and other living things.� When Colonel Tibbets responds to the reporters question, you can see and feel the anger at such a query. � The fierceness of his response really surprised me when I first saw this picture.� His response makes the character and the picture along with it, so much more believable.� This movie is safe for the kids, lots of air plane stuff and it is a good history lesson.� This was definitely a
