I just watched this for the first time. I can't believe I've never seen it before since I really l love old airplanes.

It was a great movie, with some rather unexpected scenes.

Anyone else like it?

Great movie.

Great movie.

Decades ago there used to be a restaurant in Gatlinburg Tn called Waldo Pepper’s. It was aviation themed and super cool.

Have loved that movie since I first saw it on TV circa 1985 or so.

For years it could not be bought on DVD but it finally came out some years back and I got myself a copy.

I had to go check Wikipedia to see that is was originally released in 1975. I remember growing up they used to show the movie at least once a year on one of the local independent T.V. stations. I'm not sure I've ever watched the entire movie end to end. I usually came in somewhere in the middle.

I remember loving that movie about the time it came out. I wonder if it would be as good as I recall, as I was very young when I first saw it.

The Great Waldo Pepper is a fantastic flying film. All the flight sequences were real; if I recall correctly, many of them flown by TallMantz Aviation (Frank Tallman & Paul Mantz) pilots and WWI replica planes. Tallmantz was the same epic flying circus that provided and flew iconic WWII aircraft in "Catch 22", and "Tora, Tora, Tora". I remember seeing this movie when I was a student pilot in high school, washing and fueling airplanes at the local airport in exchange for flight time. Good stuff, even today!!

Funny that I can remember the first time I saw any of it as a kid, it must have had an impression on me. Summer, 77-79 time frame, "upstate" at the family cabin. As a child and to this day there's nowhere I'd rather be. But instead of being outside playing in the fields and forrest, I was inside watching The Great Waldo Pepper on the ancient black and white TV on the one channel that came in.

I've seen it a time or two as an adult and it's always enjoyable. It's movies like this that make me think Robert Redford might be my favorite actor without me even realizing it. I don't consider myself a "big fan" of his, but there are so many movies of him that I just enjoy, as a total body of works, or going by an average like in sports, it's probably true.

i saw it as part of a double feature with "Sometimes a Great Notion." I was 10. Still two of my favorite movies.
My father was a Korean War fighter pilot (F=84G's). We were farmers, and radial engine crop-duster biplanes along with B-52 and SR-71's were a common sighting. I was infested in planes before I saw the movie....it only solidified that interest more.
Most of the events depicted in the movie actually happened, just not to any one pilot. The dogfight that Waldo claimed as his own was based on Werner Voss's last fight, while Kessler was modeled after Earnest Udet, Jimmy Doolittle actually performed the first outside loop. There was an actual grudge match dogfight between two movie stunt pilots that inspired the final scene. Great movie!

Oz
I still paraphrase Waldo's speech. "There is no way for me to truthfully say I'm the best pilot in the word. I'm the second best..."

quote:

"Sometimes a Great Notion."

Another great and probably under-rated movie. Sometimes released as Never Give An Inch.

I watched this last night. Good movie and acting.

Watched it yesterday afternoon... great film work for sure. Bo Swenson was great and the interesting thing was the cameo by a young adult Kurt Russel near the end.



Netflix cuts the final credits and so I can't clarify this.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Blume9mm, September 23, 2023 10:18 AM