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The Blue Max

The Blue Max
BlueMax poster.jpg
original poster by Frank McCarthy
Directed by John Guillermin
Produced by Christian Ferry
Written by Novel:
1964 by Jack D. Hunter
Adaptation:
Ben Barzman
Basilio Franchina
Screenplay:
David Pursall
Jack Seddon
Gerald Hanley
Starring George Peppard
James Mason
Ursula Andress
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography Douglas Slocombe
Edited by Max Benedict
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
21 June 1966
Running time
156 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget $5 million
Box office $16,151,612

The Blue Max is a 1966 British war film in DeLuxe Color and filmed in CinemaScope, about a German fighter pilot on the Western Front during World War I. It was directed by John Guillermin, stars George Peppard, James Mason and Ursula Andress, and features Karl Michael Vogler and Jeremy Kemp. The screenplay was written by David Pursall, Jack Seddon, and Gerald Hanley, based on the novel of the same name by Jack D. Hunter as adapted by Ben Barzman and Basilio Franchina.

In contrast to films that romanticize the Flying Aces of the Great War, the protagonist of The Blue Max is depicted as a man with no conscience, no empathy, and no feelings for anyone but himself. The film also explores the decline of chivalry and the advent of total war. Furthermore, in its depiction of a conflict between an amoral officer promoted from the ranks and a principled member of the officer class, The Blue Max is similar to the 1960 film Tunes of Glory.

German Corporal Bruno Stachel (George Peppard) leaves the fighting in the trenches to become an officer and fighter pilot in the German Army Air Service. Joining a squadron in spring 1918, he sets his sights on winning Germany's highest medal for valor, the Blue Max, for which he must shoot down 20 aircraft.

Of middle class origins, Lieutenant Bruno Stachel considers himself better than the aristocratic pilots in his new fighter squadron and sets out to prove it. Meanwhile, Willi von Klugermann (Jeremy Kemp), takes him under his wing. Their commanding officer, Hauptmann Otto Heidemann (Karl Michael Vogler) is an aristocratic officer whose belief in chivalry and the laws and customs of war conflict with Stachel's contempt for them.


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