By
Leroy Douresseaux
September 23, 2006 - 06:28
FLYBOYS
MGM
Electric Entertainment Presents
In Association with Skydance Productions and Ingenious Film Partners
A Dean Devlin Production
DIRECTOR: Tony Bill
WRITER: Davis S. Ward; based upon the screenplay by Phil Sears and Blake Evans
PRODUCERS: Dean Devlin and Marc Frydman
Starring: James Franco, Martin Henderson, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker, David Ellison, Tyler Labine, Abdul Salis, and Philip Winchester
Opening date: Friday, September 22, 2006
Rating: MPAA – PG-13 for war action violence and some sexual content
Running time: 139 minutes
Flyboys, the first World War I aviation film in over 40 years, is inspired by the epic, courageous tale of the American young men who would become known as the legendary Lafayette Escadrille. They were ordinary boys who volunteered for the First World War looking for adventure, and in the process, they became heroes. Never before has a movie so accurately portrayed the thrill and danger of the aerial dogfights that played such an integral role in the Allied resistance.
In 1917, prior to the official entry into the war by the United States, the Allied powers of France, England and Italy were on the ropes against the German juggernaut. Some altruistic young Americans volunteered to fight alongside their counterparts in France. Some joined the infantry; others chose the Ambulance Corps. But 38 young men had a different idea: they decided to learn how to fly.
Their motivations for enlisting may have been different: Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) is searching for his purpose following the bank’s foreclosure of his family ranch, Briggs Lowry (Tyler Labine) is shamed into joining by his disciplinarian father, while African-American expatriate boxer Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis) vows to repay his debt to his adopted, racially-tolerant country. But under the command of French Captain Thenault (Jean Reno) and the leadership of American veteran Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson), these young American men took to the air with honor everyday as they risked their lives, not just in facing the formidable German aggressors, but also in boarding their newly-invented, mechanically-imperfect aircraft, which were being used in combat for the first time.
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