Tuskegee Airmen Movie

Tuskegee Airmen Movie, This week’s opening of Red Tails marks an important victory in the film industry. For starters, Hollywood previously rejected George Lucas’ pitch for making this movie about the “Tuskegee Airmen” (who fought in the segregated U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII) because of the script’s all-black cast. Yet, after this week’s opening success, the film found abundant support from fans-especially from those who lived through the real story behind the film.

The movie, directed by Anthony Hemingway, is set in the 1940s. The film highlights a distinct divide between the white and black military members. A group of black pilots are zealous to get in on the action, and they decide to use old, reject planes to jump into the battle against Germany.

Instead of the Customary Red Carpet Celebrity Entrance, Tuskagee Airmen Vets Were Welcomed to Wednesday’s LA Film Screening with Cheers

One might assume that, at the start of the anticipated screening, the film’s stars (Cuba Gooding Jr. and Torrence Howard) would hit the red carpet amidst dazzling camera flashes. But rather, the spotlight was on the entrances of the U.S. Army Air Corps veterans, escorted by young ROTC cadets at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza theater on Wednesday night.

And then, similar gestures of veteran honor took place across America on Friday’s opening night, affirming that the film is, potentially, a successful, historical work.

Duluth’s Sold-Out Screening on Jan. 20 Proved a Success with Tuskagee Airman, Joe Gomer

Joe Gomer flew 68 missions with the U.S. Army Air Corps, and he received a standing ovation after the lights went up at Friday’s opening night of Red Tails in Duluth, MN.

Gomer prefaced his review of the film with a comparison: Back then, “our aircraft weren’t as shiny, and living conditions weren’t that good.” But ultimately, he concluded, “It was an excellent movie. I really enjoyed it,” quoted Duluth News Tribune.

Gomer lost all of his tent-mates in the war-a harsh and life-changing reality.

Although Red Tails is a difficult story to digest, it’s also a story of heart and courage that should be told, especially for the sake of black history. Gomer told the Duluth Tribune that the film was “as close as you can get to the truth for the public.”

Hollywood said, “We don’t know how to market a movie like this.”

At least, that’s how George Lucas told the back-story in his interview on The Daily Show earlier this month (Jan. 9). “There’s no major white roles in it at all,” George explained to Jon Stuart. “I showed it to all of them [in Hollywood] and they said no.”

Such a response was surely deflating, but Lucas moved on without Hollywood’s financial support towards his $58 million budgeting needs-far exceeding the costs of a typical African-American movie, according to The Huffington Post.

Lucas explained to USA TODAY earlier this month, “I wrote the script many years ago, and it turned out just like Star Wars in that it was way too big for one movie…. So this literally went on for 20 years, trying to get it all into one script, which meant leaving out many things we loved and going mainly with the war story and hinting at the rest.”