The Great Waldo Pepper

The Great Waldo Pepper

13/3/1975 1h 48m 6.4/10

Overview

A biplane pilot who had missed flying in WWI takes up barnstorming and later a movie career in his quest for the glory he had missed.

Director

Cheryl Downey

Top Billed Cast

Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon

Mary Beth

Robert Redford

Robert Redford

Waldo Pepper

Geoffrey Lewis

Geoffrey Lewis

Newt

Edward Herrmann

Edward Herrmann

Ezra Stiles

Bo Svenson

Bo Svenson

Axel Olsson

Bo Brundin

Bo Brundin

Ernst Kessler

Reviews

Wuchak

9/28/2024

7/10

**_The daredevil barnstormers of the 1920s with Robert Redford and Bo Svenson_** Two former pilots of WW1 team-up to entertain people in middle America with increasingly risky aerial maneuvers. Susan Sarandon plays a woman who joins the team while Margot Kidder appears as the protagonist’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. Geoffrey Lewis is also on hand as an inspector of the newly formed Air Commerce. "The Great Waldo Pepper" (1975) is a tribute to the men & women who risked their lives to entertain people in ‘flying circuses’ in the ’20s through the early ’30s. By the time of this particular story, competition amongst stunt fliers resulted in progressively dangerous tricks, as well as highly publicized accidents, which led to hampering safety regulations and the demise of barnstorming. The tone mixes life-or-death drama with amusing bits. There are a couple of shocking sequences that some critics have interpreted as ‘coldhearted,’ but they just reflect those times. Even if you were a female who joined the team, you’re one of the boys and they all knew the risks. Sudden deaths, while unfortunate, didn’t change the fact that it was part of how these people made a living. And the show must go on, as they say. Speaking of which, if you’re familiar with movies like “The Blue Max,” “Flyboys” and “The Red Baron,” this is what some of the surviving flying aces were doing after the war. It runs 1 hour, 47 minutes, and was mostly shot in and around Elgin, Texas (which is just east of Austin), and Piru, California (which is a 50-minute drive northwest of Los Angeles). Studio stuff was done at Universal Studios. GRADE: B-/B

Similar Movies

Six Days Seven Nights

6.1

Six Days Seven Nights

1998

The Legend of Bagger Vance

6.6

The Legend of Bagger Vance

2000

The Green Room

6.6

The Green Room

1978

The People That Time Forgot

5.3

The People That Time Forgot

1977

The Road to France

0.0

The Road to France

1918

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

6.3

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

1995

The Crucible of Life

0.0

The Crucible of Life

1918

Iron Eagle on the Attack

3.8

Iron Eagle on the Attack

1995

Testament of Youth

7.3

Testament of Youth

2015

Queen Marie of Romania

7.3

Queen Marie of Romania

2019

The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands

6.3

The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands

1927

Appointment in Bray

4.5

Appointment in Bray

1971

1914: The Last Days Before the War

5.5

1914: The Last Days Before the War

1931

Örök hűség

0.0

Örök hűség

2022

东方角斗士

0.0

东方角斗士

2005