Memphis Belle

The “Memphis Belle” is a World War II bomber, piloted by a young crew on dangerous bombing raids into Europe…

• Director: Michael Caton-Jones
• Genre:Action / Drama / War
• Runtime:107 minutes

Cast

Matthew Modine : Capt. Dennis Dearborn
Eric Stoltz : Sgt. Danny “Danny Boy” Daly
Tate Donovan : 1st Lt. Luke Sinclair
D.B. Sweeney : Lt. Phil Lowenthal
Billy Zane : Lt. Val “Valentine” Kozlowski

Memphis Belle depicts the day leading up to the crew’s final mission, as well as the mission itself. The B-17 is named “Memphis Belle” after pilot Dennis Dearborn’s girlfriend back home in the States, who is not depicted in the film other than in a black and white photograph kept on the pilot’s console.

The crew of the ‘Belle have completed 24 missions of the 25 in their tour of duty. Lt. Colonel Bruce Derringer (John Lithgow) has arrived at their base in England to meet the crew and plan out the massive PR tour that the crew will embark upon after they complete final mission in their tour.

In their 25th mission, the 10-man crew is to bomb a factory in Bremen. At first, the flight is delayed because of clouds above the target, but finally they become airborne. Several of the crew feel sure that their luck has run out and that they will not survive this mission. This is perhaps no more fiercely than by Eugene McVey, one of the waist gunners, who finds his patron saint medal cast out of the Memphis Belle during flight by Jack Bocci, the other waist gunner, after Eugene plays a practical joke on him. Danny Daly (Eric Stoltz), the radio operator, then gives Eugene his lucky rubberband to calm down his panicking crewmate.

The lead plane in the formation and its successor are shot down on the way to the target in Bremen (in one case, killing all crew aboard), and the Memphis Belle reaches the target as the head of the bomb group. Upon reaching the target, it is found to be obscured by smoke and clouds. Dennis makes the call to go around for another pass, as he remembered from the pre-flight briefing that there was a school nearby the target. During the go-around, several more B-17s are lost to fighters and ground fire. On the second pass, the target is visible, and the bomb group drop their bombs and head for home. Read more

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