von Richtofen and Brown (1971, PG-13)

Directed by: Roger Corman

Grade: F

I’ll confess to the fact that I was taken away by von Richtofen and Brown’s DVD cover.  The DVD cover itself is a lie, though (I’ll explain more soon).  It attracts people, like me, into thinking that the movie is going to be a high-flying, epic, adventure film.  This movie was made in 1971, and the cover makes it look like it was made quite recently!  I’ll admit to the truth, nonetheless: I am not all that interested in war flying films from the 50s through the 70s era, and honestly, the Blue Max is the only one I have seen that I can also acknowledge to really enjoying.  This was why I gave von Richtofen and Brown a second chance: the DVD cover made it look incredibly well made.  As soon as I started watching, almost into the first ten or fifteen minutes, I realized the sloppy mess I had gotten into!  The DVD cover was a lie in itself: it makes the film look great, and the resulting crap I watched was one of the most retched film experiences I’ve ever had!

The story follows the famed exploits of German aerial ace, Manfred von Richtofen, a.k.a the Red Baron, during World War I.  Parallel to this is the life of Brown, the Canadian pilot who shot him down.  The plot here is dull, uninvolving and lacks coherency.  Every scene fails to set itself up to the next, and the result is a cluttering jumble of random scenes.

Von Richtofen and Brown is a much forgotten film today, and that's the good of itself and for the audience.  This is a movie that doesn't deserved to be watched by movie goers.  So if you find out about von Richtofen and Brown from this movie review, and were like me and hated it to the point of where you wanted to shut the TV off and walk way, don't say I didn't warn you.

Everything in von Richtofen and Brown went wrong: the aerial action sequences are hard to follow because it’s difficult to distinguish the pilots, the characters lack clear development, the story did not exactly end in the right place, the scenes are superficial in their structure, and the film editing itself lacks any credibility.  Von Richtofen and Brown is an excellent example of filmmaking that was blown up even before it could get a foot off the ground.