Flyboys

Flyboys

Flyboys

Cast: James Franco, Martin Henderson, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker, David Ellison,Tyler Labine

A group of young Americans go to France, for different personal reasons, and volunteer to fight in the French Air Service, L'Aéronautique militaire, during World War I prior to America's entrance into the war. One of the main characters, Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) faced with the foreclosure of his family ranch in Texas, decides to enlist after seeing a newsreel of aerial combat in France. Dilettante Briggs Lowry (Tyler Labine) joins because of his overbearing father. African-American boxer Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis), who had been accepted as an athlete in France, was motivated to "pay back" his adopted country. These American recruits were under the command of French Captain Georges Thenault (Jean Reno), while the veteran fighter ace Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson), a fellow American, takes over as their mentor.

During their training, the film mainly deals with the struggles each pilot has with the demanding flying; later, the focus shifts to the aerial dogfights that dominate the front line missions. Themes of camaraderie, racial prejudice, revenge and love are also explored. The film ends with an epilogue that relates each film character to the real-life Lafayette Escadrille figures on which the movie was based. One charming touch in this film is that the hero is given a small bear, which he carries as a good luck charm. This is an obvious reference to the small bear carried as a good luck charm by a pilot in "Wings," a silent film about World War I American Pilots, which, in 1927, was the first film ever to win the Academy Award for best picture.