So much average

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This movie nailed the way it was in the peacetime Air Force, especially in the old Strategic Air Command. It shows the "duty first" attitude that helped our country win the Cold War, and drives home the tremendous stress all of us were under during those hard years. Since retiring, I learned to stop trying to explain to civilians what my service was like. Now I just tell them to see this movie, it's that realistic. On the downside, some of the acting is stiff and two dimensional. In the same way John Wayne's Green Berets was criticized for being propaganda, this movie also showed all the characters as too good to be true. There were a few human problems for the Rock's new wing commander character to fix, such as the soft colonel played by Rod Taylor, the maintenance colonel who was "too dedicated" to delegate, and his own civilian wife who lacked his commitment to the mission. Get past all that, view this movie more as a documentary to learn what it was like to live on a SAC base during the Cold War.

I was stationed at Beale AFB, California when the Movie "A GATHERING OF EAGLES" was filmed, and watched much of the filming. I was the crew chief on B-52G #6515 (cannot give the rest of the tail number) I spent many hours on the alert pad. And if you have never had that experience of answering to the call in the middle of the night to a klaxon from a sound sleep to running to your fast ride vehicle and being prepared to launch your aircraft and flight-crew, Then you don't what being a proud B-52G Crew Chief is like. All of the people in SAC had special jobs. I'm honored to have served with the greatest command in the world. Therefore I rate the movie very high. After the film about a year later I worked on the Aircraft that they used for the movie. I still have some local news paper articles and pictures from the filming. I went to Beale last year "2006" for an air show and got to go out on the hardstand where my air plane was parked many times. I read and agree with one of the people about the hot brakes. Also a scene where the so called fuel was coming out of the main entry hatch. The real crew chief was standing up inside the aircraft pouring water out of a bucket to simulate the fuel. I'm trying to get a copy of the movie in DVD or VHF. I would be glad to help with copies of the news paper articles. I would like to find someone else that was in the 456th OMS at Beale during the filming that was a crew chief or a ground crew member on the B-52G'sThank youJerry

A fair amount of military detail went into this examination of the Strategic Air Corps and its internal machinations along with the effect of Air Force life on a marriage. Hudson plays an Air Force Colonel placed in charge of base at which there is fear that the men may not pass the next surprise test in which McCarthy shows up and expects near perfection in the expulsion of B-52 bombers into the air. Taylor, as Hudson's second-in-command, was present when McCarthy failed to pass a previous commander and that man was discharged. Taking no chances, Hudson runs roughshod over practically everyone. He even cans a fellow colonel (Sullivan) when he suspects that his drinking may limit the base's chances for success. This particular move threatens Hudson's marriage as his new wife Peach has grown close to Sullivan's wife Dana and Peach can't understand the stoic, cheerless, never-ending demands of running an Air Force base. She tends to identify more with the laid-back Taylor, but unfortunately, this creates rumors on the base, and even more tension when Hudson begins to doubt Taylor's strength as an officer. Hudson, typically a very likable persona on screen, enjoys himself in this authoritative role and does a decent job. His marriage to Peach seems rather unbelievable, mostly because they just don't seem compatible even from the beginning, but they do manage to muster up a certain amount of chemistry. Taylor, an even more amiable performer than Hudson, does well here and is able to offer more dimension in his portrayal than Hudson is allowed to. Peach has an attractive figure, but just seems out of place in the film, perhaps because of her English accent and manner. The love story might have carried more weight if the couple had just been regular Americans facing a marital crisis. Her British formality puts her on the outside practically from the beginning. Sullivan handles his role nicely as does Dana as his concerned wife. McCarthy, though his role is brief, looks about as good as he ever did in films. A number of other familiar actors pop up in the cast including Silva, Lansing and Anderson as officers serving under Hudson. Lansing, in particular, has a nice, understated scene with Hudson in a steam room. Future Oscar-winner Fletcher appears briefly as the wife of an appendicitis patient. While not a stellar military film (perhaps due to its peace time setting), this does provide insight into some of the inner working of the Air Force and offers some degree of tension as in the scene in which the inside of a plane is doused in gasoline. It's also admirable in its attempts to show the marital strain that can occur within the armed services, though those scenes tend to lean towards the unrealistic. A bombastic Goldsmith score doesn't always work. Some of the set-ups and techniques foreshadow what would later be seen in "Airport" and "Airport 1975", albeit using domestic planes instead of military ones.

It was because of this movie I joined the USAF and actually worked in SAC on ICBMs for over 20 years. I was fortunate enough to be assigned to a base that had both B-52s, KC-135s, and ICBMs. Every time I see this movie it makes me proud of my association with the slogan "Peace is our Profession" and winning the "Cold War" without having to fire a shot. When my daughter asked me "What did you do in the War daddy" I showed her the movie and that said it all. This movie is timeless and gives those who were never in SAC a very small glimpse of this unique arm of the US Air Force. Every time I hear the PAS (Primary Alerting System)warble, it brought back memories. The ORIs (Operational Readiness Inspections) were just like I remembered them, including all the inspectors that fan out through the base. When this movie comes out on DVD, I'll be the first in line.