doctorkenisin I was on the Air Force ROTC faculty at Cal Berkeley 1966 - 70 (the quiet years). In 1967 the Doolittle Raiders were having their 25th reunion at nearby Alameda Naval Air Station. Jimmy Doolittle was a Cal grad, so we invited him to present the "Doolittle Award" which we gave to our outstanding AFROTC cadet. He accepted on one condition - no prior publicity that he was to present the award. That was both a reflection of his humble nature and the realization that if the Cal hippies knew he was to appear they would turn out in droves to protest. Our offices were in the basement of Harmon Gym. Jimmy was very nostalgic about that location. While at Cal he was a wrestler and worked out in the gym. Jimmy shared a very humorous story with us. When the war broke out Jimmy was not young. He got a telegram from a compatriot about his age asking him how they could contribute to the war effort. At the time Jummy was training for the top secret operation. He sent a telegram back telling his buddy something like: "we have to leave the war to the younger generation." Shortly after the Doolittle raid, he got another telegram from his buddy. It read simply: "You SOB." Jimmy laughed as he told the story. For the reunion he invited me and one of our cadets to join the ceremony. That involved boarding the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany, sailing out under the Bay Bridges and watching aircraft doing touch and go landings. Jimmay and his raiders were on board. One of the biggest disappointments of my life was that while in our office I had my picture taken next to Jimmy. Somehow the film was lost and I never got a copy for my scrapbook. Jimmy Doolittle was a genuine Greatest Generation hero. Courageous, humble, and patriotic. Those who were not around during World War II days cannot possibly imagine the unity that prevailed in our country. This movie captures much of that spirit. I highly recommend it, but wish they would make a movie of Jimmy's life.

mrb1980 This fine film offers viewers about everything: a uniformly excellent cast, great action, human drama, a touching love story, exciting special effects, and a deep sense of patriotism. The story is the 1942 raid on Tokyo led by James Doolittle. The event came at a time when things were very dark for the U.S.A.: the Pearl Harbor attack had just occurred, and American forces were on the precarious defensive all over the Pacific.Van Johnson is the focus of the movie as a bomber pilot, but is surrounded by great co-stars: Phyllis Thaxter (his pregnant wife), Spencer Tracy (Doolittle), Robert Mitchum (pilot), Don DeFore (Johnson's navigator), Robert Walker (Johnson's gunner), and many others. Character actors like Leon Ames, Morris Ankrum, Paul Langton, and Alan Napier also make unexpected appearances. The action follows the preparation, execution, and eventual escape from the Doolittle raid.Good photography and a very intelligent script round out this rousing war film. It's especially good if you think about the dangerous situation in which the mission was undertaken. A real winner all around.

charlytully Out of the five widely panned comments on this movie, the one quoted in my summary posted by Ariellion 8-27-05 does not deserve the 100% disapproval it has gotten since, especially if any of the naysayers were familiar with 1940s pop music.The theme to the Rodgers-Hammerstein musical OKLAHOMA! is used as a motif at least four times in this film, and it is not so much disguised as slightly adapted to be a self-contained musical expression of Americana, joining songs sung by airmen in the movie ("The Yellow Rose of Texas" and "The Eyes of Texas Are upon You"), the Star-Spangled Banner sung in Chinese by the Chinese children's chorus, and instrumental versions of "Anchors Aweigh!" and the Air Force Hymn.Seeing as how Richard Rodgers was commissioned to write the soundtrack for the so-called propaganda documentary VICTORY AT SEA (a score which still sells separately as a tone poem in the tradition of Richard Strauss' work or Gustav Holst's "The Planets"), it is more likely that the composer suggested the OKLAHOMA! motif be included in this score a year later, than that TOKYO composer Herbert Stothart tried to pull off one of the clumsiest musical plagiarisms in history.

pgreis This represents one of the best WWII aviation movies. Follows the crew of Doolittle's Raiders who gave the US a boost in the early dark days of WWII. Well acted, excellent cinematography (Oscar nomination). Lots of great shots of B-25s for aviation buffs. The early days of training are especially interesting as the crews try and get their aircraft off the ground in a very short distance. At that point none of them realized they would ultimately have to take their B-25s off the deck of an aircraft carrier. Based on Ted Lawson's (played by Van Johnson) autobiographical accounting of the raid in the book of the same name. Excellent acting by Van Johnson and Spencer Tracy as General Doolittle.