In the opening scene, Major General Happy Jack Kirby (Kevin McCarthy) and his staff arrive late at night at (the fictitious) Carmody Air Force Base, in northern California, to conduct an unannounced SAC ORI (Strategic Air Command Operational Readiness Inspection). The wing commander, Col. George Brooks, subsequently fails the ORI and is fired. Meanwhile, back at SAC HQ, Offutt AFB in Omaha, Nebraska, Col. Jim Caldwell (Rock Hudson) is giving a briefing for some civilian SAC observers. Then, when 4-star General Hewitt (Leif Erickson) offers the Carmody AFB wing commander position to Caldwell, he eagerly accepts the job.
This
is Caldwell’s first wing command, and he knows it’s important for him to whip
the SAC wing, which consists of B-52 bombers, KC-135 refueling tanker aircraft
and Titan 1 missiles, into shape, so they can pass their next ORI, which can
come unannounced at any time.
Caldwell
takes his new position very seriously and adopts a rather no-nonsense attitude
which turns out to be rather impersonal and callous. He begins by firing base
commander Col. Bill Fowler, (Barry
Sullivan) for alcohol abuse, increases the alert duty rotation from 3 days
to 7 days, a policy which had in the past proven to be very detrimental to
morale, questions the policies of his Chief of Maintenance Col. Joe Garcia (Henry Silva) and finally fires his vice
wing commander and long-time Korean-War fighter-pilot friend Col. Hollis Farr (Rod Taylor), for focusing too much on
building relationships.
Having
alienated virtually everyone on base, including his wife Victoria (Mary Peach) who turns to Farr for
friendship and understanding, it’s only when Caldwell is in the middle of his
first ORI that he realizes he can’t do it all by himself and that his success depends
on the men under his command.
A Gathering of Eagles was made with the support
and cooperation of the U.S. Air Force and in many ways feels like a recruiting
film like Top Gun and The Final Countdown. The role of Carmody
AFB was actually filled by Beale AFB California, a SAC base located 40 mi north
of Sacramento, near Marysville, CA that has been in operation since 1948. There
are scenes of B-52 strategic bombers taking off, being refueled mid-air, and
landing, of Titan 1 missiles being raised to launch position, and of T-33
trainer aircraft. The message of the film is that the Cold War of the 1960s
took an incredible toll on the men and women of the Strategic Air Command, and
the SAC ORI, which was designed to simulate an actual go-to-war combat
situation, was incredibly stressful.
A Gathering of Eagles was written by Sy Bartlett (story) and Robert Pirosh (screenplay) and directed
by Delbert Mann. Bartlett also
co-wrote the novel and screenplay for Twelve
O’Clock High (1949) an earlier version of this same story, which was set in
WWII England, starred Gregory Peck and dealt with the same trials and
tribulations of a new bomber wing commander.
If
you go to the movie’s IMDb page and scroll down, among the User Reviews you
will find this review, by a user named Timeless,
which really says it all:
“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.”
Blogger’s
comment: Having served as a USAF officer from 1964-1970, first as a Mace A
Tactical Missile Combat Crew Commander in West Germany, and later as an
Aircraft Maintenance Officer at a pilot training base in Texas, I was impressed
with the realistic look and feel of the film.
Labels:
drama, romance, Sixties, war
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