WW1 "Nods" in Waldo Pepper.

[Barry Hickson]

G'day All!
I watched "the Great Waldo Pepper" last night for the first time in I suppose 10 years & had forgotten so much of it.
Was most interested to note some good "Nods" to WW1 history.
1) the Kesseler character obviously based on Ernst Udet down to the "Lola" insignia on the Triplane including the Lo part similar to Udets marking on some of his planes. Even the Actor chosen for the role looked like Udet in later life.
2) Waldo's name adopted for his flying in the Movie was Brown & the Camel had Roy Brown's Red nose & Stripes.

Has anyone noticed anything else?

Also of note was a very young Susan Sarandon.

[bristol scout]

Susan Sarandon--slurp, slurp,--- wing walking in a slip, slurp, slurp, slurp---wind blowing up-----SLURP, slurp, slurp

Dave.

[bristol scout]

Hi Baz,

And these lines, of much greater importance than at first seeming----for those here who believe they 'KNOW' what went on-- in meticulous detail--- amidst the sound and fury of a dog-fight......

"i'm sorry I went on about what an expert I was on YOUR battle"

"No, no, you probably know more abot it than I do----I was THERE of course, but there was'nt MUCH TIME for me to study...."

Seems so to me anyway mate,

Cheers,
Dave.

[crankcase]

Originally Posted by bristol scout

Susan Sarandon--slurp, slurp,--- wing walking in a slip, slurp, slurp, slurp---wind blowing up-----SLURP, slurp, slurp

Dave.

Settle down, Dave... Now is Susan had had a parachute!...
marc
p.s. ok, ok, i know it was low altitude. she would have gone "thump" before the chute opened.

[bristol scout]

Hi marc,

Settle down, you say---after putting that mental picture in me auld nappa

Oh! The Imagery....

Cheers mate,
Dave.

[Gregvan]

Just about the whole film is something of a "nod" to WWI aerial combat and the romantic images of WWI flying aces.

Of course, the famous "Kessler fight" described so vividly by Waldo is based on a combination of the Voss combat with 56 Sqdn and Udet's duel with Guynemer, with "Kessler" doing the salute when his opponent had jammed guns, instead of Guynemer waving to Udet and sparing him when he realized Udet's guns were jammed.

"Kessler" coming to the US, flying in US airshows, and visiting Hollywood are all things that the real Udet did. Udet flew in quite a few German movies and starred in them as well, though he never flew in a US-produced film.

When the director and cast members/stunt pilots are screening some of the previous crashes from the filming that's already completed (using footage from "Young Eagles" and other real flicks) and the director says something like, "Here's the crash where Dick got hurt," or something like that - that is supposedly a nod to the real-life Hollywood stunt pilot Dick Grace.

[Barry Hickson]

Originally Posted by Gregvan

Just about the whole film is something of a "nod" to WWI aerial combat and the romantic images of WWI flying aces.

Of course, the famous "Kessler fight" described so vividly by Waldo is based on a combination of the Voss combat with 56 Sqdn and Udet's duel with Guynemer, with "Kessler" doing the salute when his opponent had jammed guns, instead of Guynemer waving to Udet and sparing him when he realized Udet's guns were jammed.

"Kessler" coming to the US, flying in US airshows, and visiting Hollywood are all things that the real Udet did. Udet flew in quite a few German movies and starred in them as well, though he never flew in a US-produced film.

When the director and cast members/stunt pilots are screening some of the previous crashes from the filming that's already completed (using footage from "Young Eagles" and other real flicks) and the director says something like, "Here's the crash where Dick got hurt," or something like that - that is supposedly a nod to the real-life Hollywood stunt pilot Dick Grace.

G'day Greg! Thanks for those interesting additional facts.
I did know about Udet's film activities from a previous Thread in which you gave great info about his movies. I did not know though if he had acted in any US ones. Certainly missed the "Dick" nod.
There was some impressive Flying in Waldo Pepper & not a CG Aircraft in sight!

[sobrien]

All this talk about it, I had to go and watch it today. It's so nice to see real airplanes flying and sounding like real airplanes.

Sean

[Boom]

I may have passed this along before. Wrote it a fewb years back. Lots of start-stop to get the dialogue right. My DVD copy just in and haven't seen the movie again.. yet.

cheers, Boom


Speaking of old fliks; The Great Waldo Pepper was on the other nite. Spiffy flying sequences with a real Sopwith Camel. William Goldman (Princess Bride, etc.) did the screenplay and that is enough to make me watch. Even went to the effort to write out some dialogue. (Good exercise. Amazing the number of words one misses or changes on first and second hearings.)

Tallmantz aviation did the flying sequences. (Tallman did own a genuine Camel. The Fokker is a replica with a radial engine.

Redford, of course, as Pepper. Bo Brundin played Ernst Kessler; the fictional 70 plane ace. Bo Svenson played Waldo’s pal, Olsson. Interestingly, both actors are Swedes.

Early roles in their careers for Susan Sarandon (losing her clothes while wing-walking), Edward Herrmann – the engineer who crashes, and Margot Kidder ( before Lois Lane in the Superman fliks).

Kessler describing his fight against four opponents while talking to Waldo Pepper on the bridge at the movie set has some of the best flying dialogue ever: (there are breaks in the transcription ,)

Kessler:: “And that (heading for them) they did not expect. I could see how young they were—so frightened.”

Pepper: “Did you know it was Madden?”
Kessler: “I wanted it to be I know that.”

Kessler: “I thought I was done. Before I could breathe he was on me again.”

Pepper: “Were you scared?
Kessler: “No. Everything was in order. The world made total sense.”

“We battled, with no lasting advantage. He was brighter, I was smarter. He was faster, I was quicker.”

“Until he hesitated coming out of the turn. His guns had jammed. I could see him pounding on the guns trying to make them regain function.”

“He came straight for me instead. I thought, ‘you are very stupid, but you are very brave. Someone else will have to kill you.’”

Pepper: “Is that when you saluted?”

Kessler nods his head.

[Barry Hickson]

Originally Posted by Boom

I may have passed this along before. Wrote it a fewb years back. Lots of start-stop to get the dialogue right. My DVD copy just in and haven't seen the movie again.. yet.

cheers, Boom


Speaking of old fliks; The Great Waldo Pepper was on the other nite. Spiffy flying sequences with a real Sopwith Camel. William Goldman (Princess Bride, etc.) did the screenplay and that is enough to make me watch. Even went to the effort to write out some dialogue. (Good exercise. Amazing the number of words one misses or changes on first and second hearings.)

Tallmantz aviation did the flying sequences. (Tallman did own a genuine Camel. The Fokker is a replica with a radial engine.

Redford, of course, as Pepper. Bo Brundin played Ernst Kessler; the fictional 70 plane ace. Bo Svenson played Waldo’s pal, Olsson. Interestingly, both actors are Swedes.

Early roles in their careers for Susan Sarandon (losing her clothes while wing-walking), Edward Herrmann – the engineer who crashes, and Margot Kidder ( before Lois Lane in the Superman fliks).

Kessler describing his fight against four opponents while talking to Waldo Pepper on the bridge at the movie set has some of the best flying dialogue ever: (there are breaks in the transcription ,)

Kessler:: “And that (heading for them) they did not expect. I could see how young they were—so frightened.”

Pepper: “Did you know it was Madden?”
Kessler: “I wanted it to be I know that.”

Kessler: “I thought I was done. Before I could breathe he was on me again.”

Pepper: “Were you scared?
Kessler: “No. Everything was in order. The world made total sense.”

“We battled, with no lasting advantage. He was brighter, I was smarter. He was faster, I was quicker.”

“Until he hesitated coming out of the turn. His guns had jammed. I could see him pounding on the guns trying to make them regain function.”

“He came straight for me instead. I thought, ‘you are very stupid, but you are very brave. Someone else will have to kill you.’”

Pepper: “Is that when you saluted?”

Kessler nods his head.

Yes Boom. I thought that was wonderful dialogue!