The Great Waldo Pepper
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| The Great Waldo Pepper | |
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| Directed by | George Roy Hill |
| Written by | William Goldman, George Roy Hill |
| Starring | Robert Redford, Bo Svenson, Susan Sarandon |
| Release date(s) | 1975 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) tells the story of a biplane pilot (Robert Redford) who missed out on the glory of combat in World War I after being assigned as a flight instructor instead. As the film opens, the war is over and Waldo has taken up barnstorming to make a living.
He soon tangles with a rival barnstormer, portrayed by actor Bo Svenson. The two cross paths again quickly, and eventually both wind up flying for the same employer, Dillhoefer (Philip Bruns), who owns a traveling air show. The story focuses on the exploits of the air show pilots both in the air and on the ground. In an effort to attract bigger crowds to his shows, Dillhoefer introduces several young ladies to the show including Mary Beth (Sarandon) and Patsy (Kelly Jean Peters). As the air show moves from town to town, and the crew practices new stunts, they experience problems, errors, crashes, and an incident while training for a wingwalking stunt (it is notable that Robert Redford performed his own wing-walking stunts in the film). After the incident, the air show is grounded by a Federal aviation inspector, a man from Waldo's past named Newt Geoffrey Lewis. Waldo ultimately loses his pilot's license (but this doesn't stop him from flying for very long).
Waldo hears about an opportunity to fly stunts for the movie industry in Hollywood, California. This is his chance to fulfill his lifelong quest for the glory that had escaped him. He eventually gets a chance to prove himself in a film depicting the dog fights from the Great War. Waldo's antagonist throughout the story, the German air ace Ernst Kessler, is based on the real ace and stunt flier Ernst Udet. Pilot Frank Tallman provided the magnificent flying sequences, using actual planes - not models.
This movie was filmed on location in Lockhart, Texas
[edit] The Cast also includes:
Edward Herrmann as Ezra Styles
Bo Brundin as Ernst Kessler
Margot Kidder as Maude
[edit] External links:
| Films Directed by George Roy Hill |
| Period of Adjustment | Toys in the Attic | The World of Henry Orient | Hawaii | Thoroughly Modern Millie | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | Slaughterhouse-Five | The Sting | The Great Waldo Pepper | Slap Shot | A Little Romance | The World According to Garp | The Little Drummer Girl | Funny Farm |
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