Star Wars vs. 633 Squadron

I'm sure many of you are quite familiar with the movie, "633 Squadron." And when the first "Star Wars" movie came out twelve years later, you probably had a feeling of deja vu watching the battle scenes.

I found this video today: It takes the video from "633 Squadron," and overlays it with the audio from the Death Star attack in "Star Wars." They shift around some scenes from "633 Squadron", but it does show a significant match....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OZq-tlJTrU

Ron "And pin it right on your tail" Wanttaja

Now that's just funny right there! Thanks for posting!! And may the force be with you!

Wow. I haven't seen that old movie for a long, long time. Matter of fact -- I remember reading the book, but don't remember seeing the movie at all. I'll have to see if I can find it. I have trouble sitting through a lot of the older movies these days. What seemed "obvious but tolerable" for special effects back in the 60s and 70s gets less and less tolerable as the years pass. Still, at least there are some actual airplanes in those movies, not just computer animation.

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Originally Posted by DaleB

Wow. I haven't seen that old movie for a long, long time. Matter of fact -- I remember reading the book, but don't remember seeing the movie at all. I'll have to see if I can find it. I have trouble sitting through a lot of the older movies these days. What seemed "obvious but tolerable" for special effects back in the 60s and 70s gets less and less tolerable as the years pass. Still, at least there are some actual airplanes in those movies, not just computer animation.

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Movie wasn't bad in the special effects department, but some of the scenes clearly use models. Special film effects to turn three Mosquitos into 18, for a couple of in-flight scenes. BF-108s used instead of 109s. Lots of great scenes of Mosquitos, though the moviemakers couldn't resist burning one or two.

Movie didn't do a bad job of sticking to the book. They wanted to widen the international appeal, so Cliff Robertson is Squadron Leader Grant (renamed from Grenville in the book), formerly of the Eagle Squadron. The itself is pretty international; one of the few movies that show a Sikh pilot as well as one with an artificial hand. The final scene of the book is not in the movie.

I was ten years old when this movie came out, and utterly loved it. With a few decades of perspective, the plot does seem a bit creaky. Eh, the action sequences are worth it. Ron Goodwin's main theme is still one of my favorite flying tunes, and it's probably good there aren't any fjords around Seattle.

Mosquito lovers could check out "Mosquito Squadron" starring David McCallum, or "The Purple Plain" starring Gregory Peck. "Mosquito Squadron" re-used a lot of footage from "633 Squadron" and the plot is rather lame. The Mosquito in "The Purple Plain" is used mostly to deliver the main characters to the crash site.

Ron "You can't kill a squadron" Wanttaja