For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Though I have seen most of HK's films thought I couldn't like this one as well. The theme appeared too familiar and too predictable for my taste. But HK worked his magic one more time again - the movie was made as it should, nothing more nothing less. This enables HK to pull through with success again: simplicity is his magic that works wonders from most common things. He only deals with what is essential and the result is a paradigm of film-making.

Gregory Peck is the Ultimate Air Force General here. This film, based upon the actual combat in the air by the US Air Force 8th Daylight Bomber group. General Savage character is totally absorbed and realistically played and indeed made real by Peck.The story starts with a 1949 view of an overgrown and abandoned air field in Britain after the war. Savages assistant is visiting it and then he flashes back to what happened there in the war.Based upon the novel, MGM pulled out all the best production stuff they could including real combat footage to make this film feel real. In the process they tell a very strong and emotional story about the real events the book and film are based upon. Great performances by a great cast. I had only seen the ABC TV series before this. Strongly salute the film makers and suggest watching this film before looking at that TV series. This is excellent.

This movie is just plain out incredible. One of my favorite movies ever is Patton, and after watching 12 o'clock high, I can see how Patton got it's template. I'm sure many other movies copied the magic of 12 O'clock High. So many movies loose their focus by thinking they need a love interest planted into it. This movie didn't lower the bar and force that in. I spent 16 years of my life in three different services and all being aviation. For 6 years I was part of an aircrew, this movie kept it real all the way, I wish anything that modern movies would keep things as real as this movie did, a movie that was filmed over 50 years ago. Dean Jagger's character "Maj. Harvey Stovall" was just as important as Gregory Peck's "Gen. Frank Savage" part. Jagger was absolutely awesome as the action starved paper pusher that picks up exactly what Gen. Savage is putting down, helping him stall the pilot's transfers. After every movie I watch, I always think to myself, "If I was the Director, what would I of done different?" This is one of those very few movies that just came out perfect. It has the perfect actors, perfect storyline, perfect editing, and perfect ending, what else can I say,,,, this is just a perfect movie.

Intimate as well as spectacular WWI airplane movie with an enjoyable cast , aerial battles and thought-provoking themes , being one of the first Hollywood films to deal with the psychological effect of war on its soldiers . The film's dedication states: "This motion picture is dedicated to those Americans, both living and dead, whose gallant effort made possible daylight precision bombing. They were the only Americans fighting in Europe in the fall of 1942. They stood alone, against the enemy and against doubts from home and abroad. This is their story" . Gen. Frank Savage (Gregory Peck , though John Wayne turned down this leading role) is sent by Gen. Pritchard (Millard Mitchell) to the combat group after the Bomber Commander Col. Keith Davenport (Gary Merrill) is relieved of duty . As a hard-as-nails general takes over a bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape . However , the newcomer General also begins to feel the strain of the leadership . This is a story of valiant twelve men as their women never knew them . It is an example of a pilot's enemy position call . During World War II pilots would call-out the positions of enemy airplanes by referring to their bearings via the use of a pretend face of a clock . In this case, 12 O'Clock meant the enemy was directly ahead, whereas 6 O'Clock would mean directly behind. "High" or "Low" referred to whether the enemy was above or below the airplane respectively. "Even" meant that the enemy was level with the pilot's plane. This is a thrilling film dealing with patriotism and heroism , starred by a maverick General and his underlings carrying out risked feats on air and bombing German installations . However , the air battles were cut together from authentic World War II footage . In fact , the opening prologue states : "The air battle scenes in this Motion Picture were photographed in actual combat by members of the United States Air Force and the German Luftwaffe" . Much of the flick concerns the relentless fight of a brave General , masterfully played by Gregory Peck , to whip his outfit into a disciplined team in spite of heavy casualties . This film is frequently cited by surviving bomber crewmembers as the only accurate depiction from Hollywood of their life during the war . Based on a novel by Beirne Lay Jr. and Sy Bartlett ; being well adapted by these authors , they wanted the script to concentrate fully on the psychological effects of war and the theme of commanding . Many characters in this film were based on real-life people such as Gen. Savage inspired by Gen. Frank Armstrong and many others . Excellent Gregory Peck as the flight commander who takes over an England-based bomber squadron and it helped assure him a place in Hollywood immortality . Very good support cast such as Hugh Marlowe as Lt. Col. Ben Gately , Gary Merrill as Col. Keith Davenport , Millard Mitchell as Gen. Pritchard , Robert Arthur as Sgt. McIllhenny , Paul Stewart as Capt. 'Doc' Kaiser and Dean Jagger as Maj. Harvey Stovall , he won an Academy Award for secondary actor for his fine acting ; most of them inspired on real characters . Evocative as well as sensitive musical score by the classic Alfred Newman . Atmospheric cinematography in black and white by Leon Shamroy , usual cameraman of super-productions . Henry King 's direction is well crafted , though William A. Wellman was attached to direct at one point . Here Henry King is more thought-provoking and inclined toward brooding issues and no much action , as a romantic subplot, which features in the book, was dropped at the studio's insistence . King is an expert on compelling Adventure/Western genre , as he directed classic Westerns as ¨ Jesse James¨ (1939) and ¨The gunfighter¨ (1950) with Peck again . Koster was specialist on Adventure genre as proved in ¨Untamed¨ , ¨Captain King¨ , ¨Captain of Castilla¨ , ¨Black Swan¨ , ¨Stanley and Livingstone ¨and many others . Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching