I don't recall the movie being as bad as the previous poster laments, but it is the first time I saw a movie of a person I knew something of his historical record and how they played loose with the details for dramatic license (I read his massive autobiography 5 times at least--a big book for a 13 yr old to read then--and several of his other books, including his version of the ordeal at sea depicted in the movie and Capt. Cherry's version "We Thought We Heard the Angels Sing"). I was "outraged" as any hero worshiping teen could be when they changed incidents in the movie that I knew happened differently (hey! That didn't happen that way!). but from this movie, I did learn the lesson of what that disclaimer means "Though based on actual incidents..."
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Flickers-41 December 2007
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With all the dramas surrounding war heroes during this era, I can't imagine adults taking this "G.I. Joe" style heroics drama seriously. It's about a real-life hero floating in the Pacific after his plane goes down and all we get are flashbacks of how he got interested in flying as a child and his romantic life. This being at the tale end of the war, it probably failed to spark any interest because it has a "been there, done that" feeling audiences got for dozens of previous films, including one excellent classic, "The Fighting Sullivans", which at least had the connection of the five brothers tragically killed together on the same ship while telling its slice-of-life growing up tale which explained why they were all so close in the first place.
In the case of "Captain Eddie", Fred MacMurray and his crew (filled with familiar faces, all wasted in bit roles), are seen diving in their plane into the ocean, escaping into life rafts, discussing the loss of their supplies, and all of a sudden, MacMurray is flashing back to his childhood (played by Darryl Hickman) and a harmless theft of neighborhood items in order to make a flying machine to zoom off his barn roof. That sequence is entertaining enough, and a conversation with his father leads to tragedy where his mother makes him swear never to fly in his life again. "Yeah right", you say, and two World Wars later, what is he doing? Flying over the Pacific.
More brief shots at sea (including the attempt to snare a sea bird for dinner and shots of a storm which threatens to capsize them) and MacMurray is recalling his romance with the pretty Lynn Bari, belle of the ball of a dance he attends, giving her a ride home after arranging for her date's horse to scram away from his carriage. Time passes, and World War II makes him a hero. A disturbing sequence has hospitalized MacMurray overhearing the news that he is about to die any minute (over a radio no less!) as his family comes in.
While the overall film is entertaining in its "slice of Americana" episodic way, as a patriotic war film, it truly disappoints. Young boys with dreams of flying or following in their father's footsteps and becoming war heroes were probably the only ones who left the movie theater feeling totally satisfied. -
661jda22 March 2022I think it would have been much better if they had cast a somewhat "unknown" instead of Fred MacMurry in the role. I couldn't separate the two. Lloyd Nolan was pretty good, I'm not sure that the factual story was told in so much as to dramatize the elements. I was working with a very VERY poor print.
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djhbooklover16 August 2013I was 10 when I saw this movie. I have memories of scenes from favorite films as early as 1940. This is one of them. I left the theater feeling entertained, happy they were rescued, educated about Rickenbacker's career and thrilled. At that age I was not capable of critical review but have always wondered why I never saw it again. Perhaps I was too unsophisticated to make a valid judgment. I did, however, remember that MacMurray was the star. I looked it up to learn why it was never re- released. In that era few movies were deliberately aimed at the young including war films and westerns. Even the Disney films were popular with adults. I was an avid moviegoer with minimal supervision and lots of nearby theaters so I recall many which were not written for the children but still left me with fond memories of their value for me. That is the basis for my rating.
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jarrodmcdonald-110 November 2022Nearly every Hollywood studio produced a biopic about an aviator in the 1940s. Columbia made GALLANT JOURNEY with Glenn Ford as aviation pioneer John Joseph Montgomery. Paramount scored with BLAZE OF NOON based on a novel by pilot Ernest K. Gann. And 20th Century Fox delivered this drama with Fred MacMurray as flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker.
Probably these films struck a chord with viewers who had heard about such heroic fliers during the war. In the case of Rickenbacker, he served in two world wars, helping secure victory in the air overseas on more than one occasion.
CAPTAIN EDDIE begins with MacMurray and a group of men in the second world war, somewhere over the South Pacific in late 1942. An exciting opening sequence shows their plane experience mechanical difficulties and nosedive into the ocean. The men manage to crawl out of the sinking wreckage and hop onto life rafts. As they float off in hopes of being rescued by a search patrol, MacMurray starts to recall his life story.
The film then flashes back to a time when he was a teenaged boy (Darryl Hickman) in Columbus, Ohio in the early 1900s. We see how he was building contraptions, usually with items "borrowed" from the neighbors. A particularly funny scene has him soaring over the side of the barn with something made from an old baby buggy attached to an umbrella.
Interaction between the boy and his father (Charles Bickford) takes center stage. His dad tells him how inventions are supposed to be practical- to help make the work of humans easier. Bickford is especially good in these moments, projecting a paternal no-nonsense approach with compassion and encouragement.
In the next part, the family experiences trying times when Bickford's character is severely injured. But somehow they manage to overcome the hardship and persevere. Meanwhile young Eddie has decided to become a race car driver, much to his parents' dismay. However, these plans are scuppered when the first world war breaks out, and Eddie decides to become a pilot instead.
We then see a bunch of WWI combat scenes where MacMurray has resumed the role as the adult version of the character. In some ways this portion of the picture is reminiscent of the actor's previous assignment at Warner Brothers in DIVE BOMBER with Errol Flynn. Daring aerial maneuvers climax with MacMurray being recognized as an 'ace of aces' during his time with the 94th squadron.
After the first world war, he focuses his attention on the fledgling airline industry, becoming a well-known- and sometimes controversial- figure in this arena. Part of the story also involves his on the ground romance with a childhood sweetheart (Lynn Bari) whom he marries. While this subplot isn't as exciting as the stuff that takes place in the air, I wasn't too bothered by it.
Contemporary reviewers fussed that the love story aspects of the film were routine and hardly set it apart from other aviation flicks with romantic themes. But sometimes critics are just looking to find fault.
This is not a bad way to spend your time and you get to see Mr. MacMurray in war hero mode. I'd recommend CAPTAIN EDDIE as part of a triple feature with DIVE BOMBER and FLIGHT FOR FREEDOM which also starred the actor in his prime.