All the talk of Midway and Tora! Tora! Tora! got me in the mood for some other WWII-era faves, both sci-fi/time-travel, and sadly neither of which are showing on the DirecTV lineup anytime soon (alas, for the days of Cleveland’s channel 43 or Youngstown’s channel 33, where b-movies reigned supreme in the pre-VHS era and these definitely would have been on one of their Memorial Day weekend schedules). Worthy of the mighty lineup TCM’s rolling this weekend? Nah, but a little love still due them both, though. As I wait patiently by the mailbox for my DVDs to arrive …
The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)
Michael Pare, Bobby DiCicco and Nancy Allen (the latter two also vets of another WWII-era favorite, Spielberg’s unfairly ragged-on 1941 — so it’s not Jaws or Raiders, I still enjoy it more than Close Encounters or E.T.) in a story inspired by an alleged U.S. Navy WWII experiment involving radar cloaking, a pretty decent time-travel movie. Sure, some time-travel plot holes (few in this genre without them, really), plus a “No way is Ronald Reagan the president” joke (a year before Back to the Future’s nice nod to Ronnie), but Pare was cookin’ in full 1983/’84 form. Brief side-note/lament in that while I readily admit all three movies were technically b-movies for all intents and purposes, still a shame in my book this guy wasn’t able to break even a little bigger after the 1-2-3 punches of Eddie and the Cruisers, Streets of Fire and this one. While not heavily military-themed, it still passed muster from my squid dad, so for those interested, not bad in that arena either. Oh, sequel followed in 1993 (minus Pare), though much like Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives, The Philadelphia Experiment II does not exist. Does. Not.
The Final Countdown (1980)
Boasting a stronger cast (Martin Sheen, Kirk Douglas, Katharine Ross, Ron O’Neal and Charles Durning), but by no means a blockbuster, Countdown caught my attention at the right time, when I was majorly into Marvel Comics’ “What If?” series. The U.S.S. Nimitz gets thrown back 40 years to the eve of the “Day that will live in infamy” and the ship’s Commander (Douglas) and systems analyst (Sheen) weigh the costs of whether or not they should alter history by interfering. Hasn’t aged as well as Philadelphia Experiment, and considering the cast and concept, not as good as it could have been. However, worth a look-see if for no other reason to see a great cast in a better-than-average thriller.
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My first memory of going to the theater was “The Final Countdown,” and I became enamored with the F-14 with the rest of my life. According to madre and padre, the first film I actually saw in the theater was “Star Wars.”
Never liked Pare. He was the bad husband in one of the myriad of Sandra Bullock’s 90s movies, and was absolutely atrocious. Not that he was a great actor by any means, but that signaled the end for him. I can’t recall seeing him in a film since.
He’s a b-actor. Nice small parts in Virgin Suicides and the Bloodraynes, nice shelf lives as a direct-to-video kinda guy. He’ll always be the mighty Eddie Wilson to me.
I’ve never seen
Final CountdownPhiladelphia Experiment, butPhiladelphia ExperimentFinal Countdown is interestingMichael Pare got his start in sci-fi/fantasy with a comedic twist in the cast of The Greatest American Hero. Nancy Allen, of course, went on to aid and abet RoboCop.
I second the opinion on 1941. One of my favorites, and definitely better than that sappy and silly ET. Every now and then I catch myself humming the march tune from 1941.
*Spoiler*
I saw Final Countdown as a kid, and was bitterly disappointed when at the last minute, they aborted the air strike on the Japanese task force.
Splash the Zeros, I say again, splash the Zeros! Awesome!
There is an interesting Anime series about a modern Japanese aircraft carrier finding itself thrust back into WWII, struggling with the very mixed feelings that losing that war had greatly helped Japan. Can’t think of the name, and the family Otaku are away this weekend. I can find the information if anyone is willing to wait on it.