Pilots, action high points for ‘Red Tails’

 
During the commercial breaks of last year’s Bayou Classic, the sponsor screens displayed a black screen over and over again with the words Red Tails glowing in red.
The font of the letters made it look like a horror movie promo, but it wasn’t until I saw the trailer during half time that I finally said “I gotta see it.” I’m pretty sure others of African descent said the same thing, since the movie was based on the stories of Tuskegee Airmen. Making the decision to see the movie felt similar to making an obligation by going to support the movie out of respect due to the Tuskegee syphilis experiments of 1942-1972, and Booker T. Washington’s establishment of Tuskegee University in 1881.
History shows us that Tuskegee is very important when it comes to the African American experience so of course Red Tails was well over due for a film.
With Terrance Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr, a few familiar faces from The Help and The Great Debaters, and the funding put forth by George Lucas, RedTails was and still is considered a must see.
In the beginning of the movie a statement made by the U.S. military stated that blacks were unsuitable for the military because they believed blacks had a severe lack of “courage” and “intelligence.” Due to the Tuskegee Airmen being only an experiment for military purposes, their duties only involved them attacking German trains, leaving them completely out of the World War II front-line action.
The Tuskegee Airmen received their wish to fight in a small mission after Colonel A.J. Bullard, played by Howard, vouched for his men to get a shot at the Germans, who were often referred to as “Jerrys”. Even though their planes were considered “hand me downs,” the unit went on to fight.
It was 1944, when the Tuskeegee Airmen proved their combat ability by killing 13 “Jerrys,” demolishing about 65 German aircrafts, and by wrecking havoc on an entire German airbase. Once the rapture was over, a German pilot was shocked and startled because the American pilot was an “African.” In return for their victory, the unit received top of the line P-51 Mustang warplanes. They were also given the opportunity to escort U.S. bombers during the war. The bombers weren’t accepting of the idea initially but after their first run in with the Germans, the Red Tails held their ground and kept the bombers safe.
What’s interesting is the nickname that was given to the Tuskegee Airmen, Red Tails. This nickname created after they proved themselves worthy to escort and combat in the sky. Cliff “Sticks” Smith, played by Method Man made a thought provoking statement while painting the tails of the new planes red, ” What’s more distinguishing than a plane with red tails and black pilots?”
The cast was filled with uprising African American actors and to be quite honest all of them out shined Gooding and Howard, but one actor in particular stood out above all and his name was Joe ‘Lightning’ Little, played by David Oyelowo. The character of ‘Lightning’ portrayed the confidence and strength of a black man. He was basically the wild card and throughout the film Lightning was a man who beat his own drum and followed his own tune.
For example, whenever his commander, Marty ‘Easy’ Julian played by Nate Parker, would give a command Lightning would quickly argue with him and do his own thing. Whenever this happened he went over and beyond by ignoring the danger that was put before him. This exciting adrenaline rush cycle all comes to an end when Lightning is squared off with a “Jerry” in order to save his commander and good friend Marty. Lightning eventually killed the “Jerry” but afterwards he realizes his own war wounds and dies in the cockpit while the plane crashed, leaving Marty to witness the entire tragedy.
Many critics agree that the combat scenes were the main focus for this film yet the characters are one-dimensional. The combat scenes are magnifying and intense because I remember leaving the theater with a pilot’s point of view. I drove my car like I was in a plane cockpit by peeling out the parking lot and doing 100 mph on I-10 heading home while screaming out the window, “This is for RedTails!” When it comes to the critiquing the characters being one dimensional, I agree but in a good way. Of course there were more men enlisted in the Tuskegee Airmen Unit besides the eight characters depicted in the film but the one-dimensional characters, in my view, rather portrayed the personalities of the entire 332nd Fighter Group.
For example, the names of the characters (i.e., Joker, Easy, Joker, Winky, Lightning) were associated with a certain personality. It was those personalities that brought the valorous story of the Tuskegee Airmen to life.