The Blue Max
1966 film by John Guillermin
The Blue Max is a 1966 war film about a ruthless German World War I fighter pilot.
Otto Heidemann
edit- [suspecting his subordinate, Bruno Stachel, of lying about shooting down two planes] Two three-second bursts. Is your marksmanship that good?
General Count von Klugermann
edit- [on being informed Stachel has been wounded in the arm] Good, the people like soldiers to be shot in the right places.
Dialogue
edit- Otto Heidemann: What does your father do?
- [Pause]
- Bruno Stachel: He works in a small hotel, Herr Hauptmann...five bedrooms!"
- Willi von Klugermann: A pretty medal, the Blue Max.
- Bruno Stachel: It's the only one worth having. People respect it.
- Willi von Klugermann: The medal or the man?
- Willi von Klugermann: By the way, Stachel. There's an impression around that you care more about your unconfirmed kill than you do about Fabian's death.
- [Pause]
- Bruno Stachel: Perhaps it's force of habit. In the trenches, we couldn't even bury the dead; there were too many of them. I've never had the time to discuss them over a glass of champagne.
- [Willi von Klugermann informs Stachel that their commander has ordered him to attend a ceremony honoring the men he killed]
- Willi von Klugermann: He believes in chivalry, Stachel.
- Bruno Stachel: Chivalry? To kill a man, then make a ritual out of saluting him. It's hypocrisy. When they kill me, I don't want anyone to salute.
- Willi von Klugermann:They probably won't.
- General Count von Klugermann: Otto, this is 1918. Things have changed. Unrestricted submarine warfare, bombing of civilians, poison gas. Ask your wife; she's a nurse. Ask Elfi about the mustard gas casualties.
- Otto Heidemann: So you approve of this kind of ruthlessness!
- von Klugermann: We fight to win, Otto.
Cast
edit- George Peppard - Leutnant Bruno Stachel
- James Mason - General Count von Klugermann
- Ursula Andress - Countess Kaeti von Klugermann
- Jeremy Kemp - Leutnant Willi von Klugermann
- Karl Michael Vogler - Hauptmann Otto Heidemann
- Anton Diffring - Holbach
- Harry Towb - Kettering
- Peter Woodthorpe - Rupp
- Derek Newark - Ziegel
- Derren Nesbitt - Fabian
- Loni von Friedl - Elfi Heidemann
- Friedrich von Ledebur - The Field Marshal
- Carl Schell - Manfred von Richthofen
- Hugo Schuster - Hans, Elderly Servant
- Alex Scott - The Orator
- Roger Ostime - The Crown Prince