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Twelve O'Clock High

1949 film by Henry King

Twelve O'Clock High is a 1949 American war film about a tough-as-nails general who takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.

I guess I don't have to tell you what's coming, Frank. I'm promising you nothing except a job no man should have to do who's already had more than his share of combat. I've gotta ask you to take nice kids and fly them until they can't take any more, and then put 'em back in and fly 'em some more. We've got to try to find out just what a maximum effort is.
There's one more thing you might as well know, sir. The 918th got through today, and bombed the target when nobody else did. And if Providence ever drops into my lap, another chance like that to give this group the pride it out to have in itself, I may have radio malfunction again, sir.
Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead. Once you accept that idea, it won't be so tough. Now if any man here can't buy that... if he rates himself as something special, with a special kind of hide to be saved... he'd better make up his mind about it right now. Because I don't want him in this group. I'll be in my office in five minutes. You can see me there.
Directed by Henry King. Written by Henry King, Sy Bartlett, and Beirne Lay Jr., based on the novel of the same name by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay, Jr.
A story of twelve men as their women never knew them...
I was thinking, which is a thing a man should not do, and all at once I couldn't remember what any of them looked like. I, I couldn't see their faces, Bishop, Cobb, Wilson, Zimmy, all of them. All of you. They all looked alike, just one face. And it was very young. It confused me. I think I shall stay drunk until I'm not confused anymore.

General Savage

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  • [addressing the 918th for the first time at 0800] There will be a briefing for a practice mission at 1100 this morning. That's right, practice. I've been sent here to take over what has come to be known as a hard luck group. Well, I don't believe in hard luck. So we're going to find out what the trouble is. Maybe part of it's your flying, so we're going back to fundamentals. But I can tell you now one reason I think you've been having hard luck. I saw it in your faces last night. I can see it there now. You've been looking at a lot of air lately... and you think you ought to have a rest. In short, you're sorry for yourselves. I don't have a lot of patience with this, "What are we fighting for?" stuff. We're in a war, a shooting war. We've got to fight. And some of us have got to die. I'm not trying to tell you not to be afraid. Fear is normal. But stop worrying about it and about yourselves. Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead. Once you accept that idea, it won't be so tough. Now if any man here can't buy that... if he rates himself as something special, with a special kind of hide to be saved... he'd better make up his mind about it right now. Because I don't want him in this group. I'll be in my office in five minutes. You can see me there.
  • Rights, Gately? You've got a right to explain to General Pritchard cowardice, desertion of your post, a yellow streak a mile wide! And maybe he can explain it to your father so that they'll both be proud of you! You can tell him right now.
  • [about Keith Davenport] He's gonna bust wide open. And he's gonna do it to himself, too. Why? Because he's a first rate guy... "over-identification with his men." I think that's what they call it.

Major Stovall

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  • That is not why I am drunk tonight. I got drunk because I am confused. I was thinking, which is a thing a man should not do, and all at once I couldn't remember what any of them looked like. I, I couldn't see their faces, Bishop, Cobb, Wilson, Zimmy, all of them. All of you. They all looked alike, just one face. And it was very young. It confused me. I think I shall stay drunk until I'm not confused anymore.

Other

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  • Capt. 'Doc' Kaiser: [referring to Gen. Savage's complete collapse in a state of shock] Did you ever see how bright a light bulb is just before the filament burns out? I think they call it maximum effort.

Dialogue

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General Pritchard: I guess I don't have to tell you what's coming, Frank. I'm promising you nothing except a job no man should have to do who's already had more than his share of combat. I've gotta ask you to take nice kids and fly them until they can't take any more, and then put 'em back in and fly 'em some more. We've got to try to find out just what a maximum effort is. How much a man can take and get it all. [sighs] I don't even know if any man can do it. That's what cracked Keith. [pause] What time do you think you can get down there tomorrow?
General Savage: Early, I guess.
General Pritchard: No squawks?
General Savage: Pretty hard to have one the way you put it.
Maj. Stovall: Major Stovall, sir. Group Adjutant.
Brig. Gen. Savage: Yes, I remember you, Major. You the only one around?
Maj. Stovall: Probably, sir. I presume you've come down to take over the Group.
Brig. Gen. Savage: That's right. Have you been drinking, Major?
Maj. Stovall: I have. It's the first time I've been drunk in 20 years. But it may not be the last.
Brig. Gen. Savage: Where's the Air Exec?
Maj. Stovall: I don't know, sir. It's only an opinion, but it's possible he may be drunk too, sir.
Brig. Gen. Savage: I'll take straight answers, Major. Is he off the station?
Maj. Stovall: Yes, sir.
Brig. Gen. Savage: Where?
Maj. Stovall: I don't know that, sir.
Brig. Gen. Savage: Send the MP's out and find him, and bring him to me under arrest.
Maj. Stovall: Does the General mean under actual arrest?
Brig. Gen. Savage: Exactly. Two: Cancel all leaves and passes, and make sure all squadron commanders are back here by tonight. Three: Bring me the personnel files, the 66-1's on Gately and the key staff. Including yours.
Maj. Stovall: Yes, sir.
Brig. Gen. Savage: Four: Set up a meeting for all combat crews in the briefing room, tomorrow morning, at 0800.
Maj. Stovall: Is that all, sir?
Brig. Gen. Savage: That's all.
Maj. Stovall: Yes, sir.
Lt. Col. Ben Gately: May I ask the General why I've been placed under arrest?
Brig. Gen. Savage: No. Stand at attention. You're the son of Lieutenant General Tom Gately, aren't you?
Lt. Col. Gately: I believe that's my standard identification, sir.
Brig. Gen. Savage: What do you think of him as an officer?
Lt. Col. Gately: None better, sir.
Brig. Gen. Savage: That's right. You're the son of one fine officer and the grandson of another. You're a graduate of West Point with nine years' service. Your file shows that you have more four-engine time than any other man in the group. For those reasons you could've done more than anybody to take the load off Colonel Davenport. But your file shows you've flown only three missions since you've been here.
Lt. Col. Gately: If you don't count twice I turned back, sir.
Brig. Gen. Savage: I take it you don't even care about the part you had in breaking one of the best men you'll ever know. Add to it as Air Exec you were automatically in command here the moment Colonel Davenport left. And you met that responsibility exactly as you met his need. You ran out on it. You left the station to get drunk. Gately, as far as I'm concerned, you're yellow. A traitor to yourself, this Group, to the uniform you wear. It'll be the easiest course for me to transfer you out. To saddle some unsuspecting guy with a deadbeat. Maybe that's what you think you're gonna get out of this. A free ride in some combat unit. But I'm not gonna pass the buck. I'm gonna keep you right here. I hate a man like you so much that I'm gonna get your head down in the mud and trample it. I'm gonna make you wish you'd never been born.
Lt. Col. Gately: If that's all, sir-
Brig. Gen. Savage: I'm just getting started. You're gonna stay right here and get a bellyfull of flying. You're gonna make every mission. You're not Air Exec anymore; you're just an airplane commander. And I want you to paint this name on the nose of your ship: Leper Colony. Because in it you're gonna get every deadbeat in the outfit. Every man with a penchant for headcolds. If there's a bombardier who can't hit his plate with his fork, you get him. If there's a navigator who can't find the men's room, you get him, because you rate him. Is that clear?
Lt. Col. Gately: General Savage, I have a right to file charges against you for personal abuse, and exceeding your lawful authority, and I-
Brig. Gen. Savage: [picks up the phone on his desk] Get me Pinetree. I want General Pritchard.
Maj. Stovall: Line's busy, sir. Will you wait?
Brig. Gen. Savage: Yeah, I'll wait. "Rights", Gately. You've got a right to explain to General Pritchard cowardice, desertion of your post, a yellow streak a mile wide. Maybe he can explain it to your father so that they'll both be proud of you. You can tell it to him right now.
Maj. Stovall: Hello, I have your line, sir. Hello?
Lt. Col. Gately: General Savage, I withdraw my statement.
Brig. Gen. Savage: Nevermind. [hangs up] That's all, then.
General Savage: [on stalling the transfer paperwork] There can be trouble in this.
Major Stovall: I don't think so, sir. I never heard of a jury convicting the lawyer.
General Savage: [to a crewman who disobeyed orders] So for the sake of your roommate you violated group integrity. Every gun on a B-17 is designed to give the group maximum defensive firepower - that's what I mean by group integrity. When you pull a B-17 out of a formation you reduce the defensive power of the group by ten guns. A crippled aeroplane has to be expendable. The one thing which is never expendable is your obligation to this group. This group... this group - that has to be your loyalty; your only reason for being. Gately!
Lt. Col. Ben Gately: Yes sir?
General Savage: [referring to Gately's "Leper Colony"] Here's another one for you!
[Following a bombing raid; General Savage disregarded a recall order and led the 918th Bomb Group to hit the target anyway]
General Savage: No, Sir. I didn't hear a thing. It must have been radio malfunction.
General Pritchard: Do you mean you're going to stick to that fairy tale?
General Savage: Yes, sir. There's one more thing you might as well know, sir. The 918th got through today, and bombed the target when nobody else did. And if Providence ever drops into my lap, another chance like that to give this group the pride it out to have in itself, I may have radio malfunction again, sir.
General Savage: How'd you happen to get into paperwork?
Major Stovall: They didn't give me any choice. See, I'm a... I'm a retread. I had my shot at combat first war. I kinda wanted to get into this one, but I guess they figured I was too old for anything but a desk. Maybe they were right.

Cast

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