Watch The Blue Max For Free

Fresh and Exciting

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

1. George Peppard's American accent, it grates, I dislike cod German accents, (or any other language) in films and would prefer people speak in the actual language i.e. The Longest Day a film made around the same time. Other actors here have made the effort to at least sound German.2. Ursula Andress a completely superfluous addition to the story, 'We must have a love interest for the ladies', really? I think that is an insult to women that they only want to see a film if there is a love interest. Like a previous reviewer states most don't like war films so to add a love interest won't make them go and see it. So there are my reasons for deducting 2 stars otherwise this is a ten star film. The action sequences, especially the aerial battles are superb when you consider none of it is CGI. I saw this film in 1966 with my parents and I wanted to see it again immediately.To George Sickler I say you obviously totally missed the premise of the entire film. The Count wanted to use Stachel as propaganda showing that anyone of the lower classes could rise and be a hero/fighter ace. When he discovers that Stachel cheated to get the Blue Max he knows it would be damaging to the image of the other fighter aces. So rather than expose him he allowed the cheat to die a hero, wonderful PR whilst removing a lover from his wife at the same time.I am just watching it again on Sky Classics, wonderful stuff.

In days of yore, "roadshow" films (ie, "Lawrence of Arabia," "Dr Zhivago," "My Fair Lady," "Blue Max") were long, expensive, expansive, and broke for intermissions. It was an event for a couple to dress up to go to the theatre to watch these films, something looked forward to. When I first saw "The Blue Max" it made me want more than anything to fly in a biplane; although I have been flying for awhile now, I have still not had that pleasure.But I did recently have the pleasure of re-viewing this film; it is Peppard's finest performance, and Mason, Andress and the rest are just as good. The flying scenes will enthrall, but the one drawback to the film is that one gets the impression that the romance story between Peppard and Ursula take up almost an equal amount of time -- all for a tepid pay-off of having Ursula cause a final misfortune out of her sense of pride.The photography is magnificent, the direction is active, the shots are well-planned, and the fight choreography is exciting.IF you've got the (almost) three hours and enjoy war films built on character development more than battle scenes, this is a film you will very much enjoy.

World War I flight combat movies are fairly rare which poses a bit of a problem for us since my son is all into aviation and his favorite period is World War I. This year my wife stumbled onto this movie while looking for Christmas presents.I have watched this movie a long time ago but I did not remember much about it except that I did not like the ending. Well I am older now and can appreciate more aspects of a movie than I could then but I have to say that I still find the ending somewhat depressing. Actually, the hole movie is rather depressing I would say.Having said that, as a movie it is a very well done piece of cinematic art. The story, as depressing as it might be, holds together. The acting is good. The flight scenes are very good even by today's standards. Actually if you consider that the movie was done almost 50 years ago they are quite fantastic.It is a shame that the story is so depressing. It is still a must watch movie if you are into war and historical flight movies though.

See it – An engrossing tale of a hotshot World War One pilot's quest for Germany's highest military honor, the Blue Max. Starring George Peppard and James Mason, it is a fictitious story with the main purpose of showing the danger of letting pride and the pursuit of glory get in the way of chivalry during wartime. Interesting tidbit - the Blue Max was originally awarded to pilots for shooting down 8 enemy planes, but by the time the war ended the figure was increased out of necessity to 30. It was also given to U-Boat captains who sunk more than 190,000 tons of enemy shipping. But I digress. This classic war film has some of the greatest aerial combats scenes in Hollywood history. Maybe the best period. If you've seen "Flyboys" or "Red Tails," you undoubtedly will agree that "Blue Max" not only is a superior film, but the combat scenes are just as good despite the outdated special effects. It's a long movie, but there are enough explosions to keep you hooked from start to finish. 3 out of 5 action rating.