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Simply Perfect

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The acting in this movie is really good.

I used to love watching this movie when I was a kid. It is real Boys' Own stuff, just like those British booklet-sized war comics that Baby Boomers loved to read as boys. That's why it may not stand up well to audiences today: stereotypical stiff-upper-lipped characters not to mention pretty basic special effects. As other reviewers have said, it takes a few historical liberties. It doesn't pretend to be a docudrama like Dambusters. Despite all that, it's still good enough to keep you awake on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I don't think it deserves the really poor reviews given by some contributors and aviation purists.I was crazy about flying way back when, and the sight of all those magnificent de Haviland Mosquitoes flying flat out in formation at tree top level dodging fjords etc was quite thrilling. The theme music was very exciting too, and still is. When I hear it, I still see those Mosquitoes roaring along. It's so evocative, full of movement and aerial daring-do. It remains a classic movie theme, just like the ones from The Magnificent Seven or A Big Country. Maybe a case of a movie theme that is much more memorable than the movie it was written for. At the very least, check it out on Youtube.The lead actors do an uninspired but workmanlike job though the young "Norwegian" pilot looks about as Scandinavian as Victor Mature. He was more convincing as a Greek member of Gregory Peck's raiding party in The Guns of Navarone. If you're looking for deep characterization and Shakespearean insights, you'll be disappointed. And being made for the American market too, there's the obligatory romantic complication shoehorned into the plot. The only really silly thing about the movie is the ending. Air Vice Marshal Davis, played by Harry Andrews, waits for 633 Squadron to return from its near suicidal mission. Waiting in his staff car at the airfield, one of his underlings announces the terrible truth, that the entire squadron has been shot down with all crews probably dead. (Incidentally, did this EVER happen to an RAF squadron anywhere?) He pontificates with, "You can't kill a squadron." The viewer is tempted to shout, "Well, they bloody well have!" Then he is chauffeured off, with exaggerated gravitas, presumably to attend a "please explain" meeting with his superiors that may end in early forced retirement. Or maybe he's wondering where the dickens he's going to find twelve new Mosquitoes and crews. Don't you know there's a war on, Air Vice Marshal!If you've never seen this movie and you feel like a bit of uncomplicated, old-fashioned entertainment with some thrilling aerial photography and great theme music, you won't be disappointed. Just don't expect a winged Lukas or Spielberg production.

"633 Squadron" has much in common with "The Dambusters" from around a decade earlier. Both films depict the exploits of a British bomber squadron during the Second World War. Both have as their climax a spectacular raid on a vital German target. In both cases the British airmen succeed in their objectives, but only at the cost of heavy losses. The main difference between the two films, however, apart from the fact that one is in black- and-white and the other in colour, is that whereas "The Dambusters" dramatises an actual wartime raid, the story told here is purely fictional; there never was a 633 Squadron in the wartime Royal Air Force and the events depicted never took place. The story is set in 1944. The RAF is informed by the Norwegian resistance that the factory producing fuel for the German V-2 rockets is located at the head of a Norwegian fjord. The factory itself is believed to be bombproof as it is protected by an overhanging cliff, but geologists have calculated that several bombs dropped in the right spot could cause the cliff itself to collapse on the factory. Because the fjord is long, narrow and winding, the only aircraft suitable for the job is the fast and manoeuvrable De Havilland Mosquito. The task of destroying the factory is assigned to 633 Squadron. Like most wartime fighting units (at least in films), this one is composed of men from all parts of Britain and the Empire, including Australia and India. In the original novel on which the film was based the Squadron's commander, Roy Grant, was British, but here he becomes an American. The real reason for this, of course, was to provide a role for a Hollywood star (Cliff Robertson, himself a keen flyer), but it is not historically inaccurate. A number of American aviators, the "Eagle Squadron", had volunteered to serve in the RAF before America's entry into the war, and here Grant is one of these men. "633 Squadron" is not really in the same class as "The Dambusters", largely because the acting is not of the same quality. The Greek- American George Chakiris, in particular, seems miscast as the Norwegian resistance fighter Erik Bergman. The film, however, does have two big attractions which helped to establish it as a favourite with the British public. The first is Ron Goodwin's famously stirring musical score which at one time almost rivalled Eric Coates's "Dambusters March" in popularity. The second is the final scene (said to have inspired the "trench run" sequence in "Star Wars") in which the Squadron fly up the fjord to attack the factory, running the gauntlet of the German anti- aircraft batteries- a thrilling sequence which has made the film beloved of all aviation enthusiasts and is the main attraction when it is shown on television today. 7/10

It's a quite interesting movie, from a certain point of view.633 squadron had all the clichés: a tip of hat of our ally with an Australian, an Indian, you may also read a New Zealand title somewhere, every kind of British and of course our beloved American wing commander from the E.S., Eagle Squadron. Plus a noble and daring-do Norway partisan (a bit mediterranean looking, but who cares?), and here we are. Add the usual "comamnd decision" commander, the chairborne officers who wants to have his piece of action, the war bride, the boys singing at the pub after an air raid. Of course a quick romance between our war-weary hero and the blonde.Everything you may find in a wartime or just after-war movie.But we are in 1964 - the same year of Dr.Stranamore. So the gung-ho, woodly heroism sounds a bit phony.And the "action" suffers of choppy cutting, plastic models on a string, horrible pyrotechnics and bad editing. Of course, in 1964 the FX can't do much more, but we have better examples.Only good thing, the real mosquitoes flying, even too often with false boom-boom, guns and so on superimposed.

Where Eagles Dare, Operation Crossbow, The Dirty Dozen, The Battle of the Bulge and The Blue Max and The Guns of Navarone - and 633 Squadron, complete the '60's war spectaculars that have accredited classic war-movie status! There wasn't much in the way of 'air battles' films in the 1960's surprisingly. The Battle of Britain only came at the end of this decade. This air-epic involves the excellent De Havilland Mosquito aircraft, still an acknowledged warplane, but overlooked and thankfully helped by this film for its true recognition in the war.Naturally to sell it to the 'states, we were fed with an American 'Eagle Squadron' flyer , Roy Grant (Robertson) and numerous British stalwarts as the RAF flyers, but also treated to the other American actor, George Chakiris (Bergman) as the hero Norwegian resistance leader aiding the RAF (Who looked about as Norwegian as Nana Mouskouri). The mission - impossible of course - to fly low level down a Norwegian fjord to waste a V2 fuel refinery. Naturally it can't be done any other way. Bergman and his 'resistance-geologists' have decided the only way to destroy it is 'to bring the mountain down on top of it'. A crack below an overhanging rock will do this if the boys manage to fly at a real odd angle and get their eggs in the basket.We're treated to some good flying/action of/around the Mosquito. Training runs, a Nazi fighter sweep on the airfield and even in between the final raid, Bergman is captured, so the RAF despatch Grant to bomb the s*** out of him and of course keep the operation secret (under the guise of putting Bergman out of his misery - but we all know what that means!). Grant manages this, but although escapes being shot down cops a hole in an engine, his undercarriage wheel fails and we're given a good crash landing at 'Sutton Craddock' airfield.In actual fact although Bergman is dead he's squealed and as a consequence when Grant and the boys are in the air on their way to the V2 refinery, they're told to abort the mission as the Norwegian resistance were subsequently destroyed and the AA/Flak guns they were meant to knock out are obviously now intact. Of course 'Wingco' Grant does no such thing, and we're given the da-da-da-da-da-da-da-daaaaaaaahhhhhhh! music that follows them in to the fjord as each aircraft flies up to take its chances. (Excellent score as is the incidental music by Ron Goodwin).Many are blown away, some make the target with plenty of splinters in the cockpit and the 'mad' Aussie (John Meillon) decides to kamikaze against a Nazi fighter. The rock still ain't moving though despite several hits and the tension mounts - when the morse code is being sent back to Air Vice-Marshall Davis (Andrews), all seems lost as only one bomb is left. That is until Don (Donald Houston) gets his in there, sadly crashes (In plastic Revell/Airfix style in his 'Mossie'!) but has completed the job - the rock descends and demolishes the target. None of the squadron make it back though. "You can't kill a squadron." says Davis coldly in the last line of the film!This actioner was set in Norway,but the lochs of Scotland doubled (rather cheaply) for the fjords. I feel this would've elevated the film even more significantly to a 'ten' if they had filmed this there.(No offence to Scotland, nice scenery anyway, but wrong place!) Also, in typical 'sixties style, Hilda, (Maria Perschey) as Bergman's sister provided love-interest for Grant even though he's wasted her brother, but that's explained as a 'nicety' for him being relieved of his suffering. The score as I've said, is superb but does grate on your nerves a bit every time a Mosquito makes its run in to the 'fjord' and there are, as I've said already, a few more 'plastic moments' when aircraft are destroyed - but the crash-landing scenes and sweep on 'Sutton Craddock' technically are well-handled as is the general action, make up for this somewhat.Still, it's a definite must-see for at least aerial warfare fans if anything! As a footnote, another film made in 1968 titled 'Mosquito Squadron' was decidedly inferior and used some of this film in bits and bobs even though new action was included. Don't watch that, believe me it's a poor shadow of this film!