The Great Waldo Pepper
The Great Waldo Pepper
A biplane pilot who had missed flying in WWI takes up barnstorming and later a movie career in his quest for the glory he had missed, eventually getting a chance to prove himself in a film depicting the dogfights in the Great War.
Vincent Reggiannini reviewedJune 1, 2025
A charming 1970’s period piece about early barn-storming that turns into a film about obsession. One talented pilot played by Robert Redford, who missed out on proving his skills in WWI and feels his life is wasted traveling the country to thrill small-town Americana. Through a series of convoluted and unexpected twists he meets a man who lived that dream, who provided his skill and his bravery - who tells of a different side of that story - a disappointing and seemingly meaningless life of alcohol, divorce and shattering debt that followed him after the war.
Neither man can resist proving what they were born to do, in a fascinating confrontation that was never meant to be more than a reenactment.
Many young men were thrust into a dangerous world of the very early beginnings of manned flight, yet the risks they took and the prices they paid seem to have defined them.