Bombardier

Following Pearl Harbor, America prepared to fight for its life. In mere weeks, millions of civilians, from farmers to bellhops, were turned into battle-ready gunners, commandos, Seabees, pilots and bombardiers. In 1943's Bombardier, a cast of men’s men, including Pat O’Brien, Randolph Scott and Robert Ryan, headline this prime example of World War II filmmaking that works on many levels: as a flag waver, an action picture and most memorably, a taut procedural (featuring actual training camp filming) that follows would-be bombardiers through the perils, camaraderie and conflict of training. Equipment fails, controls jam, men plunge to their deaths… and the bombardiers soar on to face explosive, soul-testing action in the Pacific.