I just saw AIR FORCE of the first time a few weeks ago and, um, well... I guess it's faithful to the time it was made but, man, is it full of baseless bigotry! Okay, I know that during the dark days of a world war one is not exactly interested in hearing what the enemy might have to say on an issue but it is hard to defend Hawks' whole-hearted acceptance of the anti-Japanese/America hysteria. The film falsely portrays Japanese-Hawaiians as actively attacking the American forces during the Pearl Harbor attack. No such attacks occurred. In fact, local Japanese were observed shooting at the invader warplanes! But in 1943, the policy was to support the internment camps and the myths that made them possible. Hawks was probably just "doing his duty as a patriotic filmmaker" but I don't have to like it.
Review of Air Force
