The Great Waldo Pepper

Universal. Director George Roy Hill; Producer George Roy Hill; Screenplay William Goldman; Camera Robert Surtees; Editor William Reynolds; Music Henry Mancini; Art Director Henry Bumstead

Robert Redford
Bo Svenson
Bo Brundin
Susan Sarandon
Geoffrey Lewis
Edward Herrman

The Great Waldo Pepper is an uneven and unsatisfying story of anachronistic, pitiable, but misplaced heroism. Robert Redford stars as an aerial ace, unable to cope with the segue from pioneer barnstorming to bigtime aviation.

George Roy Hill's original story was scripted by William Goldman into yet another stab at dramatizing the effect of inexorable social change on pioneers. In this case, Redford and Bo Svenson, two World War I airmen, scratch out a living, and feed their egos, via daring stunts in midwest fields. But Geoffrey Lewis has made the transition from cocky pilot to aviation official, and inventor Edward Herrmann unwittingly complements the shift through his technological advances.

The film stumbles towards its fuzzy climax.

(Color) Widescreen. Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1975. Running time: 108 MIN.

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