I'm a fan of Pearl Harbor and I have yet to see Wings. I was wondering if Pearl Harbor ripped if off or not. Thanks.
shareThe basic storylines are the same, but it is the often used love triangle plot device.
Wings is better. It has Clara Bow. enough said.
"I've seen detergents leave a better film than this." - Waldorf
The first half of 'Pearl Harbor' was pretty good, the second half was pure hokey. If 'Pearl Harbor' had ripped anything from 'Wings', PH would have been a better movie.
shareThe more appropriate query would be is there any film that the Pearl Harbor remake DIDN'T rip off.
shareWings is the only Best Picture I have yet to see... so I couldn't say if Pearl Harbor ripped it off... all I know is that I don't feel Pearl Harbor deserves getting knocked as much as critics and audiences knock it... I mean, sure the love story angle was hokey, but as a war/adventure it was great.
I remeber seeing the media footage of the Pearl Harbor veterans still living that screened the film and came out in tears... it didn't have quite the same effect on me... but my grandfather - a WWII pilot who was shot down by the Japanese and put into a labor camp - said he loved it... and that's all the testimonial I need (I'll take it over a critic's opinion anyday).
Anyway, I plan to see Wings as soon as possible, to complete my Best Picture viewings. And if it is as good as Pearl Harbor... I know I'll enjoy it.
Astonishing is an apt word for this film.
For all the technological restraints imposed on it,
it wrung every bit from those that WERE available.
The shot selection, the flying sequences, the character development.
All dazzling.
Now that I bought this movie from China on ebay and watched it I can say with total confidence that... YES, Pearl Harbor did rip off the plot of this film... but - in saying that - Pearl Harbor is actually the better movie.... both have cheesy romance angles that just don't work... but Pearl Harbor is much more visually stunning... although Wings does have some incredibly beautiful aerial photography and a great camera shot in a Paris whorehouse.
shareAlthough there are some similarities between the plots of "Wings" and "Pearl Harbor", I feel like it's not intentional. I do think, however, that Michael Bay lifted more than a few shots from Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun". Watch the scene in "Empire" when the US planes attack the airfield/prison camp and you'll see what I mean.
I was very impressed by the technical aspects of "Pearl Harbor" (the period detail and production design in particular are excellent, as are the effects during the attack scene). But the characters/romance left me a bit cold.
"Wings" is one of my favorite silent films, and I am even more impressed by what it accomplished in 1927 than by what "Pearl Harbor" was able to do with modern film techniques and technologies. And I was deeply drawn into the love triangle. If only the film were on DVD (or at least on Netflix Instant Streaming)...
I suppose that by now you have completed the list!
I started doing exactly the same thing last year, and I still have to watch more than thirty of the Best Picture winners. I am planning to write a book on them (I hope you didn't have the same idea!)
If you want to get in touch, I'll be more tan glad: [email protected]
all I know is that I don't feel Pearl Harbor deserves getting knocked as much as critics and audiences knock it... I mean, sure the love story angle was hokey, but as a war/adventure it was great.
Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Criedshare
The real scandal is that, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, they were in fact ripping off many aerial bombardments from the First World War, something which they completely failed to give credit for!
shareThere are planes involved and a pair of best guy friends.
That's about where the similarities end.
Were the characters to have flown for the Lafayette Esquadrille, then the Royal Air Corp, then transfered to the Army Air Corps, while one of them managed to have knocked up Clara Bow, then you could say PH had borrowed from it.