Pauline Kael called it 'cold-hearted'. She was right. *SPOILERS*

Well, I'm reading your response about a 1974 film which takes place in the late 1920's to early 1930's seven years after you posted it. I can understand your reasoning but you can't judge a film about that era based on 21st century sensitivity.

I like the movie only so much but it isn't for how the characters played out. Rather, it was more to do with my sense of disjointed storytelling that lost me. It also seemed kind of empty, or in other words, kind of rushed through.

But back to how they handled the death of the young lady, well, that's how things were dealt with back then. Men were of stoic character in those times and rarely cried openly. But just because they were talking business doesn't mean that her death was a small matter to them. Newt's presence set the table for business discussion. He wasn't there as a grief counselor.

These are pilots and the close friends of pilots in the 1920's, still the nascent years of aviation. Death was expected as a routine risk of the profession. Every time they went up there was a 'real' chance, that is one in the single digits of percent of happening, that they would die. The probability that you will live through any given flight is, let's say 97 percent or 0.97. Then the probability that you will live through one summer of flying barnstorming or doing airshows that involve 100 flights is:

0.97 x 0.97 x 0.97 ... 100 times. Take a guess, please. What do you suppose that is?

0.04755 In other words, the probability that you, as a barnstormer or airshow pilot will live out the next season is less than 5 percent.

I am being overly pessimistic with the above figures, but that gives you an idea of how the math works. The people that fly on the edge of the envelope for a living know that they will probably die in the pursuit of their dream, unless they are maimed to the point of being unable to fly before that happens. But they love their profession more than life itself so they cannot let go. Consequently, they do not like to think about death, because they always think about death.

It is the same mentality as the pilot who become astronauts in "The Right Stuff," and it is the same for the pilots of any air force that must face the United States Air Force in combat.

I think the scene of Mary Beth becoming a bit of a diva with delusions of grandeur was meant to make her a less sympathetic character so her death in the next scene wouldn’t hit the audience quite so hard.

Waldo's partner quits stunt flying, so I wouldn't say they were all pretty much unaffected. Of course, he was closer to Sarandon's character.

It is cold hearted, but I suppose that's faithful to the times and the people in that business. The owner of the show wanting to get out there quickly to take advantage of the tragedy, there are real world stories about people that ruthless.

Waldo is so obsessed, he can't see that the girl's death shows that there might be some problems with the stunt flying business. It was an accident, he tried to save her, move on. The maneuver where they flew through the town was really dangerous, too, not just having her walk on the wing.

There is an odd tone to the movie considering some of the things that go on. It's nostalgic and warm and Waldo is portrayed like this hero, but horrible things happen because of these huge risks they take. I mean, the old friend of Waldo's who tells him about the coming regulations they have to deal with isn't wrong, actually.