Anyone assuming this film is about World War I aviation will be seriously disappointed. More than half the film is about Thad Walker (Tab Hunter) who deserts from the Lafayette Escadrille to be with his French girl friend. The only footage of a dogfight is almost at the end of the film and lasts about three minutes. Walker improbably is forgiven for his desertion and gets a commission (!) in the U.S. Army Air Corps. The film overlooks the little detail that while he was with his girl friend the other pilots were all undergoing training; no mention of how Walker learned to fly a plane during his desertion, though the film may have skipped over a time period for this to happen. The movie ends on a note so implausible that it fools no one, and issue other reviewers have noted was due to the studio putting in an ending that differed from William Wellman's version (he quit). I am in sympathy with Wellman who after all directed the Academy award-winning "Wings." "Lafayette Escadrille" is NOT the film Wellman really wanted to make, done in by a mediocre script and a low budget.

Tab Hunter is a big man who is smacked around by his much smaller father so runs away to join the French air force during World War 1. It is there that he is also smacked around by the much smaller French officer which prompts him to desert. The film is pretty typical of the period. The French are portrayed as bumbling, the French Officer barks instructions and orders in French seemingly unaware that the American recruits don't understand a word of it. The flying time is very limited, we also see few aircraft which was the one thing I was hoping to see more of. It could have been my interest waning at times but I also don't recall seeing any air to air combat. Clint Eastwood has a minor role and although it could be the benefit of hindsight you can feel his presence even when he is just in the background silent. I felt the same when I saw him in a Francis the talking mule film. It's not a bad film, it's just not an exciting one either.

I saw this movie while stationed on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA42 sailing in the Mediterranean sea in 1959. It's true that it was more a romantic than an action movie. However, at the time I was thinking more about meeting women than flying airplanes, and I was completely caught up in the engrossing love story. It was a movie that I walked out of on air, and couldn't get out of my mind for months! My visits to Med ports such as Cannes and Nice, France, Majorca and Barcelona, Spain were totally changed as I looked for, and eventually found, a real-life Renee (although in Majorca not France).The true action movie of this story has now been made in the form of "Flyboys", which I just saw and liked also. The story had a bit of the romance in it, with a very appealing French girl as well, but told much more of the flying, and heroic side, of the story. Aside from some hooky computer effects, this was a great flying tale, appealing equally to the flier and action fan in me.Both are highly recommended.

**Spoilers Included** I saw a documentary on William Wellman, one of the best directors Hollywood ever had. I am a big fan of several of his older movies, most notably "The Ox-Bow Incident." He discussed this movie, said he liked it but the studio made him change the ending. It was a dear subject to his heart since it was autobiographical.Tab Hunter plays Thad, who was abused at home and causes an accident with a car so goes to France to help the French fight the Germans. You get some comedic touches at this point because none of the Americans understand a word their drill instructor is saying. They include David Janssen and a very young Clint Eastwood, so young he might have had his high school diploma in his back pocket.Thad strikes the drill instructor and is put in jail. His buddies get him out of it but he has nowhere to go so ends up with the girl he met when he arrived. Their language barrier is touching as they both try to communicate. But he can't leave the house, can't be seen outside since he escaped the military jail. They eventually get married in her apartment, and at the end get married for real.I never saw Tab Hunter in a movie before. I assumed, incorrectly, that he was a no-talent pretty boy but that was not the case. He gives a very thoughtful and real performance. It made me want to see more of his movies.I'm glad I saw this, even if it didn't turn out exactly as Wellman had wanted. 8/10.