Review of Red Tails (2012) by Randall W — 29 May 2012

Much of the history of the Tuskegee Airmen has been intentionally marginalized and modified by racist "historians" and journalists who are consistently busy scrubbing the public record. Shortly after WWII many of the Tuskegee Airmen went into various intelligence programs and were unable to counter the misinformation. The legacy of Blacks in the military continued with The Fighting 24th in Korea. In reaction, The Army brassholes set about trying to scrub that history with a despicable set of prosecutions to create a more acceptable myth. The full record of the Leon Gilbert incident and General MacArthur is still hidden.

Congrats to George Lucas who took a portion of the Tuskegee Airmen story and made another Lucas action movie, dumping millions of his own money in the venture where we see the latest FX applied to a 1940s subject. This was only part of the story and other opinionated producers can step up to the plate to bring other views and insight into the legend, I'm still waiting for the Spike Lee, Van Peebles, Singleton, Fuqua, et al. to show up. Actually, I think an Oliver Stone version might be most revealing.

There are a few incidents like the "Great Train Robbery" â" the Tuskegee Airmen version â" that were modified a bit too much. The lack of black women was also noted as a minus, but shouldn't take away from the romance where Italians, surprisingly, had an entirely different view of race, in sharp contrast to the typical inbred American.

Little discussed is that â" even though this is a Lucas-typical picture â" he did hire Director: Anthony Hemingway and Writer: John Ridley to make this story. In return George Lucas catches Hell where he should receive acknowledgment. The living leaders of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. were very appreciative of his efforts.