grantss Interesting war movie, based around a B-17 pilot (Steve McQueen) and co-pilot (Robert Wagner) and their bombing missions over Germany in WW2. Reasonably predictable, but the action sequences are great, utilising WW2 footage plus footage filmed especially for the movie.

Edgar Soberon Torchia When the old-fashioned melodrama «The War Lover» premiered in 1962 it did not impress anyone. The protagonist Buzz Rickson (a convincing unpleasant performance by Steve McQueen), a psychopathic American pilot, haughty and pedantic, hardly aroused sympathy among mass audiences, other than military and civilian population who might have shared with him his obsession with war, macho supremacy or boastful bragging. This aspect of Rickson only finds objection and disgust in Daphne Caldwell (Shirley Anne Field), a pacifist British girl who defends opposite values , which she expresses in her dialogues with Ed Bolland (Robert Wagner), Rickson's co-pilot. The script unfortunately reduces Daphne to a "war girl" that falls in love with Bolland, who just wants to have a good time, unlike Rickson, who is obsessed with her, but keeps a distance. I am amazed when I see these war films that exalt death, without taking a moment to think that, almost as a rule, every war usually responds to economic interests, concealed by political motives. I feel they are almost horror movies, preparing us for the death of the characters in a sinister conflagration. Similarly, they bother me even more when I know that they are propaganda vehicles that sell the image of an army - in this case, foreign and distant from the events that motivate the war - and overlooks the real drama of local human beings who have to endure so much tragedy. Richard Addinsell provides such a pompous score to «The War Lover» that it makes you think you are watching a major historical event. But no. It is a romantic-war melodrama, with a mad soldier leading the events and making propaganda for his army, in those days when that institution was intervening in the genocidal war of Vietnam and when England was producing the progressive "free cinema", to which this film is completely alien. Avoid.

thinker1691 World War II has always been a treasure trove of some of the finest moments of heroism known to Hollywood. For this offering, tinsel town selected a novel by John Hersey and made a movie called, "The War Lover." The late Steve McQueen, was very proud of his role as Capt. Rickson, during the filming. Added to that was the cast and crew from his co-star Robert Wagner as Lt. Ed Bolland, to the supporting actors, Gary Cockrell as Lt. Marty Lynch, Michael Crawford as Sgt. Junior Sailen and multi-talented Robert Easton as Sgt. Handown enhance this fine war time saga. The well written story about the war, it's effects on the characters and their ability to cope with it is what makes this movie a classic. Occasionally some pearls of wisdom are uttered which makes one think, such as the phase spoken by the Flight Surgeon Randall (Bernard Braden) who said, "I consider war to be a complete cession of rational thought." That is true, not to mention memorable. Like the tale itself which zeros in on the men, their loves and their own mortality. All in all, a worthy Classic from the Greatest generation. ****

KyleFurr2 This is easily one of Steve McQueen's worst pictures and it's a pretty lousy World War II picture. McQueen almost turned down The Great Ecape because of this and his picture picture Hell Is For Heroes were both World War II films and both flops. Hell Is For Heroes was a much better film directed by Don Siegel and McQueen's character are basically the same in those two. It's easy to see why this film did so bad and but not so with Hell Is For Heroes. There isn't much plot here except that McQueen is a rebel and always has to disobey orders and Robert Wagner plays his co-pilot and friend who wants to play by the rules. There is a girl played by Shirley Anne Field who Wagner likes but it's a pretty bad movie and you shouldn't watch it.