This is an unusual film because the supporting actor, Joe Sawyer, not only appears in the film but produced it...something he only did this one time.
The story is inspired by the hard winter of 1948-49 in the American west. Because there was so much more snow than usual, cattle were dying in huge numbers. To stop it from becoming a complete disaster, the US Air Force began flying missions...dropping bales of hay to keep the animals from starving.
The story, while true, has a fictionalized family in it...and I think in hindsight this was NOT executed well. While I am glad the USAF got attention for their actions, the story element is limp. There are two brothers who operate a ranch...and when one of them quits the ranch to join the Air Force, the other brother is angry. Naturally, by the end of the film, his attitude has changed and now he, too, loves the USAF...which seems a bit schmaltzy and is a rather cheap way to make the point that the flyers did an excellent job. As a result, it's an okay time passer but not much more.
The story is inspired by the hard winter of 1948-49 in the American west. Because there was so much more snow than usual, cattle were dying in huge numbers. To stop it from becoming a complete disaster, the US Air Force began flying missions...dropping bales of hay to keep the animals from starving.
The story, while true, has a fictionalized family in it...and I think in hindsight this was NOT executed well. While I am glad the USAF got attention for their actions, the story element is limp. There are two brothers who operate a ranch...and when one of them quits the ranch to join the Air Force, the other brother is angry. Naturally, by the end of the film, his attitude has changed and now he, too, loves the USAF...which seems a bit schmaltzy and is a rather cheap way to make the point that the flyers did an excellent job. As a result, it's an okay time passer but not much more.
