Lafayette Escadrille

(1958)

93 minutes

Romance / War

Directed by William Wellman

Cast:

Tab Hunter as Thad Walker 
Etchika Choureau as Renee Beaulieu 
Marcel Dalio as Drill Sergeant 
David Janssen as Duke Sinclair 
Paul Fix as U.S. General 
Veola Vonn as The Madam 
Will Hutchins as Dave Putnam 
Clint Eastwood as George Moseley 
Robert Hover as Dave Judd 
Tom Laughlin as Arthur Blumenthal 
Brett Halsey as Frank Baylies 
Henry Nakamura as Jimmy 
Maurice Marsac as Sgt. Parris 
Raymond Bailey as Amos J. Walker 
William Wellman Jr. as Bill Wellman Sr. 

The film is about a rich kid from Boston who gets everything he desires, but runs into some problems with the law. He escapes to France to join the Lafayette Escadrille and flies for them during World War I. During his time off, he encounters Renee and falls in love with her. She comes from the streets and changes her ways for her lover. He is not a very content man, for his childhood was full of abuse from his father and cannot stand anyone giving him orders. Problems arise for him when a presumptuous French officer hits him after he cannot understand his orders in French. The young man strikes him back which leads him to prison. Before he is sent to prison, his friends help escape the camp. He hides in his lover’s apartment for the meantime and comes back in full force when he serves for the US Air Corps when America enters the war.