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Only Old Men are going into Battle. 1973 Soviet Film.

Posted on 5/9/24 at 5:01 pm
Posted by blueridgeTiger
Granbury, TX
Member since Jun 2004
20786 posts
Posted on 5/9/24 at 5:01 pm
I just watched the 1973 Soviet movie "Only Old Men Are Going into Battle" on Amazon Prime. The dialog is in Russian, but you can enable English subtitles. The movie is set in Ukraine in 1943 and follows a unit of the Soviet Air Forces flying YAK-1 fighters.

The film, directed by Leonid Bykov, portrays the experiences of a squadron of fighter pilots in the USSR during the Battle of the Dnieper in 1943.

The film's title is inspired by two scenes in which the squadron engages in intense dogfights with German fighter planes. Only the seasoned veterans, who are known as the "old men," are sent up to engage in aerial combat, while the fresh recruits wait on the ground with the mechanics. The film beautifully combines war drama with an amateur musical group led by the squadron commander during their rest time. So, while the skies were filled with combat, the Yak-1s carried these brave pilots into battle, showcasing their courage and resilience against the odds.

There are some good flying scenes. There are obviously some old war correspondent films, but this movie having been produced in the days before CGI, there were some actual YAKs flying.

This movie somewhat reminds the viewer of the 2013 Russian series, The Attackers, but shows a much different perspective.



ETA: A FB friend tells me these were probably not YAK-1s, but more likely LA-5s.
This post was edited on 5/9/24 at 5:11 pm
Posted by wileyjones
Member since May 2014
2442 posts
Posted on 5/9/24 at 9:39 pm to
Sounds great will check it out

Wish there were more ww2 eastern front movies
Posted by chinese58
NELA. after 30 years in Dallas.
Member since Jun 2004
31024 posts
Posted on 5/10/24 at 12:57 pm to
quote:

The dialog is in Russian, but you can enable English subtitles.
I've reached the point where I don't even notice what the people are saying in a foreign language, and keep subtitles running on everything I stream..I watch a lot foreign content, but subtitles also help with some English accents too. Some movies & shows mess up their content by scribbling "speaking in Japanese" over the movie's own subtitles.

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