Man, I remember seeing this when I was like 10 in the IMAX theater at the USAF Museum. Kinda inspired me to be a fighter pilot, but then I did terrible in high school and ended up in the Marine Corps infantry instead lol.

Narrator: Red Flag is not a competition. There are no winners or losers. Me: Exactly what a loser would say.

"Usually you send a whole squadron to Red Flag, not just one ass hole." I burst out laughing. No truer words were ever spoken.

Yeah, all the "pub shots" were done back seat of Eagles because they had no way to do IMAX in a Viper. Also, like 90% of this film was done out of Mountain Home with the 366th Wing, which was then still the Composite Wing and so almost every aircraft in the air-to-air are MO birds, including the KC-135s and the B-1Bs. That's also why the ground is so oddly green. They're in Idaho and Northern Utah, not Southern Nevada. Also, you comment about the CG, but it's really funny because the "mountain flying" was done by a camera ship, a Learjet, and they composited an F-15E into the shot. The funniest part is that "nose gear" shot was the Lear 35 camera ship's, not an F-15's.

I love how the filmmakers clearly were shown the real Red Flag post mission replay system (think slightly updated Atari 2600) and were like “nope, get me the 3D guy right now and let’s movie this up a bit”.

Colonel Stratton the “main character” in the IMAX film was my wing commander at Lakenheath. I remember going up to him and talking to him because I recognized his name on the side of the jet in the film from when I was a kid. Awesome guy. I heard he just retired. He was a captain (0-3) at the time of the making of the film. I got to launch him out even though he didn’t fly much because of his leadership position.

"Already rolling when he was cleared for takeoff..." So he's got a promising career at KLM ahead of him.

I've heard a story that the Royal navy once sent some buccaneers to red flag and they asked for 250ft, ATC told them they are cleared to descend to 250ft, they responded ascending to 250ft.

John talking to his squadron at home: Hey guys you comin to Red Flag? Squad: Yea John, you go ahead of us we'll see you there. John: Cool, see you there. 2 hours later.............. Squad: ......and then he said, see you there lmaoooo..

4:19 not only does he have tanks, but somewhere between the mountain shot and Nellis his plane transformed from a Strike Eagle back into a Charlie.

I was two years out of Pensacola when I saw this in Imax with my ex. When the harriers survived for more than 9 seconds after crossing the line I called bullshit

" you send an entire squadron to red flag not one asshole" 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆

Narrator:"There are no winners or losers." Every guy who's ever been to a military training: "Are there though?"

Nicely done! I met the main Eagle dude at a Red Flag when he was a squadron commander, good dude 🇺🇸. This one ruins itself in a lot of ways…

As soon as they showed the aileron rolls I said "oh another movie the USAF wasn't particularly interested in helping film"

I'm sick at home ....... I'm laughing my ass off, thanks mover for just being mover.

One of the things here is those were Royal Navy Sea Harrier FA2's shown on the ground. Pretty much dedicated fleet defence fighters with AMRAAM or AIM-9's, very limited ground attack capability on their own (though the CGI "AWACS" shots show Harrier II's) They were retired in 2006, and the Fleet Air Arm transitioned to the RAF's Harrier II's, the GR7's and GR9's which didn't even have a radar, which would be why they started hanging around interdicting at 100ft. When you saw them in 2010, that would have been just months before all the UK Harriers were retired in December that year.

You mentioned Harrier at 100 ft; guy I knew while in USAF flew B-52 & like to tell story of when he was at 200 ft at Red Flag, & an RAF Buccaneer flew under them at about 80 ft.

Colonel John Stratton actually just retired from the Air Force this past fall. So anyone saying there's no way he's a real pilot because he's "overweight", you're wrong.

These are by far my favorite type of videos. Some of the best reaction/analysis videos on KZfaq.

Loved the commentary. Had me smiling all the way through. I was stationed at Nellis in the early 80's for three and a half years with the 433rd FWS/F-15 FWS. I was an environmental systems tech cross trained into crew chief. Got to see lots of air forces such as the Germans, French, Brits, Italians, Thais and even Singapore. Singapore brought six F-5's and a C-130. Which, at the time, was their entire air force. Saw a bunch of different aircraft as well. In addition to the F-15's, F-16's, F-4's and A-10's and F-5's already there we saw Bucs, Jaguars, Mirages and Tornadoes. The Brits brought two Vulcans right after the Falklands war. Got to fly on an E-3 and observe while they were controlling the air space over the range during a Red Flag. There were F-111's, A-7's and A-37's. The Navy brought some A-4's once. Saw a U2 land. Got to crawl around an SR-71 although we couldn't see the cockpit and saw the last active duty F-86. The F-16XL was also there for testing as well as the PA-48 Enforcer. I'm sure I'm forgetting some as well. Nellis was a happening place with much going on all the time. I could go on for hours. Definitely the best assignment of my Air Force career.

I saw this in the IMAX theater at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum outside Wash. D.C. shortly after it was released. I found it very entertaining and the parts that "stuck" with me were the ground attack sequences. My God, it was devastating and seemed like there was no chance of survival for anyone or anything on the ground. Death from above - Assured! My Dad was a Navy pilot and he told me a little about their survival training. Part of it was a five day exercise when the pilots were dropped off in separate locations in the desert somewhere with the typical gear they would have after ejecting. The pilots' goal was to evade capture for as long as possible and to move to some designated "rescue" area. The biggest incentive to evade capture was that it was a five day exercise regardless of how long the evasion was successful. After capture (most of them within a day), the pilots went to a mock POW camp to endure more abuse. He told me he spent a lot of time buried in the sand during the day and only moved at night (before widespread use of thermal imaging). Nobody got much sleep whether they were evading or suffering the sleep deprivation "torture" of the POW camp.

Absolutely loved this video….I assume, as with other flicks, a lot of the footage is filmed the way it is for the viewer to appreciate more excitement in what may be occurring.But I appreciate your incites into what really happens! And your comments were also hilarious….especially from someone who knows what they are talking about! Thank you for a great video and the entertainment as well….you never disappoint 🇺🇸🤘😁

Best movie review ever! Thanks for the intel shout-out... started my days in 96 doing ELINT for the Skunk-Bugs.

I was so hoping you'd have a commentary on this, Mover. I knew the acting was cheesy, but the rest of the details deserved an honest scrutiny which only a genuine military fighter jockey could provide. Well done, exceeded expectations.

I remember you once hinting this roast was coming and it did and it did not disappoint. It's really fun, how even in the midst of roasting you share an immense passion for flying which dammit makes me wanna just hop in a cockpit. Thanks Mover, a great way to end 2021

Was part of a few Maple Flags back in the day during my time in Cold Lake AB! Always a great experience! Thx for the post! Cheers!

This might be your masterpiece on Mover Ruins Movies. You were destined to do this particular "documentary" review. Bravo sir.

Classic. Thank you for putting this together.

Man this was the best entertainment for the year. Thank you Mover, once again ;)

Don't forget the documentary about Doug Masters' heroic flight to rescue his father!

Yes ! Thanks for doing this one.. they actually had this playing at the museum of the air force at Wright Patterson

Yes Finally!!! Love your channel, long time fan.

TOMCATS! Looking good Lemoine; I wish you a good 2022 with lots of airtime!

This needs more views... you are hilarious and informative.

you have no idea how long i have been waiting for you to do this film

That first take off looked to be out of Mountain Home Idaho, same as his tail MO - they just botched the audio

I love the fact that it’s not even a minute in, and you can already point out several issues with the “documentary.” Also… Yesterday, my son (11) and I saw Lemoore NAS Hornets flying two-ship formations I think you called fingertip. I live near SF, but have a project in Visalia, so we drove past LNAS twice and saw the tight formation flying twice. Gorgeous day. I’ll send pics to the mailbag.

I enjoyed it… you did a great job hosting 👍 love the commentary

Opening unrestricted climb was filmed in Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. In fact quite a few of the airborne scenes were shot within the Mountain Home Range Complex. The F-15´s and F-16´s show MO on the tails. 391FS F-15E, 390FS F-15C and 389FS F-16CM if I remember correctly.

Some of my best memories were at Red Flag. I was an F-16 (A/B, C/D) crew chief out of Hill AFB from 88-91 and as a lover of all things that fly it was always awesome to see pretty much every type from every branch.

The opening scene of the unrestricted climb to FL250 view from the cockpit looking behind is my all time favorite! The view paired with the music gives me chills every time! ❤

Thank you for making this one!!! I commented on your video of the final countdown with gonky asking if you would do one for red flag! Keep it up!

I’ve been following your channel for a few years and am not sure how I missed this video. I honestly didn’t believe you could ruin my favorite scene but when you said he’s in the back seat my heart sank 😂 It’s still a phenomenal shot 😎

I'm so glad you did this movie! They really liked to pop off flares in this one.

Thanks for picking this apart, Mover...I think I saw that when it first came out and felt then that it was a 'made for TV' flick instead of a true to scale documentary...cool to see the flight footage nonetheless!...Happy New Year!

Great commentary Mover; loved it! Aileron roles are great; they distribute the incoming rounds much better around the airframe. Those flares are mostly jettisons, not a decoy program, but to be fair for safety reasons our armourers would prefer you came back with empty dispensers. I used to enjoy looking round the threat systems but I don't remember there being a Nazi 88 in there?

My memory of watching this film for the first time was quite special because I saw it at the Avalon Airshow in Melbourne Australia in 2007. We were given a brief introduction from special guest of honor Gen Chuck Yeager before the showing of the movie. I'd have preferred listening to him talk more rather than watch the movie.

Valid assessment. Having flown Red Flag in 2000, I remember thinking some of the same things when this movie came out. And even then, I thought the CGI was cheesy!

"Usually you send a whole squadron to Red Flag, not just one asshole."

YES! I have been waiting for this one. :)

There was actually a really good set of videos from years ago that had live fire scenes. As a guy who spent many of my formative years in TACP units, I concentrated on the A-10 parts, but I think the whole thing was actually well done. It had the radio traffic from the pilots, which is always eye-opening for folks who have never flown large exercises. I thought I saved the link, but it may not be on KZfaq any more.

Haha i cud watch you do these all day! Great job Mover

Your sarcasm makes me chuckle every time.

Hey, Mover! I was in 94-98, stationed at Tyndall (one of your favorites bases), and they used to host a little thing called "William Tell", where they had fighter groups from all over the Country and some foreign countries shoot down Firebee drones and towed targets. Do you know if they still do this kind of thing anymore? They even live-streamed it over the local Panama City TV station. BTW, the aircraft back then were F-101's, F-102's and F-106's. THe RO in the Voodoo was called a Scope Wizard.

Red Flag was at Nellis AFB, Nevada when I flew for the Air Force in the 1980s. The city skyline in some of the video looks like Las Vegas, which is very close to Nellis AFB. Could the documentary be a mixture of video through the decades? Mover, I love your channel and content. God Bless America.

I watched this growing up all the time and it made me want to become a fighter pilot for a long time. I’d love to see you get John or Tractor on the channel sometime

I haven't watched this KZfaq video yet, but I just wanted to say I remember buying this years ago and was so disappointed. The best thing about the DVD is there is a long montage of great footage (no special effects) of all these different aircraft flying. No dialog just beautiful video footage. I don't blame any of the service members for this corny film. Thank all of you for your service!

my last Red Flag was in 2001, then shipped to Osan and then out. But from the maintenance side, F16 crew chief. I do remember a lot of formation flights tho, and most missions were at night indeed. Always wanted to hear from the pilot's perspective about this.

Excellent vid 👍👍👍

My father designed the original ACMI system for Cubic Corp back in the early 1970's.. Very cool stuff and makes a BIG difference in training pilots.

I've watched this several times....that being said I laughed so hard hearing your thoughts on it thank you for laugh and thank you for your service

Good comments Mover. The Red Flags I flew in the 80s were like what you described. My first time there in a 111 I ended up with a 111 and an F4 and a 105 on my wing. It was barely VFR at Nellis and I had never flown in there before. I finally saw the airfield at about runway mid point and we all pitched out and landed ok. I did not want to be the guy going straight through initial with 3 guys on my wing.

I was hoping you were going to do this one

The Airbase that is not Egland, was a SAC base you can see the Alert pads during the take off.

A great episode. Roasting a documentary is cool. By the way, is there a visitor airforce that played "Red Force" or is it always US Agressor Fleet ?

BTW, the base in the opening scene masquerading as Eglin is Mountain Home AFB in Idaho.

The initial takeoff scene is Mountain Home AFB in Idaho

Hey I just seen this on KZfaq the other day and I wondered how long it'd take before you got ahold of it and posted it here 😂 good deal

Too funny mate. Great as usual 😎😎😎

That opening unrestricted sequence has to be Mountain Home AFB, Idaho (fin flash “MO” F-15Es).The placement of the alert pads and the center-pivot irrigated fields matches google earth. I recognize the terrain and biome as well -I live pretty near there.

I was stationed at Nellis when they made this abortion. Needless to say it was quickly forgotten about after it was released.

Stratton was supposed to attend my dad's retirement at Maxwell in March 2020. Covid hit and the day before the AF reduced the attendance from 700 to 10 and he got axed so we had family only. Shitty way to see my dad retire after an amazing career flying Vipers. I did meet him briefly at the BBQ though.

I played a survivor at MCCRES. I was dropped off with a jerry can of water and a radio.

Nice to see the RF Facility again. There's a ceiling tile with my unit's EX Patch for 2016 there still I hope. I had to paint the GD thing in a Vegas hotel room with no opening windows. LMAO

Can you check out some of the Mach-loop videos. A low level flight area in wales UK. Some amazing close up videos and photos from the people waiting on top of the mountains for the Air plains.

Rob Novotny, the guy who is leading the briefs and apparently, the Air Boss on the AWACS did indeed go on to become a BG about 15 years later. I believe he commands the 57th Wing at Nellis today.

Happy New Year Mover.

The four eagles in fingertip formation takes me back to the Bah Bah Blacksheep show with Robert Conrad. I watched that show at age 8, loved it!! (And still do.)

hello mover, as always sharp comments, I add one, "where would they have gotten the harriers to fly so low... (especially the royal ones)" 1982 response, it was not fair, it was not correct, but it left a mark. excellent videos

12:14 - "Break left!" Stick goes left. Aircraft rolls right. Yeah, okay, that tracks.

Your reactions to these movies crack me up. ... Since you've flown these planes & missions, which ship is an overall better knife fighter, or does that depend on pilot skill, mission, and current situation? Also, folks seem to love to talk about going to guns, but when's the last time there was a gun kill in the real world? Isn't it better to get a long range shot in, first?

I remember the rescue scene. Saw pictures and videos from the ground done by the 66th RQS bubbas...hokey.

Aussie here love ya channel mova

Was at Red Flag mid 70s ,with 417 sqn CF-104s as ground crew J79 tech. had a blast . Every thing we did was day light, unfortunately we lost one aircraft on a low level sortie.

Please do Flight of the Intruder!

Excellent commentary, as usual. This mockumentary was crying out for your treatment! Butt! Is 250° actually east? Please forgive my perceived necessity to be "that guy"! Love your channel!

Looked through the videos and I don’t think you’ve done Flight of the Intruder yet. Based off Stephen Coonts’ book. Some good scenes with the A-6, shore leave in Po City, the Douglas A-1, and a threat from Danny Glover to keel haul someone on an aircraft carrier.

If you know Tractor - you should try and contact him and get some behind the scenes on what he had to do for this. A lot of the flying scenes look like stock footage with a jet plate over it.

The base he's leaving is Mountain Home in Idaho in the opening scene. There are various versions of the Eagle but it would appear many of the shots are from the backseat of the F15E and from Seymour-Johnson AFB, NC. I flew as a nose gunner from Seymour. I've participated in 8 RedFlags from 1980-1987 in the F4E and the A7D. I flew Air-to-Air, Conventional Air-to-Ground, Close Air Support and even some Wild Weasel work in the hunter-killer mission. I'm with Mover on most of his comments. For me the most bogus issue is the proximity of the jets in the Air to Air video which was done so that you can get the jets in the same frame. In real air to air engagements you'd never be able to see both jets. We never got as close to each other as we see in the movies.

I was actually surprised to see the AMMO representation in the Red Flag video and showing some love

Looks like Mountain Home AFB in the beginning. Several MO markings on the tails.

Snowy mountains between Eglin and Miami? :P

I was so excited to see this around 2006 at the Udvar-Hazy A&S Museum's iMax (was also my first visit there) and then I noticed all the CGI stuff and obvious "stock" and "scenic" footage. I was a bit disappointed, but, was still pretty compelling, I think. Yes, acting. and before GoPro.

so glad you did this one. I wanted to know how much was sort of fake. Thought his jet at first cgi. Great clip mover

Mover, was the section with the A-10's filmed at Saylor Creek near Mtn Home? I've been out there a handful of times, but I didn't know if they go to southern Idaho for Red Flag or if they stay in the NV area.

So I saw this at the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton last year and I thought it was amazing and awesome. It was very inspiring having you have served as an army aviator well an army aviation mechanic would be more like it I worked on helicopter engines but anyways to the point seeing someone that actually knows this information go through it and I checked it I got to tell you this is the funniest movie review I’ve ever seen I am dying over here.

Would love to hear your take on one of my favorite movies. Always. Its about water bombers with John Goodman and Richard Dreyfuss .

Mover did any of your squadrons have scarves? I don't know how much my dad used his when he was a Flight Engineer for both C-141s and when they were retrofitted for SOLL-I in the 80s and early 90s.

Looking at the tail during that side shot, It's one of the C's from Mountain Home AFB in Mountain Home ID.