THE WAR LOVER

title: THE WAR LOVER
year: 1962
cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Wagner, Michael Crawford
rating: ***1/2

Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner make a fine team, but are polar opposites. McQueen, the pilot of a B52 bomber, is tops at his gig: becoming one with the plane, and as you might have guessed, he loves war. Wagner, the passive co-pilot, is both impressed by, and wary of, his partner: especially after setting sites on Wagner's girl, a gorgeous pacifist Londoner who wants life back to normal. But what makes this film stand out beyond the semi-intriguing melodrama are the bomber planes, not stock footage but the real thing. And the momentum during the war scenes are topnotch, leading to a predictable climax that's quite suspenseful anyway.