ENOLA GAY, THE MEN, THE MISSION, THE BOMB

US, 1980, 150 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Duffy, Billy Crystal, Kim Darby, Gregory Harrison, Ed Nelson, Robert Walden, Stephen Macht, James Shigeta, Henry Wilcoxon.
Directed by David Lowell Rich.

Enola Gay is a telemovie on the Manhattan Project, the preparation of the crew for the dropping of the atomic bombs in Japan, August 1945. The telemovie was made 45 years after the events.

The film has a cast drawn largely from television series and telemovies popular in the '70s: Patrick Duffy, Billy Crystal, Gregory Harrison, Kim Darby.

The subject matter was treated soon after the war in The Beginning or the End. The portrait of Paul Tibbetts, the pilot of the plane with the bomb, was given in Above and Beyond, with Robert Taylor playing Tibbetts, 1953. In the '80s Roland Joffe made Fat Man and Little Boy (The Shadowmakers) with Paul Newman as General Groves and Dwight Little as J. Robert Oppenheimer. There have been a number of documentaries about the Manhattan Project and especially about Oppenheimer, including The Day After Trinity.

This film offers quick portraits of the central characters, the insight into the Manhattan Project and the work of the scientists; however, it follows the course of training for the dropping of the bomb, the technology needed for the safety of the crews as well as the accuracy of the dropping of the bomb. Glimpses are given of the discussions with President Roosevelt and with President Truman.

The film is designed for the widest audience on television, has an engaging cast portraying the central characters and has a musical score by Maurice Jarre.

1. Interesting and entertaining telemovie? The telemovie as a way of re-creating history and communicating it to the wide audience? Information about the Manhattan Project, the training for the dropping of the bomb, the actual bombing of Hiroshima? Characters, events? Issues?

2. The atmosphere of the '40s, the US and World War 2, the Pentagon and the White House? Utah and the training areas? Los Alamos? The transfer to the Pacific, the air base at Tinian? The musical score?

3. The title and the focus on the plane? Tibbetts calling the plane after his mother?

4. Audience knowledge of the period, the personalities and issues, the events? The use of newsreel footage in the film? Audience reaction to the splitting of the atom, the building of the bomb, the dropping of the bomb? Pros and cons? the perspective of the war and 1945? The film's final words about the atomic age?

5. Paul Tibbetts and his background, being selected by General Groves? Meeting Oppenheimer and the scientists? The secrecy of the mission? The selecting of the personnel and their training?

6. Tibbetts and his style, choices of men, the issue of security and sending the men on leave, the lapses in security and dismissing the men? His relating to his men? The urgency of the timetable? The background of his family, Lucy and the children coming to the base? Their time together? Their growing apart? The secrecy? His having to go to Washington, the final decisions, moving to the Pacific, the last preparations, the flight? His success - and the contrast with his relationship with Lucy and the personal disasters for his own life?

7. Uanna, the CIA and advice, security, supervision, the dismissing of the men, the final cyanide tablets?

8. Bob Lewis and his friendship with Tibbetts, loudmouthed, friendship with Lucy, his rebellious nature, taking the plane and flying to Newark, the clash with Tibbetts? His not knowing the full implications - but finally getting his chance during the mission? His keeping a diary - and its being the source for the screenplay?

9. Jacob Beser and Billy Crystal’s style? Electronics background, work, his importance for the mission, the big bodyguard? His humour? The dangers, the deaths, the pathos in his interactions with people? His role in the flight?

10. The variety of skills, expertise? The relationship of the men and their working together? Continued discoveries - the headrest for the bomber and the steadiness for the trigger? The explosion and its force and flying the planes...?

11. The secrecy, the security, the sequence with the men letting off steam and the reprimands? The atmosphere of 1945? The background of the men, expertise, the killer released from prison and working on the project?

12. The backing of President Roosevelt, the discussions at the Pentagon, choices? His death? President Truman, the variety of scenarios for the ending of the war, his advice, personnel, the decisions?

13. The significance of the Japanese sub-plot, the class distinctions in Japan, the traditions, the army? Families? The officers and their tradition, the younger men and their loyalty to the empire? The kamikaze pilots? The kamikaze deaths and their effect on the family? The atmosphere of 1945, strategies, defeat? The effect of the bomb and Japanese surrender?

14. The dropping of the bomb, the effect on Tibbetts and his crew, their accuracy and skill, getting out of the situation? Observing the mushroom and the fireball? The impact on Hiroshima? The destruction? Lives? The aftermath?

15. The Americans in World War 2, Japan and its role in the war? The nature of the war in the Pacific? The American deaths? The need to end the war? The effectiveness of dropping the bomb? The appropriateness? Consequences?