Lucas had been trying to get this made since the 80’s.
Really, that long? I thought it was since 1991 - and even that amount of time surprised me.
An HBO movie on the same subject came out in 1995.
Yes, The Tuskegee Airmen, I’ve got the DVD somewhere. Damn good film with a great cast.
As for Red Tails, I was eager to see it because of the subject matter, especially after enjoying the HBO film, so I imported the US Blu-ray as the UK theatrical release date hadn’t even been announced. Despite a good director (I enjoyed Hemingway’s work on The Wire) and cast, it came across as ok but nothing more. Frustratingly, it fell way short of its potential to be an epic war and historical film.
The “Double Victory” documentary included on the Blu-ray that featured testimonies from the real life Tuskegee Airmen was much more powerful, engrossing and compelling than the feature film. Lucas should’ve based RT around those actual true stories instead.