The War Lover

Buzz Rickson pilots an American bomber flying out of a base in England during the Second World War. In the air he is superior; everywhere he is not flying he fails. He asks for the most dangerous missions and his crew put up with him because he always brings them back. His co-pilot Bo sees what Rickson is. When both of them get close to the same woman, Daphne, the tension between them moves somewhere else. The source is John Hersey's novel, and the title says the film's claim outright: this man is not merely good at war, he loves war itself. The film does not make a hero of him; it questions the difference between courage and a wish to die, and its answer is uncomfortable. Steve McQueen plays Rickson and the part is one of his early works. Robert Wagner is the co-pilot. Michael Crawford is in the cast as a young man. A hundred and five minutes.