The Great Waldo Pepper

1975
PG
1h 47m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

6.8K

YOUR RATING

After WW1, an ex-pilot takes up barn-storming and chance-meets a former German ace fighter pilot with whom he co-stars in Hollywood war movies depicting aerial dog-fights.

Play trailer3:13

2 Videos

49 Photos

Adventure Drama

After WW1, an ex-pilot takes up barn-storming and chance-meets a former German ace fighter pilot with whom he co-stars in Hollywood war movies depicting aerial dog-fights.After WW1, an ex-pilot takes up barn-storming and chance-meets a former German ace fighter pilot with whom he co-stars in Hollywood war movies depicting aerial dog-fights.After WW1, an ex-pilot takes up barn-storming and chance-meets a former German ace fighter pilot with whom he co-stars in Hollywood war movies depicting aerial dog-fights.

Director
- George Roy Hill
Writers
- George Roy Hill
- William Goldman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

6.8K

YOUR RATING

Director
- George Roy Hill
Writers
- George Roy Hill
- William Goldman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos2

Trailer 3:13

Official Trailer

Clip 1:53

The Great Waldo Pepper: A Great Stunt

Clip 1:53

The Great Waldo Pepper: A Great Stunt

Photos49

+ 41

More like this

6.4

The Electric Horseman

5.6

6.4

7.0

7.1

6.8

6.3

Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here

6.8

6.1

5.5

6.9

6.6

The World of Henry Orient

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
There are no studio takes in airplanes. All close-ups of actors being airborne were done for real, sometimes with George Roy Hill, a former Marine pilot himself, flying the airplane while directing. Scenes with Robert Redford and Bo Svenson climbing out on the wing were done without any security harness or parachutes.

Goofs
When Ezra and Waldo drive up to the farmhouse in Ezra's pick-up it is very obvious that the truck looks far too old for the 1920's time frame of the movie. In the late 1920's that truck would have been new or nearly new. Instead, it is obviously 40 or 50 years old (which is just about exactly the age it would have been when the movie was released in 1975).

Quotes
Dillhoefer: Now, here's what we do. We put her up on the wing...
Duke: And she'll fake being afraid...
Dillhoefer: Right.
Duke: And the wind will blow her clothes off!
Dillhoefer: Yes! Yes!
Waldo Pepper: Wait! Why would the wind blow her clothes off? When I'm wing-walking, the wind doesn't blow MY clothes off.
Dillhoefer: Fool! Nobody wants to come and see YOU with YOUR clothes off!

Connections
Featured in Hooper (1978)

User reviews43

Review

Featured review

7/10

Great For People Who Love These Old Planes

Anybody who likes old airplanes, stunt flying or just plain adventure and an interesting story should like this early Robert Redford film.

Redford plays the "The Great Waldo Pepper" as he barnstorms from place to place in the early 1900s. You see some wonderful bi-planes and the interesting characters who flew them. The most flamboyant person in this story is "Axel Olsson," played by Bo Svenson. He and Redford are intense competitors and the competition between the two is fun to witness, especially with humor thrown into the mix.

This film is noted for sporting a very young and beautiful Susan Sarandon who makes a very memorable exit from the film! Except for an excessive amount of usages of the Lord's name in vain, this would have been an excellent family film. Other actors whose names you might recognize in here are Edward Herrman, Georffrey Lewis and Margot Kidder.