The Blue Max is a 1966 WW I film directed by John Guillermin and starring George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Karl Michael Vogler, and Jeremy Kemp.

In contrast to films that romanticize the flying aces of the Great War, The Blue Max depicts the protagonist as a man who appears to have no regard for anyone but himself.

In spring 1918, he sets his sights on winning Germany's highest medal for valour, the "Blue Max", for which he must shoot down 20 aircraft.

With Stachel temporarily grounded by a minor injury, General von Klugemann orders him to Berlin to help shore up the crumbling public morale.

During a strafing mission covering the retreat of the German Army, Stachel disobeys orders and engages enemy fighters.

He is also depicted as being insecure about his lower-class background and desires to prove himself an equal aviator and man to the aristocrats by earning the Blue Max.

In the novel, Heidemann, not General von Klugermann, is the one who recognises the propaganda value of building Stachel up into a hero and uses that as a means to get himself reassigned to Berlin to be near his wife.

In the film, General von Klugermann recognises the social turmoil erupting in Germany and presents Stachel as a lower-class hero.

Doctor von Klugermann, an aristocrat, recognises the unfair nature of Germany's class system and disapproves of it but makes no effort at change.

He earns extra money by smuggling cheap booze to Stachel and by using one of the squadron's reconnaissance cameras to take pornographic pictures for Kettering's extensive collection of erotica.

Conclusion: In the movie, Heidemann flies the monoplane first and determines that it is a "death trap" because the struts are too weak for the wing loading.

Elmo Williams said Guillermin was "indifferent to people getting hurt as long as he got realistic action...a hard-working, overly critical man whom the crew disliked.

In the film it is portrayed by Patrick Lindsay's Morane 230 Parasol trainer, with a faired-over front seat to simulate a monoplane fighter visually.

[17] The director had placed a flock of sheep next to the bridge so that they would scatter as the aircraft approached to show that the stunt was real and not simulated with models.

The entire collection of aircraft, uniforms and supporting equipment was purchased from 20th Century Fox by ex-Royal Canadian Air Force pilot Lynn Garrison.

He kept the collection together in Ireland under his company, Blue Max Aviation, Ltd. Over the following years they played a part in You Can't Win 'Em All, Darling Lili, Zeppelin, Von Richthofen and Brown, and various television commercials, including a classic Ridley Scott production promoting Opel's limited edition "Blue Max."

Christ Church Cathedral and Leinster House, the seat of the Oireachtas, the Irish national parliament, are easily recognisable in the background of many scenes and Trinity College served as the army headquarters where von Klugermann's office is located.

Many of the flying scenes were shot at Weston Aerodrome (EIWT) near Lucan, Ireland, about 10 miles west of Dublin hence the name confusion with Weston-on-the-Green.

The Carrickabrack Viaduct in Fermoy, County Cork was used for the scenes where Stachel and Von Klugermann flew several times under the railway bridge.

The view from the 19th century railway bridge which spans the River Blackwater is spectacular and it was one of the reasons the producers of The Blue Max chose it as one of the locations for the film.

In an article entitled "About The Blue Max" the author, Jack D. Hunter, wrote: On the day of our arrival at the Bray Studios, we were shown to canvas director’s chairs with our names on the back and treated to rushes of some key action sequences.

And I was literally left speechless when I saw Fokker D-7s with inverted engines and 1916-style insignia, Dr-1s with radial engines and smoke canisters on their landing gear struts, machine-guns that looked like Space Cadet props spouting flame without benefit of ammo tracks, every pilot wearing an Uhlan uniform and Battle of Britain style goggles, Gypsy Moths pretending to be Albatros D-3s, a Stampe presented as an RE-8—the anachronisms and goofs compounded.

Goldsmith was even introduced to the project with scenes incorporating a "temp track" from Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra.

The soundtrack was released on CD by Varèse Sarabande in 1985 and by Sony in 1995 (with seven cues of source music from the movie arranged by Arthur Morton).

The score was once again released, this time complete and in correct film order with accurate track listings, by speciality-label Intrada in 2010.

[21] Although The Blue Max was seen as a quasi-historical account, some critics decried what they considered an intrusive sub-plot tying a World War I story into the "modern theme of the corruption of the military-industrial complex.

[14] Robert Alden of The New York Times wrote, "What is by far the best thing about 'The Blue Max' ... is that this élan, this glory, is captured on film once again.

"[23] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called it "a World War I combat drama with some exciting aerial sequences helping to enliven a somewhat grounded, meller (sic) script in which no principal character engenders much sympathy.

"[24] Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote of the film that "The aerial dogfights have thrilling impact ... Its fault is that it doesn't give one anybody to pull for, so that aside from admiration for the men who fly these flimsy, antiquated crates one's sympathies are rarely engaged.

"[25] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post wrote that "the flight sequences and the fantastically frail-looking planes run away with the picture ... Director John Guillemin rightly makes the most of Skeets Kelly's aerial photography and those fabulous flying crates, but on the ground he misses what might have been an absorbing statement.