in the U.S. during its year of initial release. Critical The Great Waldo Pepper opened to mixed to good reviews, with the biggest praise going to the film's aerial sequences. Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "'The Great Waldo Pepper' is a most appealing movie. Its moods don't quite mesh and its aerial sequences are so vivid— sometimes literally breathtaking— that they upstage the human drama, but the total effect is healthily romantic." Leonard Maltin noted that the film disappointed at the box office, and, although compared to earlier efforts such as The Sting (1973), it was director George Roy Hill's "more personal" account that "... wavers uncomfortably between slapstick and drama." The aerial sequences staged by Frank Tallman included the climactic fight between Waldo Pepper and Kessler. The scene featuring a replica Sopwith Camel and a replica Fokker Triplane, was loosely patterned after a real dogfight between German ace Werner Voss and a flight of aircraft led by British ace James McCudden. Due to the attention to period details and the use of actual aircraft in the flying scenes, The Great Waldo Pepper is well-regarded among aviation films, receiving a "four-star" rating by film and aviation historians Jack Hardwick and Ed Schnepf. Released in a number of home media formats, there are no extra features in the latest DVD. Former silent screen actress Viola Dana was an honored guest at the premiere of The Great Waldo Pepper. In 1920, Dana had begun a relationship with Ormer "Lock" Locklear, a daring aviator, military veteran and budding film star, reputed to be the prototype for the character of Waldo Pepper. Locklear died when his aircraft crashed on August 2, 1920 during a nighttime film shoot for the Fox Studios feature, The Skywayman. The title of Geraldine McCaughrean’s 2009 novel, The Death-Defying Pepper Roux, was inspired by the title of the 1975 Robert Redford 1920s aviation film, The Great Waldo Pepper. See also List of American films of 1975 References Notes Citations Bibliography de Haro, Roberto. Twist of Fate: Love, Intrigue, and the Great War. Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse, 2012. . Farmer, James H. Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . Goldman, William. Which Lie Did I Tell?. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. . Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General