The Falcon Fighters

The Falcon Fighters

Rikugun hayabusa sentotai
🎞️ Movie 100 min JP
โ˜… 7.3 /10 1969

In the days leading up to the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937, head flight instructor Kato Tateo of the Imperial Japanese Army-Air Corps trains new crop of volunteers from the Amry's Infantry to become Japan's next generation of fighter pilots. Flying early biplane's, Kato will train both friend and future foe alike. But as war in China breaks out, Kato (played by Makoto Sato) will take his untested men flying antiquated planes into aerial combat against the Chinese Air Force who is now headed by Lt. Cho (played by Jun Fujimaki) who Kato had both earlier befriended and personally trained. While Kato's squadron achieves air superiority over China, it comes at a high price in men to which each loss carries a heavy burden that he alone must bear. As the war progresses into the Second World War, Kato must now battle an ever advancing array of deadlier newer enemies flying ever more modern fighter planes. In a time when 'To Serve was to Die,' Kato will rise through the ranks and defy the military logic of the day of an indifferent Army military brass to push for the development and production of the Peregrine Falcon in an effort to arm Japan's pilots with modern fighter planes that would give his men a fighting chance of survival in the deadly aerial combat.

Cast

Makoto Satô
Makoto Satô
Lt. Takeo Kato
Kôjirô Hongô
Kôjirô Hongô
2nd Lt. Ando
Ken Utsui
Ken Utsui
Major Miyake
Jun Fujimaki
Jun Fujimaki
Cho Young Jun
Shiho Fujimura
Shiho Fujimura
Kato's Wife
Yôko Namikawa
Yôko Namikawa
Keiko Tachibana
Tôru Minegishi
Tôru Minegishi
Corporal Hitomi
Sei Hiraizumi
Sei Hiraizumi
2nd Lt. Kihara
๐Ÿ‘ค
Akio Hasegawa
Lieutenant Oe
Shigeru Tsuyuguchi
Shigeru Tsuyuguchi
Lieutenant Masaki
๐Ÿ‘ค
Seitarô Ômori
Composer
๐Ÿ‘ค
Kimio Watanabe
Cinematographer