History Film / TheBlueMax

* ArtifactOfAttraction: The Blue Max.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Blue Max.

* MacGuffin: The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pour_le_M%C3%A9rite Blue Max]], the pursuit of which drives Stachel to ever-greater heights of bastardry.

* MacGuffin: The Blue Max, the pursuit of which drives Stachel to ever-greater heights of bastardry.

* RedplicaBaron: The actual Red Baron is mentioned by Stachel as a pilot he looks up to, and then later in the film shows up as a pilot that Stachel saved from getting shot down. He offers Stachel the chance to transfer to his elite squadron, but Stachel chooses to remain with the squadron he is currently serving in.

* ModestyTowel: Kaeti. She's at one point seen topless, with only a towel covering her breasts.
* NippleAndDimed: Kaeti is at one point seen topless, but with a strategically-placed towel covering her nipples.

This is the opening of the 1966 war film ''The Blue Max'', directed by John Guillermin and starring Creator/GeorgePeppard, Creator/UrsulaAndress, and Creator/JamesMason. It follows Stachel through his being accepted for the Imperial German Air Service, commissioned as an officer, and his becoming an Ace in the air battles of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. On the way, the ex-ranker with few social connections discovers the stifling nature of the German class system, and he comes to loathe the condescension of other pilots who can put "von" in front of their names and look down on the ex-''landser'' corporal.

He becomes a ruthless killer and a rebel against the system, craving a cleaner Germany which is not so class-bound, and unified in a cause that will benefit all its people, not just the privileged ''Junkers'' class. His personal odyssey leads him through von Richtofen's flying circus, to an affair with the cynical and amoral Countess Kaeti von Klugemann, and eventually he dies needlessly in an air crash engineered by Kaeti's husband.

The movie was based on the novel of the same name by Jack D. Hunter. There are significant differences between the novel and the film. Stachel dies at the end of the movie testing a highly defective experimental aircraft. He is led to believe by an even bigger bastard that the plane is safe to fly, and encouraged to stunt it and throw it around the sky a little bit. In the novel, the roles are reversed and he deliberately disposes of a rival by encouraging ''him'' to fly the plane. The scene then shifts to the immediate post-war era. Here he has a chance meeting with a dissillusioned fighter ace called Hermann Goering, who recognises a kindred spirit. Goering belongs to an obscure fringe political party. He makes a point of telling Stachel it is led by a charismatic man, an ex-corporal like Stachel himself. Pondering a secure political future married to the nurse Elfi - his true love - he meets Countess Kaeti again. She has other plans for him.

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blue_max_1776.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:270:Death, glory, and a big drink]]

This is the opening of the 1966 war film ''The Blue Max'', directed by John Guillermin, and starring Creator/GeorgePeppard, Creator/UrsulaAndress, and Creator/JamesMason. It follows Stachel through his being accepted for the Imperial German Air Service, commissioned as an officer, and his becoming an Ace in the air battles of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. On the way, the ex-ranker with few social connections discovers the stifling nature of the German class system, and he comes to loathe the condescension of other pilots who can put "von" in front of their names and look down on the ex-''landser'' corporal.

* JerkAss: Pretty much the entire cast, except Hauptmann Heidemann. Stachel is has a chip on his shoulder about being lower-class, and so begins doing increasingly selfish and amoral things to advance his position in the German Air Force. Willi is an elitist who resents having a commoner like Stachel as a rival. Kaeti is cheating on her husband with both Willi and Stachel, and betrays the latter after he insults her. Finally, General Count von Klugemann is a callous manipulator who tolerates all of Stachel's bastardry in order to use him for propaganda purposes as a "hero of the people", only to eventually [[spoiler:betray and murder him]].