History Film / TheRedBaron

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: This version of the Red Baron tells his men that their goal is to shoot down planes, not men. The real Baron was a butcher who told instructed his men to kill the rear gunners of 2-seater planes before shooting them down.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red-baron_movie-poster_3205.jpg]]

It stars Creator/MatthiasSchweighoffer, Creator/TilSchweiger, Creator/LenaHeadey, Creator/JosephFiennes and Creator/VolkerBruch.

''The Red Baron'' is a 2008 English-language German film based on the life of a legendary UsefulNotes/WorldWarI German fighter pilot, Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, [[RedBaron better known as]] "The Red Baron".

It stars Matthias Schweighöfer, Creator/TilSchweiger, Creator/LenaHeadey, Creator/JosephFiennes and Creator/VolkerBruch.

''The Red Baron'' is a 2008 English-language German film based on the life of a legendary UsefulNotes/WorldWarI German fighter pilot, Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, [[RedBaron better known as]] "The Red Baron". It stars Creator/TilSchweiger, Creator/LenaHeadey, Creator/JosephFiennes and Creator/VolkerBruch.

''The Red Baron'' is a 2008 English-language German film based on the life of a legendary UsefulNotes/WorldWarI German fighter pilot, Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, [[RedBaron better known as]] "The Red Baron".

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: A nurse chastises Von Richthofen for his naive view of the consequences of war.

2008 Film based on the life of German fighter pilot -- the ace-of-aces -- Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, [[RedBaron better known as]] The Red Baron.

* BuzzingTheDeck: It begins with Richtofen and his wing buzzing the funeral of a British pilot so he could drop a memorial wreath.

* MightyGlacier: The huge Handley-Page bombers in the second and night battle scenes. The trick was to hit the engines of these bombers, disabling them, thus causing them to lose control, fall down, and crash.

* MemeticBadass: Von Richthofen's reputation was carefully fostered by government propaganda.

* CoolPlane: perhaps the ''original'' cool plane, The Red Baron's signature all red Fokker Dr.1 triplane. However, as the film accurately depicts, he actually scored most of his kills flying Albatross D.II, D.III and D.V biplanes. His first red plane was a D.III

2008 Film based on the life of German fighter pilot--the ace-of-aces-- Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, [[RedBaron better known as]] The Red Baron.

* BadassCrew: As mentioned above, Jasta 11 (eventually Jadsgftaffel 1, the "Flying Circus"), the Baron's own fighter group. As in RealLife, most if not all of them are actually aces.

* PuttingOnTheReich: The German military really outdoes itself once ''those'' guys come into power, but even in WWI their uniforms were pretty pimp. Of course, the Baron inspired the iconic style of the fighter ace, which foreign aviators eagerly imitated, and eventually came to be universally associated with aviators.

* HollwoodTactics: Made fairly obvious in the brief ground combat scenes, which are clearly intended to be symbolic rather than accurate.

* CombatPragmatist: The younger von Richthofen points out to the Baron that war is about killing the enemy; this is echoed later by the Canadian pilot the Baron twice shot down.
* DownerEnding / ForegoneConclusion: Von Richthofen doesn't survive the war and dies at the end of the film.

* PuttingOnTheReich: The German military really outdoes itself once ''those'' guys come into power, but even in WWI their uniforms were pretty pimp. Of course, the Baron inspired the iconic style of the fighter ace, which foreign aviators eagerly imitated, and eventually came to be universally associated with aviat

* AcePilot: Practically every pilot in Richthofen's squad. TruthInTelevision, since the real Red Baron DID lead a [[BadassCrew squadron of aces.]]

* HonorBeforeReason: Von Richthofen refuses to kill pilots if he can settle for crippling the plane. This has mixed consequences: while it earns the same mercy for him and the others, it results in complications later, when he sees a Canadian pilot he refused to kill repeatedly reappear--a skilled fighter who was probably responsible for many German deaths.

* ManlyTears

* PuttingOnTheReich: The German military really outdoes itself once ''those'' guys come into power, but even in WWI their uniforms were pretty pimp. Of course, the Baron inspired the iconic style of the fighter ace, which foreign aviators eagerly imitated, and eventually came to be universally associated with aviation in general--to include leather gloves, boots, helmets and jackets, jodhpurs, white scarves and [[SteamPunk steam-punky]] goggles.
* TokenMinority: The Jewish German pilot, whose most important role seems to be reassuring everyone that it is okay to like Von Richthofen, because he's not one of ''[[ThoseWackyNazis those Germans]]''.
* TooCoolToLive
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Somewhere a Historian is crying. The film works much better as allegory then history, and reflects modern German attitudes more than those prevalent at the time. The real von Richtofen, who instructed his men to "Aim for the man and don't miss him" was the exact opposite of the character portrayed in the film.
* WorldWarOne
* WorthyOpponent: The aforementioned wreath had a ribbon that read in part "enemy and friend." In RealLife, Von Richthofen was buried with full military honors by the British.

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* AcePilot

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Von Richthofen himself in the film. While the film portrayed him as a proto-pacifist we instructed his men not to kill enemy pilots, the real Von Richthofen showed no such tendencies, and actually encouraged his men to aim for the pilots of enemy planes, since it was the easiest way of shooting them down.

Film based on the life of German fighter pilot--the ace-of-aces--Manfred Von Richthofen, [[RedBaron better known as]] The Red Baron.

* CoolPlane: Show a pilot an all red Fokker D triplane with black crosses on the wings and watch them have a total {{nerdgasm}}.
* CombatPragmatist: The younger Von Richthofen points out to the Baron that war is about killing the enemy; this is echoed later by the Canadian pilot the Baron twice shot down.

* CoolPlane: Show a pilot an all red Fokker D triplane with black crosses on the wings and watch them have a total nerdgasm.

* PuttingOnTheReich: The German military really outdoes itself once ''those'' guys come into power, but even in WWI their uniforms were pretty pimp. Of course, the Baron inspired the iconic style of the fighter ace, which foreign aviators eagerly imitated, and eventually came to be universally associated with aviation in general.