The Great Waldo Pepper

Robert Redford plays Waldo Pepper, a former World War I pilot who exaggerates his accomplishments in order to impress the rabble. After a brief rivalry with air-show entrepreneur Axel Olsson (Bo Svenson), Pepper teams with Axel to barnstorm all over the Midwest; later, after a series of unexpected ...more

The last in a string of period films directed by George Roy Hill, The Great Waldo Pepper is a high-flying adventure-drama set in the days after World War I. Many expected the film to be the third consecutive blockbuster for Hill and lead Robert Redford -- following their successes Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting -- but Pepper failed to find much of an audience, perhaps because it was released the same summer as Jaws. Nevertheless, the film features some wonderful aerial ...more