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Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

(1965, Rated G, Comedy, Starring James Fox, Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles)
  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 5, age appropriate for kids over 7; suggested age 7.
  • Is it any good?

    5.0
  • Common Sense says

    Top gun of slapstick early-aviation comedies.

Why We Rated This on for Ages 7 and Up

The good stuff

  • Messages:

    The cast is abundantly, exuberantly filled with hearty stereotypes, such as stiffly proper Britons, opera-singing Italians, laid-back cowboy Yanks, militaristic Germans, romantic Frenchmen, etc. (the Japanese entrant is a surprise; he has British mannerisms instead). There isn't any meanness in any of it. Noble, honest pilots win; the shifty, underhanded one doesn't.
 

What to watch out for

  • Violence & scariness:

    Flying-machine crashes and car-chase crackups are pretty frequent, but harmless. A punch-out. A clumsy duel fought with outsized rifles.
  • Sexy stuff:

    A nude in a painting obliquely glimpsed. The model herself quickly clads herself in a towel. A flirty Frenchman insists on greeting and romancing girls with slaps on the bottom. Near the end he heads for a handy haystack with a woman.
  • Language:

    "Hell" uttered, the s-word muttered, and the ethnic slur "nip."
  • Consumerism:

    Mention of some real-life London newspapers.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Social drinking (with one of the wine glasses poisoned); cigar and cigarette smoking.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

Parents need to know that there are blink-and-you'll-miss them swear words and ethnic slurs, and a few stunts of a don't-try-this-at-home-with-cardboard-wings variety. One running gag concerns a Frenchman who seduces a string of women throughout (nothing explicit is shown). Some video boxes of this feature carry a "G," others a "PG," and there's no difference in content.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about the period atmosphere. What must it have been like to behold early airplanes at the dawn of aviation? How has air travel and technology changed the world? You can research real air-races and barnstormers from the old days, and famous larger-than-life daredevil pilots (like Roscoe Turner, who traveled from race to race with a pet lion).

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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Kid Reviewer Age 7
    Lives in New York
    I rate this title off for age 2 and give it 1.0
    My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate language

    WHAT WERE THEY THINKING IT HAS LAUNGED

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