Beautiful Lamb: Coming to the Screen: Red Tails

For those unfamiliar, Red Tails is the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American pilots to fly in a combat squadron during World War II.

During the war, African-American pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program were engaged in two wars -- one against enemies overseas, and the other against discrimination within the military and back home. Racial prejudices have long held ace airman Martin "Easy" Julian (Nate Parker) and his black pilots back at base -- leaving them with little to do but further hone their flying skills -- while their white counterparts were shipped out to combat after only three months of training. Mistakenly deemed inferior and assigned only second-rate planes and missions, the pilots of Tuskegee mastered the skies with ease but have not been granted the opportunity to truly spread their wings. Until now.

As the war in Europe continues to take its toll on Allied forces, Pentagon brass has no recourse but to reconsider these under-utilized pilots for combat duty. Just as the young Tuskegee men are on the brink of being shut down and shipped back home, Col. A.J. Bullard (Terrence Howard) awards them the ultimate chance to prove their mettle high above. Undaunted by the prospect of providing safe escort to bombers in broad daylight -- a mission so dangerous that the RAF has refused it and the white fighter groups have sustained substantial losses -- Easy's pilots join the fiery aerial fray. Against all the odds, with something to prove and everything to lose, these intrepid young airmen take to the skies in a heroic endeavor to combat the enemy -- and the discrimination that has kept them down for so long. (Wikipedia)

When the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-47's red, the nickname "Red Tails" was coined.

The film adaptation was written by George Lucas (Star Wars) and directed by Anthony Hemingway (Ali, Manchurian Candidate, The Wire).

The cast includes a host of new faces who are well on their way to becoming household names.

Terrence Howard as Col. A.J. Bullard

Cuba Gooding Jr. as Major Emanuelle Stance

Gooding also starred in the HBO special on the Tuskegee Airmen years ago.

Michael B. Jordan as Maurice 'Bumps' Wilson

You may recognize Jordan, who is oober-talented, as Wallace from 'The Wire'.


Tristan Wilds as Ray 'Ray Gun' Gannon

Wilds was also featured on the hit HBO series 'The Wire' and currently plays Dixon on '90210'.

Andre Royo as Chief 'Coffee' Coleman

And it seems the director Anthony Hemingway hooked up all his former employees from the Wire with new jobs. (Must be nice) Royo played "Bubbles" on 'The Wire'.