Legends of the Air

Front Yard Features continues its run of free, outdoor movie screenings with another classic film in another classic neighborhood: Robert Williams’ The Tuskegee Airmen in the Ville’s Tandy Park (4206 West Kennerly Avenue; 314-664-4330 or www.fyfstl.com). Williams, an original Tuskegee Airman himself, took the true stories of his fellow flyers in the legendary WWII unit of African-American pilots and translated these accounts into a star-studded film that deals head-on with the racism and ignorance that pervaded American culture and the war effort. Williams also packed the film with plenty of aerial combat, because there was no unit better in the air than the 332nd Fighter Group: When the Red Tails escorted your bomber on a mission, that bomber came back home safely -- no ifs, ands or buts. Laurence Fishburne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Allen Payne and Mekhi Phifer portray the fictionalized composites of Williams’ friends on the big screen, and Joseph Robinson, the president of the St. Louis Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, portrays himself in an informational presentation before the movie starts. The pre-film activities, which include food and live entertainment, start at 6 p.m.; the film starts when the sun goes down (roughly 8:30 p.m.).
Fri., June 29