The Red Ball Express (1952) on Netflix
August 1944: Patton's Third Army has outrun its supply lines, so Allied headquarters opens the Red Ball Express, an elite truck route. Lt. Chick Campbell commands a platoon of its drivers.
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- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.4/101,068 votes
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Trailer
Plot summary
After the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944, the Allied advance across France outpaces its supply columns. By August 1944, Patton's Third Army has pushed toward Paris, and Allied headquarters answers with the Red Ball Express, an elite military truck route meant to keep the momentum going. Lt. Chick Campbell commands one of its platoons, a racially integrated outfit whose drivers meet German resistance and minefields on missions that grow more perilous. Campbell and Sgt. Red Kallek clash over an incident from the years when the two worked as civilian truck drivers, an incident that ended with the death of Kallek's brother.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Red Ball Express (1952)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Budd Boetticher said the army would not let the film tell the truth about the black troops, because the government figured they were expendable and did not want to admit they were kamikaze pilots.
- Because so many African-American drivers served in the real Red Ball Express, the Department of Defense pressed Universal to change the film so that "the positive angle be emphasized" on race relations.
