Video: Honoring the first African-American aviators
>>> just in time for memorial day , the critically aclaimed movie "red tails" is being released on dvd and blu-ray. the movie produced by george lucas tells the amazing story of the tuskegee airmen , the first african-american aviators to serve in the armed forces .
>> 11:00 .
>> let's give those newspapers something to write about.
>> gotcha!
>> whoo!
>> whoo is right. joining me now one of the real life tuskegee airmen , roscoe brown . turned 90 years old. you look 20.
>> i am. in my mind.
>> also with us the star of "red tails" elijah kelly who plays samuel "joker" george. it fits you. mr. brown, i have got to ask you, what a life you have had, and when you see it on the big screen and i imagine when you think about some of those memories in your mind, at any point in the day do you just go, man, i'm a lucky fellow?
>> i am a lucky fellow. but, see, i come from a generation with lots of lucky fellows and lucky women because i come from the generation of african-americans who wanted to be better. we knew we had to be better than white people . we knew we had to compete. part of the tuskegee airmen story is just the competition among us to do good and then we see these young guys trying to act like us, they did a pretty good job.
>> yeah, yeah, about you it was acting. you did the real thing.
>> i did the real thing, but when they shot the movie i was over there as a consultant along with lee archer .
>> to make sure they got it right.
>> i taught them how to fly.
>> no, no, no, you taught them how to act like they were flying.
>> that, too.
>> they reminded us all the time how not them we were.
>> elijah , what an honor. as i pointed out, memorial day just around the corner. to be able to share space and time with someone like mr. brown, the hit of it alstory of it all.
>> you said something very important, space and time . as we get older, those are the two things that we don't cherish so much, and to be able to look at a living legend in his eyes and know that he's a modern day hero, you know, we have movies like "avengers" that just did a billion dollars almost, but those are fictional characters, you know. they don't exist in real life . i feel like the only things that separates a person like dr. roscoe brown and the other tuskegee airmen from being modern day super heroes is they're more talented. when you see a movie like "red tails" you can't believe they survived, he survived these type of things.
>> watching just the body language between the two of you, you keep touching his arm, it's like you're caring for him. there is a connection here that i think people who see the film certainly know that these young actors, you wanted to get it right because the story has not been told enough and certainly on that grand scale as george lucas presented.
>> absolutely. you know, seeing them behind the camera and when we would get off -- get out of a scene and they would come over and, you know --
>> straighten you up.
>> fix your jacket. this is how we look. we want a commercial success, we want a fiscal gain, but aside from everything, this is their legacy, and without us, without my generation, without you, this doesn't get told over and over and over again. that's what this dvd is about, to put it in households where it can open up dialogue and have a conversation with three and four generations of family, you know.
>> absolutely. and all families, all walks of life, dr. brown, can be inspired. they tell you these kids these days, don't know responsibility, they don't want to work hard. you can see this and whip them into shape.
>> when we were kids, i speak a lot to kids, i try to point out to them that pursuit of excellence is what we were about, and pursuit of excellence needs to happen now because excellence can be an anecdote to obstacl obstacles, an antidote to prejudice. but most of all it makes you feel good. when you know you have done the best you can do, you are at the top.
>> i feel inspired now.
>> you are at the top.
>> elijah , thank you so much. we're going to watch this over and over all weekend long. "red tails" go out and get it. uhh! [
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