剧情介绍：
The Inspector General of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), Major General "Happy Jack" Kirby (played by Kevin McCarthy), lands unannounced in a KC-135 at the fictional Carmody Air Force Base near San Francisco, California (a role actually filled by the real life Beale AFB), home of the 904th Strategic Aerospace Wing. Accompanied by a thirty-man inspection team, he demands that the Air Police take him directly to the wing's command post and once there announces a no-notice Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI). As the inspection continues, General Kirby receives a score report from a member of his team. With this in hand, he calls General Hewitt, the commanding general of SAC at his Omaha headquarters and soberly informs him, "It doesn't look too good so far, sir."
The general agrees and, without further ado, summons to his office his new aide, Colonel Jim Caldwell (Rock Hudson) USAF, who at the time is conducting a tour of visiting dignitaries through the central alert room of SAC Headquarters at Offutt AFB. Colonel Caldwell reports to his boss's office, and General Hewitt (Leif Erickson) coolly informs him that the wing commander at Carmody "didn't have what it takes" and must be replaced. Hewitt offers the job to Caldwell, who enthusiastically accepts. To Caldwell, this is a highly enviable career move, one made more auspicious when he discovers that his good friend and Korean War buddy, Colonel Hollis Farr (Rod Taylor), is the vice wing commander. Barely able to conceal his excitement, he telephones his English wife Victoria (Mary Peach) to tell her the news.
Soon after he arrives, noting a number of problems in the wing that indicate a low state of training, he institutes measures that Colonel Farr immediately questions—restoring a seven-day alert cycle that isolates flight crews from their families, freezing all promotion recommendations, and making it clear that no member of the 904th may consider his job secure. This includes the Base Commander, Colonel Bill Fowler (Barry Sullivan), who, as Caldwell soon learns, drinks heavily. Eventually, Caldwell forces Fowler to retire early, and tells him straight-out that his drinking is the cause. He also alienates a maintenance officer by telling him that he must learn to delegate authority and when that officer applies for a transfer, Caldwell refuses to act on it. Farr protests that Caldwell is "going out on a limb," to which Caldwell replies with a biting rhetorical question, "What's wrong with that?"
Caldwell's harsh policies soon alienate even Victoria, who has befriended Fowler's wife. Eventually, morale at the upper echelons goes from bad to worse. First, Bill Fowler shoots himself, under circumstances that could be accidental but probably are not. Then, after Farr gives leave to a squadron commander whose unit is not in good shape, Caldwell asks the brigadier general commanding the 904th's parent air division to replace Farr as vice wing commander. He says, "I inherited the most popular wing
The general agrees and, without further ado, summons to his office his new aide, Colonel Jim Caldwell (Rock Hudson) USAF, who at the time is conducting a tour of visiting dignitaries through the central alert room of SAC Headquarters at Offutt AFB. Colonel Caldwell reports to his boss's office, and General Hewitt (Leif Erickson) coolly informs him that the wing commander at Carmody "didn't have what it takes" and must be replaced. Hewitt offers the job to Caldwell, who enthusiastically accepts. To Caldwell, this is a highly enviable career move, one made more auspicious when he discovers that his good friend and Korean War buddy, Colonel Hollis Farr (Rod Taylor), is the vice wing commander. Barely able to conceal his excitement, he telephones his English wife Victoria (Mary Peach) to tell her the news.
Soon after he arrives, noting a number of problems in the wing that indicate a low state of training, he institutes measures that Colonel Farr immediately questions—restoring a seven-day alert cycle that isolates flight crews from their families, freezing all promotion recommendations, and making it clear that no member of the 904th may consider his job secure. This includes the Base Commander, Colonel Bill Fowler (Barry Sullivan), who, as Caldwell soon learns, drinks heavily. Eventually, Caldwell forces Fowler to retire early, and tells him straight-out that his drinking is the cause. He also alienates a maintenance officer by telling him that he must learn to delegate authority and when that officer applies for a transfer, Caldwell refuses to act on it. Farr protests that Caldwell is "going out on a limb," to which Caldwell replies with a biting rhetorical question, "What's wrong with that?"
Caldwell's harsh policies soon alienate even Victoria, who has befriended Fowler's wife. Eventually, morale at the upper echelons goes from bad to worse. First, Bill Fowler shoots himself, under circumstances that could be accidental but probably are not. Then, after Farr gives leave to a squadron commander whose unit is not in good shape, Caldwell asks the brigadier general commanding the 904th's parent air division to replace Farr as vice wing commander. He says, "I inherited the most popular wing