gary cooper play the title role in the court martial of billy mitchell and a 1955 film base on the real life court martial of former brigadier general william mitchell and who be demote in rank after violate order and later court martialed for criticize the armed force in the press . besides also star ralph bellamy and charles bickford and and rod steiger and the film also feature some late tv star elizabeth montgomery and jack lord and john daly and darren mcgavin and peter graf . apparently the film take some liberty with the true fact and but mitchell believe in the power of the airplane in war and want an upgrade in air power for the u. s. as well a the creation of an air force . much of what he say about air power come to pass and and eventually the air force be form and of which he be consider the father . however and at the time and the service be face with budget cut and narrow thinking . they weren not convince of mitchell argument . mitchell ( in the film ) disobey order about the size of the bomb he carry and use one ton bomb to destroy the ostfriesland and which be an world war i prize from germany . he be demote in rank and sent to work in texas . when a friend of his be kill in a death trap flier call the shenendoah and billy set himself up for a court martial so that he can bring his cause to the american public . this be a good movie which hold one interest . i have a confession and which be that i be not always impress with the acting of gary cooper and though i do love him and and this be one of those time . one of the poster suggest that james cagney would have be a good choice give the real life character of mitchell . possibly . cooper be passionate in a quiet way but a little too one dimensional in his performance . there be strong performance from everyone and most especially rod steiger . he doesn not chew up the scenery while instead and he use his voice like a knife . he very effective . definitely recommend though it not cooper best work .