Lesson Before Dying: A Brief Summary Of The Film

In Tennessee 1923, two young boys, Rafe McCawley (Jesse James) and Danny Walker (Reiley McClendon), are playing together in the back of an old biplane, pretending to be soldiers fighting the Germans in World War I. After Rafe's father (Steve Rankin) land his biplane and leaves, Rafe and Danny climb into the plane and Rafe accidentally starts it, giving the boys their first experience at flight. Soon afterward, Danny's father (William Fichtner) comes to take him home, and beats Danny, saying that he is of no account. Rafe hits Danny's father with a two by four and calls him a dirty German. Danny's father reacts by saying he fought the Germans in France and hopes the two boys never have to see what he saw. He then walks into the wheat fields, and Danny tells Rafe that he is his best friend, before joining his father.
18 years later, in January 1941, Danny (Josh Hartnett) and Rafe (Ben Affleck) are both First Lieutenants under the command of Major Doolittle (Alec Baldwin). The two men get into trouble when they use the Air Corps P-40s to play a game called chicken at Mitchel Field, Long Island. Afterwards, Doolittle gives Rafe the news that he has been accepted into the Eagle …show more content…
The two had begun a relationship and Evelyn is looking forward to seeing Rafe in the city that night. Rafe and Evelyn enjoy an evening of dancing at a nightclub and later a spin in New York harbor in a borrowed police boat. Later, Rafe shocks Evelyn by saying that he has joined the Eagle Squadron and is leaving the next day. He asks her not to see him off. When he leaves the following morning, though, he is pleased to see that she has come anyway as it means she really loves