The Best and Worst Aviation Movies of all time!

[Trislander]

What do you think?
I know what I think:

Best: Flight of the Phoenix/Pearl Harbor

Worst: Airspeed

Airspeed is sooo bad! All outside views of aircraft are models (Worse then Airplane!), A stiff landiing gear lever is made into a catastrophy and the acting is the worst I have ever seen!

Thats my penneth worth. TRI

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http://www.aurigny.com/images.gb%20/trislander.jpg
"Ayline 221 airbourne"

[DownIn3Green]

Best-The High and The Mighty...especially when John Wayne (the F/O) slaps the Captain's face.

[PaperTiger]

Best: The Pilot because the actor is a pilot (Cliff Robertson), the planes are real Diesel-8s, the flying sequences are superb and the technical aspects are just about spot-on. Spoilt only by a bit too much 'human interest' IMO.

Worst: About a 30-way tie.

[Professor TailSpin]

Best - That one about the Sioux City crash as it portrays some of the realism

Worst - Hmmmmmm, far too many to pick from. However, even though its not a movie, the plane crash scene from an episode of Casualty is particularly bad (if you watch carefully you can almost see the wires!). The special effects are SO good it looks like it should have been a scene from Thunderbirds.

[critcaact]

Best aviation scenes,

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
Jim Backus gets knocked unconcious while mixing an old fashioned in the back of his Beech 18 with Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney at the controls.

Dr. Strangelove.
Slim Pickins "reading" Playboy while his co-pilot is flying the B-52.

[chiglet]

Best, there ain't one.
Tora Tora Tora, Blue Max, B of B, Dambusters, Sound Barrier, Right Stuff, Flight of the Intruder..I could go on...
Worst, Airplane..Airport [1,2,3 etc]
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

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chiglet

[Diesel8]

My favorite: Airplane:The Movie!

[ComJam]

Best: TOPGUN (obviously :) )

Worst: Flight of the Intruder (Sorry Chiglet, it sucked, the book's great though)

[JBravo]

Best: Memphis Belle (need I say more?)

Worst: erhm.....there are so many... let me ad one to all the movies mentioned above. Turbulence (1&2)

JB

[Long Haul]

The Best is "The Spirit of St. Louis," and the worst has to be "Die Hard 2." That was the one where the terrorists take over Dulles tower and the airplanes don't have enough fuel to divert to one of the other 3000 airports on the east coast, but they do have enough fuel to hold for two hours while Bruce Willis shoots people.

[rolling20]

Battle of Britain.......

[Mr. Perplexed]

Chiglet wrote:

Worst, Airplane..

AIRPLANE! was such a great movie because of the parody factor. They made fun of everything. It if looked phony or hokey, that was the whole point they were going for. I loved the shots of the 707 that was an obvious model and the background noise sounded something like a DC-6 or Lockheed Constellation. That alone probably sailed right over the heads of John Q. Movie-Patron.

http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/cool.gif :rolleyes:

[chiglet]

Bad
Airplane..too contrived, not even kitch
Pearl Harbore, come on, be real
Superman, the "Movie"??
Bridges at Toko Ri
Reach for the Sky
Good
Flight of the Intruder. [I know the acting is crud, BUT the flying..]
BAT21
Mag Men etc
If you are unmoved by the opening Bf109 beat ups in BoB, you are either very sick, or DEAD http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/tongue.gif
Topgun [sorry]
First of the Few
High Flight [anyone got a copy???]
Thunderbird 6

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chiglet

[This message has been edited by chiglet (edited 29 June 2001).]

[LITOW]

Best - Can't think of one that stands out

Worst - Pushing Tin - lets all go stand on a runway and play!!

[Bally Heck]

Best: Airplane "But that's not important right now"

Dambusters "It's ****** Sir. He's dead" (Never get away with that line now)

Battle of Britain "'How many hours in Spits, '12 Sir' '14 Sir' 'Stick to me like glue'"

633 Squadron. Can't think of any quotes but they had a remarkable ability to make good movies in those days

Top Gun "You'll spend the rest of your career on a freighter flying rubber dog **** outta Hong Kong"

Cassablanca. (I know I Know but what about...) "If that airplane leaves the ground and your not on it....you'll regret it. Maybe not today...maybe not tomorrow...but soon and for the rest of your life."
Worst:
Any Airport movie

Final Descent from the other night on C5

And oh there are so many I hardly know where to start.

(Edited to say I didn't get away with that line now and yet it was OK for Richard Todd to call his dog it)

[This message has been edited by Bally Heck (edited 29 June 2001).]

[PaperTiger]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">633 Squadron. Can't think of any quotes but they had a remarkable ability to make good movies in those days</font>
"You can't kill a squadron."

[Bally Heck]

Thanks John :-)

[pax domina]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Top Gun "You'll spend the rest of your career on a freighter flying rubber dog **** outta Hong Kong"</font>

Shouldn't the reply to that be, "Yeah, and making a hell of a lot more money doing it!" http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/colflash.gif

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pax d - narcissistic, short-sighted, ill-bred moron

[Loki]

I quite liked the film version of Nevil Shute`s "No Highway" which, for some reason had "in the sky" tagged on to the title. Lots of atmospheric 1950`s details and a brilliant cast incl. James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Jack Hawkins etc. Not too much flying though.

[kbf1]

Best: Airplane

Soooo crap it is actually good: Iron Eagle

Worst: Iron Eagle 3 & 3

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The path of my life is strewn with cowpats from the Devil's own Satanic HERD!

[Dave Incognito]

Best:

-Memphis Belle
-Flying High (Funny stuff)

Worst:

-Pearl Harbour (2 & 1/2 hrs of boredom)
-Top Gun (Doesn't even cut it for a 'So crap it's good' selection.)

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Flying is easy - just throw yourself at the ground and miss.

[Nick Figaretto]

Best: Memphis Belle

Worst: Passenger 57

One scene in Passenger 57 is the best "aviation scene" of all time: When the hijackers push a "dead" hostage out of an open pax door on the L1011.

The airplane fuselage is all metal and "mirror-polished." It's actuallly so polished that you can see the "dead" passenger falling onto a big, blue matress below the pax door. :)

And this is not the only rediculous scene in the movie.

This is one you really want to see.

Nick.

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"I have found that alcohol taken in sufficient quantity produces all the effects of drunkenness."
~ Oscar Wilde

[This message has been edited by Nick Figaretto (edited 02 July 2001).]

[boredcounter]

Tri
2 good films if you can ignore poetic license, and I cannot remember/be sure of the full titles.

The dawns early light?
B52 crew that know the Cold war has gone wrong....Airforce One getting downed by TCAMO 707 can you help?

Freefall flight???
767 out of gas??? can you help


Best
BoB somehow the violence seems hmmmmm OK when put to that music, but are the bf109's CASA's

Dambusters
aghhhhhhhhh Lancs in flight


Worst
Anything starting Airport

PS. Vid of Lanc dropping poppys over The Mall getting worn, can anyone help?

[Evo7]

What's the one where Concorde dodges a sidewinder by doing a roll? That was pretty bad...

[mach78]

No doubt about it-it has got to be The Battle Of Britain-captured that moment of aviation history-perfectly

[Trislander]

The bad one with Concorde doing a roll is one of the "Airport" series of crap movies.


Tri

[ 08 July 2001: Message edited by: PPRuNe Pop ]

[Dr Jekyll]

Bored counter, re Battle of Britain.
If you're worried about the
Battle of Britain 109s being Buchons, take a closer look at the 'Polish Hurricane' squadron!

[Huck]

Best:

I have to defend the first "Airport." It gave us Joe Patroni, and Dean Martin as a 707 Captain - c'mon, lighten up, it's fun!

"Patroni, the book says we couldn't do what we just did!"

"That's what I like about the 707, she can do everything but read...."

Also a vote for "Strategic Air Command" - the shot from behind of Jimmy Stewart walking up to the B-36 for the first time is burned into my memory. Ever been overwhelmed when meeting an aircraft for the first time?

And it's not a movie, but the series "Baa Baa Black Sheep" was my appointment TV as a child, and probably warped me into what I am today....

Don't forget "The Right Stuff" - saw it twice in two days when it came out. Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager - why don't they make movies like this any more?

And finally, there's a good date movie: "Always", with Richard Dreyfuss as a fire bomber. He looks at his only remaining engine as it feathers and says "Good - I was rusty in panic...." Also - Holly Hunter in a ball gown, being fought over by 50 firemen.

Finally, I must say the crash scene in "Castaway" had me locked to the edge of my seat and gave me nightmares!

[Blacksheep]

Glad you liked my show Huck.

I saw Dambusters about 14 times in a row, as an ATC Cadet collecting for Battle of Britain Day in the cinema. I memorised the script! That gets my vote for joint best with 633 Squadron.

I can't remember the name but one of the worst involved a bunch of "Special Service" guys being winched aboard a 747 in flight and crawling around above the ceiling to rescue the plane from hijackers. Then again there was Con Air...

**********************************
Through difficulties to the cinema

[Boss Raptor]

Best - Always, 1941, Air America...

Worst - Airport and ongoing derivatives!

[pulse1]

One of the best films for flying I have ever seen was, I think, called High Flight and had a story line almost identical to Top Gun except it was '50's RAF and Cranwell instead of Miramar - included Provosts (piston), T11 Vampires and Hunters and two of the stars were Ray Milland and Anthony Newley.

Even though I know a nephew of the cameraman I still haven't managed to see it since it was on the big screen. Does anyone else remember it and have any ideas for getting it shown on TV or on video?

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"If you keep doing what you've always done, you will keep getting what you've always got"

[chiglet]

Pulse
I concur. It's [possibly] the best "true to life" flying film [apart from the cr@p crash at the end] It is also quite funny too.
It has been on TV [Beeb and Sky, could do with another airing though. :)
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

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chiglet

[Luftwaffle]

I have a worst nominantion, but I can't remember the title. It's about an actor who is going to be playing in a Top Gun type movie, so he hangs out with military combat pilots for a while to research his subject. They all hate mim, but he turns out to be really good in the simulator. He goes on a training mission and gets shot down in the desert, being tortured by Arab bad guys. I believe the ending involved flying off into the sunset with at least two people in a stolen one-seat fighter.

I put Tora Tora Tora on the 'good' list, along with Chicken Run. (The rooster who didn't have a clue how to fly trying to teach chickens to fly reminded me of me as a flight instructor. "Thrust!" And you HAVE to see the aircraft at the end. I had no idea that was coming.)

[pigboat]

Thought "Always" was pretty good. That water pick-up with the Canso at the beginning was priceless. 'Course I'm biased... :)

[chiglet]

I thought that the "Duck" was quite good in "Murphy's War"
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

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chiglet

[Roadtrip]

BEST - "High and the Mighty" w/ John Wayne. Flight from Honolulu (?) to San Francisco (?) in a DC-6 (?). Engine failure and mis-calculation of ETP by the alcoholic navigator. Very suspenseful. Unfortunately I can't find it on video. If anyone know where's it available, let me know.

[pigboat]

Roadtrip, "The High and the Mighty" isn't available on video yet, the same with some other John Wayne movies. There is apparently some problem between the late actor's estate and the copyright owners, or something. His son believes their differences can be ironed out. Hopefully this will be in our lifetime.

PS DC-4 :)

[dusk2dawn]

"Those magnificent men and their flying machines" :)

[Code Blue]

boredcounter:
The dawns early light?
B52 crew that know the Cold war has gone wrong

"By dawn's early light" with a rather fetching Rebecca De Mornay in a tight flight suit? Something of a crib off "Failsafe"

Blacksheep:
The Special Forces film was Executive Decision with Kurt Russell. Stephen Seagal was the SF guy who got sucked out during the transfer.

Best
Battle of Britain
633 sqdrn

Worst
Die Hard 2
Airspeed

Ps Anyone know where I can get a NTSC copy of "F for Freddie"?

[Tiger_ Moth]

Some of the best are: Blue Max a great first world war film which is interesting because the main guy is not someone who gets shot down after a couple of hours ( although that might be more realistic, like in Aces High, also good) and he can see that all the "chivalry" is a stupid idea. It has very good flying scenes.

The great Waldo pepper is great, with a likeable lead character and plenty of crazily flown bi planes. It shows how great flying was before the rules came along and shows how the CAA can break one happy, but admittedley dangerous individual.

Iron eagle 3 was pretty dumb and really lacked credibility. The guy at the end gets killed by a bell!

[Sagey]

Best:
Battle Of Britain (except for a lot of cardboard spitfires that collapse instead of getting blown up)
Battle For Midway
The Right Stuff

Worst:
Mmm there were a lot of naff films after the success of Top Gun in the 80's. They were so bad cannot remember the exact names.

[Doctor Cruces]

Best for me was Strategic Air Command with Jimmy Stewart. Wonderful air-airs of old B36, B47 and nice music to accompany them.

Doc C

[Trislander]

Has anyone here seen "Mercy Mission: Rescue Of Flight 771" Starring Scott Bakula (from Quantum Leap) and Alan Fletcher (Karl Kennedy from Neighbours). Based on a true story about two pilots who must deliver two Cessna crop-dusters from Chicago, Illinois to Sydney, Australia. A very realistic movie, unbelievable for a TV movie. It is available on video too.
Most recommended.

Tri
http://www.aurigny.com/images.gb%20/trislander.jpg

[ 08 July 2001: Message edited by: Trislander ]

[ 08 July 2001: Message edited by: PPRuNe Pop ]

[Flight_Finder]

ONe to inspire.

"October Sky"...........not overly anything, but makes you think particularly anyone who feels like giving up when things are not going too well. And those of us in aviation know all about that.

Worst..........Jaysus, there's millions. Pushin Tin would be right up there with many mentioned earlier.

Flight Finder

[BEagle]

My collection on VHS has most of the titles you guys have mentioned: High Flight, The Right Stuff, Strategic Air Command (perfect copy from BSB's early days!), Memphis Belle, Conflict of Wings...........

Does anyone know where I could find 'Out of the Clouds' with James Robertson Justice?

[ 08 July 2001: Message edited by: BEagle ]

[Tiger_ Moth]

I remember that film Trislander, 771 with the guy from quantum leap. It did have Karl Kennedy didnt it! I would also like to endorse that particular film. Its good but I dont like it as much as the blue max n stuff because they have more interesting flying and planes.
Those other awful 80s movies after top gun were the iron eagle films. I tell you they were absolutley outrageous and the credibility decreased with each of the 4 or 5 of them and the first one was about a high school kid who steals an F-16 to attack a middle eastern tyrant in order to rescue his father...and succeeds. So you can imagine how crazy it got by number 4.
Were those planes cessnas? I thought they were pawneys or something? Maybe they were made by cessna, i dont know.

[PaperTiger]

Were those planes cessnas? I thought they were pawneys or something?
Yep, Cessna AgWagons - model number 188 I think.

[G SXTY]

Best (by a mile) - Airplane
Any film with the line; "We have clearance Clarence. Roger Roger, what's our Vector Victor?" has got to walk away with the trophy.

Worst - Turbulence; a 747 collecting a car by dragging its feet through a rooftop car park, then having the car shot off by a friendly passing F15? Nuff said.

[henry crun]

does anyone know if Hells Angels is available on video ?. it has often been quoted as the best flying movie ever but how many of us have seen it ?

[Trislander]

My fav dialogue in Airplane! is this:

Dr: Captain, how soon can you land?
Cap: I can't tell.
Dr: You can tell me I'm a doctor.
Cap: I mean I'm just not sure.
Dr: Can't you take a guess?
Cap: Well, not for another two hours.
Dr: You can't take a guess for another two hours?
Cap: I mean we can't land for another two hours! Fog has closed down everything this side of the mountains- we've got to get through to Chicago!

Perhaps the funniest area of the film!
Tri

[SKYYACHT]

I seem to recall a film called "Cloud Dancer" which starred David (Kung Fu) Carradine as a burned out pilot trying to win an aerobatics comp in the US somewhere....Excellent flying/aeros sequences.

Other than that, The Few with David Niven, which was the life story of R J Mitchell. Dam Busters, Always and Battle of Britain.

Tailwinds

:cool:

[Odi]

Worst movie?

"Pushing Tin", nothing else comes close.

Apart from most of the films mentioned above!!!!!

[EGTE]

If "Hells Angels" is the John Wayne US Marine Corps film - yes it's on video. :)

[henry crun]

egte: I think the one you refer to was Flying Leathernecks. Hells Angels was a 1920's production using zillions of surplus ww1 aircraft.

[airbourne]

Best/Worst movie of all time:

ITVV presents Go-Fly on a flt from STN to ??? Starring John Mahon as 'The Captain' and Joe Wholihan as 'The FO'

90 mis of pure......well you make up your own mind! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Tiger_ Moth]

The best bit in Airplane is obviously the bar scene!

[Loki]

Really good ones:

A very early ICAO training film about the VOR, called someting like "Flying the Range"

Shell film unit documentary about Croydon Aerodrome circa 1936

[boredcounter]

Tri
you have got me thinking now. The Bud Bomber rescue flight film.......Is that the one where the (Air NZ?) heavy crew find him on VHF alone? (with pax approval).....?
His mate ditched early on and the one carried on, or am i crossing two films?

If so good film, do you have a ref to order?

[Kenny Carter]

Best: Memphis Belle & Battle of Britain

Worst: Too many to mention

BTW: does anyone remember an old series '12 o'clock high'(I think it was called that)with B17's. I remember watching it early to mid seventies in black & white !! (dont know whether it was the series or the tv) :D

[Hermie]

BEST, Memphis Belle

WORST, The Crash at Sioux City

There were times they were in a simulator ! :p

What about TV Series, whats the best/worst

I like BIG SKY, but it can be quite boring with the drama or love scene involved. We want to see the plane not the chicks :mad:

Cheerios,
Herman :cool:

[Loki]

TV series:

Loved Whirlybirds....going back a few years though.

[Trislander]

BoredCounter-
You are thinking of "Mercy Mission: Rescue Of Flight 771".

Indeed a great movie. Lots of realistic flying scenes and suspensful situations. His colleage plunged into the water on take-off from Pago Pago.

Definately one of my favorites.
You should now be able to visit my Aviation Movies website as I have removed the links to Amazon that PPRUNE Towers wasn't very happy about. I have had to remove it again because it still links to banner ads, unless advertising is paid for it is NOT allowed

Shall I start a completely new topic on Aviation On TV?
Keep your movie stuff posted here though!

Cheers, Tri

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http://www.aurigny.com/images.gb%20/trislander.jpg
"Ayline 221 airbourne"

[ 22 July 2001: Message edited by: PPRuNe Pop ]

[extra]

Some of the Best -

Final Countdown ( ? ) Weird premise about the Nimitz going back in time to Pearl Harbor but the F14/T6 flying was superb.

Airplane etc - too many corny lines to remember !

Flight 771 - well done and quite accurate to the book reference - Stanley Stuart, Emergency, Crisis On The Flightdeck. Good book about incidents, well worth a read.

Sioux City - Jonboy will never be the same again !

Battle of Britain - classic

BAT 21 - good flying

IMAX - To Fly and Dream is Alive - Wonderful

Top Gun - Predictable but good

Too many others to mention

Worst - Anything with crap continuity, bad mistakes and poor models.

[whatflare?]

Airplane series
"We have to get this man to a hospital"
"Hospital.....what is it"
"It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now"
or
"They're fine, they're on instruments"

Out of the Clouds - fantastic

Worst
Airport xx

[innuendo]

Although not a movie, the TV series "Piece of Cake" had some excellent Spitfire flying and I thought the characters were plausible.

The scene in Memphis Belle where a B-17's nose section is lost in a mid air and some one falls out forward against the airflow was a blooper in an otherwise good movie.

[ZK-NSJ]

dirty harry,
when harry dresses up as a pilot to fool
the terreriosts and then uses the old
.44magnum under the hat trick.

[Capetonian]

'Ruth Rendell mysteries' screened recently :

Great continuity :

Someone flew to Mexico from London, leaving on a Varig MD11, from Luton Airport, which was seen on final approach having transformed itself into a 747, and we then saw the pax disembarking from a 737!

[paulo]

Best:

Aces High, because it follows an aspiring young pilot in WW1 (if around today, he would undoubtedly have listed all the films everyone else has here), who then gets to war and finds it's not like the movies.

[Cyclic Hotline]

I see the names of lots of great movies on this thread. Reminds me of some I need to see again! :)

I was just reading that Apocalypse Now is being re-released as "Apocalypse Now Redux" featuring 49 additional minutes of footage - this is definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

Although nor strictly an Aviation movie, the helicopter attack scene to the accompaniment of "The Ride of the Valkyries" (not as pointed out by PaperTiger as I previously posted "The March of the Valkyries" :o) is one of the great helicopter classics! :)

[ 31 July 2001: Message edited by: Cyclic Hotline ]

[brown trousers]

Best = Tied between Topgun & Airplane ;)


Worst = DEBBIE DOES DELTA :eek:

BT

..trust me, there supposed to be that colour.. :D

[New Bloke]

Some very good movies have aviation scenes I am a bit sceptical about. Two spring to mind, in Chicken Run the bit where the Chickens escape in a home-made aeroplane is kinda suspect. I think some sort of trick photography has been used here as the plane doesn’t look too aerobatic to me and yet does wing-overs and a quite impressive stall turn..

Another one is Toy Story 2 the toys leap from a departing plane about 3 seconds before rotation and remain where they are on the runway. About half a minute later an Aircraft nearly lands on top of them. Now that must be one hell of a long runway and the second Aircraft was landing VERY long. I think that they probably stopped the cameras and moved back up to the threshold.

What?

What?

[PaperTiger]

In the best tradition of leaving no nit unpicked...
It's 'The Ride of The Valkyries' :)

[Cyclic Hotline]

Oops, you are absolutely correct. :o

Thought that would be better than "Die Walkure" which might have thrown a few? :)

In the interests of accuracy, I will however change my original post, then no-one will ever know what we are talking about here! :p

By the way, anyone here see "The Kid"? I though there was some great flying in that too.

[PaperTiger]

no-one will ever know what we are talking about here!
Nothing new for me.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

[LatviaCalling]

Ho hum. I see it's taken me a month to catch up with the news. If anyone is still out there, here are my best;

1. The Battle of Britain. A good solid made for men movie with only a touch of schmaltz.

2. Twelve O'Clock High. A post-war oldie about Yank B-17 bomber pilots. Movie was later used by UCLA and management consultant firms for mid and upper management to determine whether you're an "A" type, a "B" type, or "X", or "Y" -- and how to change your ways. Don't remember what type I popped out as.

[whats_it_doing_now?]

What about 'Firefox', the clint eastwood one? He steals the secret Russian jet and brings it to the good ol' US of A. Not a bad one.
I can also remember a really cringeworthy one, but can't remember its name. It might be an iron eagle one. Basically, a group of kids somehow get involved in a dogfight with US Airforce fighters, while they are flying single props. They win because 'they fly too slow' for the jets to lock on! Serious chink in the US armour if that is true! Forget starwars! :D :D

[New Bloke]

Wasn't Firefox the one where he stole the Russian plane and had to fly low as he was short of fuel? Works for me!

[LatviaCalling]

What about the one -- I believe it was a made for TV movie -- where this pax plane gets into some kind of time-warp fog and lands at an airport and there is nobody there. My cable channel here in Latvia keeps showing the first part, but I have no idea how the story ends. Did they make it back to their own time? Huh? Huh?

[dingducky]

its called the langoliers and yes most of them make it back :p

[RATBOY]

Best ever was "Battle of Britain" at Smithsonian Air and Space Museum shown on the IMAX screen. About 10 rows back center you'd swear to God that that you were in the He-111 as the RAF does their best to shoot your a$%# down. Recommend this highly to any museum with an IMAX if you can get a good clean print of "B of B".

[NorthernSID]

Replying for a generation brought up in the 60s and 70s, who were inspired to fly or dream:

Dambusters
633 Sqn
Battle of Britain
Reach for the Sky

and latterly

Topgun
Memphis Belle

All classics, and if you can't be inspired or dream to one or all of them, you have no soul!

[Rod Eddington]

Best - Airplane

Worst - errm, there was a dreadful film shown on BBC1 ages ago. i cant remember what it was called though. there were about 20 blokes in an F117 (yes thats right, 20!) who then managed to climb into a 747 to try to stop a bomb or something. absolute crap!!

[Wig Wag]

Battle of Britain, Reach For the Sky & The Dambusters all inspired me to fly.

Capricorn One had a great sequence with Telly Savalas in an Ag Cat.

Aces High was good for WW1 SE5a sequences.

Castaway makes me double check my dangerous goods manifest!

Airport 80 - The Concorde was awful. Even as a teenager in knew that you didn't need to crash land in the Alps when Milan and Geneva were within a stones throw.

There was a short IMAX film a while ago about a guy who crash landed a biplane in the Andes. Very spectacular sequence filmed through the undercart.

Thats about it; Computer generated images just don't cut ice with me. I remember seeing a ME 110 flying into RAF Somewhere or Other on its way to make the B of B.

Real film - real aeroplanes.

[Bobby Guzzler]

Sorry for getting into this debate so late!

I had to add a film that inspired me when I was younger, perhaps you remember it

DARYL :rolleyes:

It really inspired me, if a ten year old (albeit a robot) could fly a Blackbird, then surely I could fly a tin can with a prop on the front!

Also Top Gun obviously, but moreso the p155 take of it in Hot Shots (you know the carrier scene!) when the F14 cockpit just falls smack onto the deck!

Chuck Sheen is a legend! :cool:

[dingducky]

rod
that bad movie sounds like executive decision.
kurt russel is learning to fly but is too scared to go solo, but of course he lands the 747 at the end :rolleyes:

[The Guvnor]

As I was doing a post about PIK over on R&N, I was reminded of a true classic: The VIPs starring Liz Taylor, Richard Burton, Margaret Rutherford (who won an Oscar for her performance as an eccentric Duchess) Maggie Smith, a fogbound Heathrow (and look at how it's developed over the years!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: ) plus an assortment of Argonauts, Stratocruisers, Constellations, Comets etc. Strange, that, as it was made in 1963!!

Top stuff!! :D :D :D

[ 21 August 2001: Message edited by: The Guvnor ]

[Vonkprop]

The Blue Max
The Great Waldo Pepper

Oil in your eyes, real men in real planes, no special effects.

[Chris Lock]

Best - serious - Battle of Britain-
Definately hits a chord, lotsa family
in UK, I might not be here now if not for
those guys. Dad took me to see it in
London when I was 9 years old.

Best - comical - Airplane (what else?)
Gotta love the auotpilot scene, a flight
attendants job is never done!
Damn, looks like I picked the wrong week
to stop sniffing glue.............

[powerpuff girl]

For those of you that enjoyed/want to see "The Right Stuff" it'll be on sky cinema next Sunday night(02/09), about 8.00pm I think

[Whirlygirl]

How about the really bad movies like Turbulence and passenger 57... BOOOOO HIISSSS!!
oh yeh and how about the "made for TV" Freefall. based on the Air Canada experiment with gliding ;) except Air Canada would not let them use the AC name..
the Aloha airlines convertible movie was actualy ok.. but still.. all the made for tv cheesy movies....
as for a good shows.. lets not forget
Blue Thunder and Airwolf!!

[ 27 August 2001: Message edited by: Whirlygirl ]

[rayofsunshine]

worst movie ever has to be Aiport3(the one with conorde) ive started to watch it three times and never finished yet! and the worst line in Top Gun
"your america,sbest make us proud" always vomit at that point! best film Thunder Birds are GO! just cos it is!!!!!!!!

[rayofsunshine]

also "Skyjacked" story was rubbish but the only film ever that used real aircraft through out(b707) apart from rusian figthers
that looked very much like F6,s

[Golden Monkey]

Interesting split between the pro and anti Top Gun lobby. I have to say it's still one of my favourite films especially now I have a DVD system, which means you can easily ditch all the cheese and schmaltz and just cut to the flying sequences. The "I feel the need . . . " sequence is the first one I reach for when demonstrating the power of home cinema. Phenominal aerial photography and audio.

Unfortunately I think this film was probably the last of it's kind. Since then the development of CGI and so forth has meant that budget minded studios turn to generated images rather than actual footage. Cheap and nasty examples include Independance Day, Pearl Harbour and so forth. Come on guys, it may fool the popcorn munching masses but it's never, ever, going to cut the mustard.

The downward trend in the quality of aviation footage is also one of the reasons films like BoB and Dambusters remain so very popular. A modern day CGI remake would be awful. Hell, I was even watching "A Bridge Too Far" the other day and was impressed with the parachute drop from hundreds of Dakotas. Real footage, you can't beat it.

[chiglet]

czbb
"Unfortunately"
the popcorn munching masses......pay through the nose for such dross. :(
Taste, [like "common sense"] is sadly lacking in life [unluckily] as in "Fantasy"
I "enjoy" a 'technical' film
Tora Tora Tora, Blue Max, B o B etc
BUT, if the pmm want to watch, [and enjoy!] ID4, Deep thingy etc, then fin. It means [i hope] that "some" spare dosh WILL go to fund "proper" aviation movies. If not, Hells Tits, we've got a fair choice to remenisce over ;)
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[Trislander]

Question for Chiglet:

What?

------------------
http://www.aurigny.com/images.gb%20/trislander.jpg
"Ayline 221 airbourne"

[PPRuNe Pop]

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