Final Countdown

[melmothtw]

I've watched this film hundreds of times, and I've never noticed the A-6 cockpit shots - it makes perfect sense. Another 'fun' fact is that, though set in the Pacific off Hawaii the film was actually shot in the Atlantic.

[Duchess_Driver]

Out of interest, did any US F14s pass into private hands when they went OOS?

Apparently the Iranians still have some airworthy, but I doubt I will be anywhere to see one of them in the air. Always had ‘an affinity’ with the F14 but can’t actually remember seeing one airborne!

[melmothtw]

Out of interest, did any US F14s pass into private hands when they went OOS?

Apparently the Iranians still have some airworthy, but I doubt I will be anywhere to see one of them in the air. Always had ‘an affinity’ with the F14 but can’t actually remember seeing one airborne!

Not in a flyable condition. The US government was very concerned about the aircraft and/or their parts finding their way to Iran, and so all that were sent to museums etc were first cut in half and then welded back together.

[newt]

The music reminds me of the Queens Castle in Pat Pong , Bangkok at the end of the show. Time for a last stagger along Silom Road to the Dusi Thani.

So true 5aday! Happy days!

[stilton]

A great flick, with an interesting plot and superb air to air action


Another film from that era with some fun flying scenes was ‘ Capricorn one’


The plot revolves around a fake moon landing filmed in a studio (standard millennial
stuff)


Somehow there’s a risk of the farce being uncovered and the three, apparently real astronauts have to run for their lives, NASA wants them eliminated to keep the story under wraps as they’ve announced them deceased in a tragic accident, it would be embarrassing if they showed up


A Learjet is stolen to escape in and later there’s an excellent air to air chase in the Grand Canyon involving armed MD500s
pursuing a Stearman


Great stuff, one of the astronauts was OJ Simpson, before he started murdering people !

[melmothtw]

The plot revolves around a fake moon landing filmed in a studio (standard millennial
stuff)

A fake Mars landing, but yes a very good movie and the Little Bird flying sequence is worth the price of admission alone.

You Tube

[Feathers McGraw]

Originally Posted by Duchess_Driver

Out of interest, did any US F14s pass into private hands when they went OOS?

Apparently the Iranians still have some airworthy, but I doubt I will be anywhere to see one of them in the air. Always had ‘an affinity’ with the F14 but can’t actually remember seeing one airborne!

Have seen a few, including one at a Mildenhall Air Fęte (remember those?) that is possibly the loudest display I've ever heard, I think it was a re-engined Tom. A very fun display too, amazing manoeuvrability for such a large aircraft.

[chopper2004]

Yep I’ve got it on iTunes ....filmed like the Bruce Willis flick Tears Of the Sun...filmed in Hawaii (J-B Pearl- Hickam when Industrialist turns up in limo) off the Atlantic Coast (NAS Key West for opening for Final Countdown and flying scenes done in Atlantic while and for Tears Of the Sun ...somewhere off Norfolk / Atlantic Coast in opening scenes) .

interesting the hangars at Key West meant to be at Barbers Point are painted with Naval Station Pearl Harbour not Barners Point for the movie (with RA-5C being towed out).

Filming on board USS Nimitz was kinda cut short as Iranian hostage situation kick off on so Nimitz had to rush to the Med then Arabian Gulf for Eagle Claw.

cheers

[lightbluefootprint]

A brilliantly trashy film that I remember going to see at the cinema on release. It was almost thirty years later I got hold of the DVD.

[Dr Jekyll]

Originally Posted by Eyes In

on SyFY HD now - the Final Countdown. Preposterous plot but some great flying scenes!l

Strictly speaking it's the premise that's preposterous. Once you've got past that the plot isn't too bad, certainly better than Top Gun IMHO.

[NutLoose]

Birds of Prey 73
Heli traffic reporter chases bank robbers in a Heli, even both of them flying a Heli around inside a hangar shooting at each other!

You Tube

[Mil-26Man]

Birds of Prey is a classic, as is Deadly Encounter with Larry Hagman. Little Birds were quite the movie star back in the day..

Full movie here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njuaxuSs-Kk&t=133s

[chopper2004]

IIRC, this is the first Hollywood movie or tv series that one sees F-14 appear so from ones memory on screen, in chronological order...

Raise The Titanic : Dirk Pitt (played by the late Richard Jordan) calls on the 'surprise package' when Prevlov and his KGB entourage threaten the NUMA / Navy crew if they dont hand over the Titanic. Package is a
pair of F-14A plus one SSN.

Airwolf Season 1 Episode 1: Shadow Of The Hawke: Film footage of (laughingly Jolyl Rogers) taking off from a CVN off the Libyan coast when Archangel and Faye are on board monitoring Hawke's mission o recover
'The Lady'
Top Gun

The Hunt For The Red October: F-14A action on baord carrier when Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin turns up in SH-3H)

Navy SEALS:: opening scene of CVN and F-14 on deck

The Finest Hour: CNN footage of F-14A/D taking off during Desert Shield/Storm

Clear And Present Danger: When the F/A-18A (CAG bird with LGB) comes up on the elevator , can see the rest of the CVW on deck including the F-14.

JAG: see various footage of F-14 taken from Top Gun and other archive footage throughout series.

Executive Decision: Once again the Jolly Rogers come to the rescue lol in escorting ready to shoot down the hijacked 747.

Robin Cook's Invasion: (medical thriller albeit with ET/Sueprnatural element apart from usual autopsy tables, hospital sysnonymous with his books and film) film foorage of F-14 intercepting UFO

Behind Enemy Lines: Blink and you will miss it when Burnett's F/A18 is launched, they change different views of the flight deck ....see F-14 launched.

NCIS: various footage again some from Top Gun and other news stories, documentaries.

Cheers

[57mm]

Chopper2004, that's seriously impressive, but maybe you need to get out more.....

[Martin the Martian]

Not that impressive. He forgot Supercarrier.

Mind you, I wish I could.

[tdracer]

Originally Posted by Dr Jekyll

Strictly speaking it's the premise that's preposterous. Once you've got past that the plot isn't too bad, certainly better than Top Gun IMHO.

The only 'preposterous' issue would be time travel - which could be applied to pretty much any movie that incorporates time travel. Once you postulate that time travel is possible, the rest flows fairly well - in fact I'd rate it as one of the better (best?) time travel movies.
Although I suspect that time travel truly is impossible - to many unresolvable issues with 'changing history'.

[ex-fast-jets]

Back to Thread.............

For those unfamiliar with cinemas in the USA, the audience tends to be more interactive than the reserved audiences in UK cinemas.

I was on exchange with the USN in California when this movie was released, and went to see it in a cinema in San Diego.

San Diego was (still is??) a Navy town, and the audience was mostly USN matelots, wearing "Nimitz" baseball caps.

When Kirk Douglas said "Splash the Zeros" the place erupted in cheers and Yahoos and other expletives.

It was brilliant!.

I still love watching the flying scenes, and I still think the F-14 was a magnificent beast. I even still like watching Top Gun, SOT that I am!

I only got to fly in an F-14 once - but it was from NIMITZ in the Gulf - and it was all I could have hoped for!

[diginagain]

Originally Posted by BomberH

Back to Thread.............

For those unfamiliar with cinemas in the USA, the audience tends to be more interactive than the reserved audiences in UK cinemas.

Quite the opposite when watching Monty Python's 'The Meaning Of Life'....

[chopper2004]

Originally Posted by BomberH

Back to Thread.............

For those unfamiliar with cinemas in the USA, the audience tends to be more interactive than the reserved audiences in UK cinemas.

I was on exchange with the USN in California when this movie was released, and went to see it in a cinema in San Diego.

San Diego was (still is??) a Navy town, and the audience was mostly USN matelots, wearing "Nimitz" baseball caps.

When Kirk Douglas said "Splash the Zeros" the place erupted in cheers and Yahoos and other expletives.

It was brilliant!.

I still love watching the flying scenes, and I still think the F-14 was a magnificent beast. I even still like watching Top Gun, SOT that I am!

I only got to fly in an F-14 once - but it was from NIMITZ in the Gulf - and it was all I could have hoped for!

Cool I bet it like its successor Top Gun, FC helped towards recruiting more enthusiasts wanting to fly in the USN?

What did you fly on exchange?

Cheers

[chopper2004]

Originally Posted by 57mm

Chopper2004, that's seriously impressive, but maybe you need to get out more.....

Lol I was sat in pub garden typing away earlier

Cheers