Aviation movies sugestions

[Chock 17,769]

 

For a good laugh, watch Zero Hour! (1957). Not because it is any good, but because it is the film which spoof aeroplane comedy Airplane! was based on. So it ends up being unintentionally funny when you watch Zero Hour! as you find yourself ad-libbing all the lines from Airplane! when they crop up in their 'serious' incarnation, so, 'Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?' etc will just be popping into your head all the way through it.

And I'm not joking, Airplane! is practically a shot-for-shot remake of Zero Hour! with virtually identical dialogue which is just tweaked a little bit to play it for laughs. So you'll find yourself yelling out 'I am serious and don't call me Shirley' and 'Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines' etc. And yes, the main character really is called Ted Stryker in Zero Hour! and the pilot really does look like he's trying to groom little Joey when he visits the cockpit and gets given a toy aeroplane.

If you don't believe how unintentionally hilarious it is, just check out this comparison:

For a more serious movie (and some of the ones already suggested are really great by the way, especially The Hunters and Air America), here are some more worth watching:

Aces High (1976) which is a great WW1 fighter movie, as is The Blue Max (1966), both of which are great for the dogfight sequences. For a good Vietnam war jet combat movie, you can't beat Flight of the Intruder (1991), look out for the sequence where they run an Iron Hand mission against SAM sites for some really atmospheric pre-CGI special effects that are truly excellent, in fact amongst the best you will ever see.

For a less combat-oriented one, but quite possibly the best aviation movie ever made, you can't do better than Flight of the Phoenix (1965), be at pains to avoid the terrible 2004 remake of it like the plague though, that more recent one is embarrassingly bad, whereas the original version is a dramatic masterpiece.

[MarkW 1,490]

Shurly you can't be serious!

[Murmur 3,941]

"The Right Stuff" is one of my favourite aerospace movies, although it historically recounts both the first supersonic flights and the first astronauts missions. It lasts more than 3 hours, but well worth it.

 

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

18 hours ago, Murmur said:

"The Right Stuff" is one of my favourite aerospace movies, although it historically recounts both the first supersonic flights and the first astronauts missions. It lasts more than 3 hours, but well worth it.

That’s my favorite aviation movie of all time. I used to live not to far from Edwards which made me appreciate the history of the area a little more. In fact, I took a NASA tour there back in the 80’s when security wasn’t as tight. After the tour, no one showed us to the gates so I was left free to roam around a bit and found the ruins of Pancho's Happy Bottom Riding Club.  It was pretty neat to walk around the place where all the famous aviators/test pilots from that era had been at one time or another. Peeled up a few tiles and some other memorabilia to keep for souvenirs.

Another great movie/documentary is One Six Right. Have seen it many times.

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0475994/

[Alan_A 1,650]

+1 for The Right Stuff.

And a vote of my own for The Aviator, Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic  Many great flying and airplane-design sequences.  And Cate Blanchett as a dead-on Katherine Hepburn, including a moment at the controls of the S-43: "Howard, there's a rather alarming mountain heading our way."  Check it out!

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Yes who can forgot about Right Stuff. Probably the best one ever made.

[warbirds 555]

The Right Stuff film is what kindled my interest in Poncho Barnes. 

[fppilot 4,339]

Bat 21.  Look it up.  Gene Hackman and Danny Glover star in a Viet Nam war thriller! But another star is an O-2 (Cessna 337 ). Bat 21!

Movie trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=065ygnrssgw

The movie is here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjCW0k1SA84

[Patco Lch 1,461]

2 hours ago, Chock said:

For a less combat-oriented one, but quite possibly the best aviation movie ever made, you can't do better than Flight of the Phoenix (1965),

Forgive me but there is a certain moderator I will not name that often makes me think of that little German model airplane maker:)

[cimgrp501 30]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043859/

No Highway in the Sky, a classic with Jimmy Stewart

[pracines 823]

If I was better off resting for a few days able to watch aviation movies, I think I would much rather enjoy YouTube videos. Just type in your favorite plane or airport.

If you're interested, here are a few channels to get you started:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2O6HDtMOZf9FkUAepz9Atg

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeP7ZHcuDFnN5GQCReHDfpA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr8T9rFNMB3tLAW2TSFZc2A

[airernie 263]

Cloud Dancer with David Carradine and Jennifer O'Neil. 

The movie itself is only worthy of mention due to the aerial performances of Tom Poberezny, Charlie Hillard, Leo Loudenslager, and Jimmy Leeward.

Ernie

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

4 hours ago, warbirds said:

The Right Stuff film is what kindled my interest in Poncho Barnes. 

If you ever get a chance to go to Edward AFB for a tour and are left alone like I was, make sure to go visit the ruins. There are a few walls still standing and the empty pool is still there along with a few rusty old cars from that time. You can see where the bourse corral was as well, probably the corral that Yeager has saddled up at the night he broke is ribs.

There are a few YouTube videos that show the current condition as people go visit it and they have an annual cook out there. 

It’s pretty neat to go and walk around where the great test pilots used to hand out. Many great stories told over a cold beer at one time.

[zubart 5]

Note sure if this was mentioned,,,,,,1964, "Fate is the Hunter", Glenn Ford. Great movie!

[Alan_A 1,650]

Not purely an aviation film - and not easy to watch - but United 93 is superb, and worth a mention.  The accuracy of the aviation material is impressive, and the cast includes Ben Sliney, the head of the FAA National Operations Center who ordered the traffic halt, playing himself.   I can't quite call it enjoyable - harrowing would be more like it - but it's very much worth seeing.