{"id":669,"date":"2014-08-24T10:24:30","date_gmt":"2014-08-24T00:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/?p=669"},"modified":"2014-08-24T10:24:30","modified_gmt":"2014-08-24T00:24:30","slug":"top-10-films-for-flyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/?p=669","title":{"rendered":"10 films for flyers – part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Capricorn<\/a>I don’t often go to the cinema but when I do, I want to see a good film. And if it’s a film that includes aeroplanes and flying, it needs to be very good.<\/p>\n

Here’s a short list of some of my more favourite films (in no particular order) which include flying sequences or aeroplanes. I have left out those old war cliches\u00a0like Top Gun, The Dam Busters, and Battle of Britain and Tora Tora Tora and listed some of the maybe lesser known but equally interesting movies.<\/p>\n

1. One-Six Right<\/a>. This\u00a0is a great\u00a0documentary film on high resolution DVD that celebrates the unsung hero of aviation – the local airport. Featuring magnificent air-to-air\u00a0photography, the film dispels misconceptions and criticism of General Aviation airports. Through the love story of one airport, past to present, the film shares the timeless romance of flying with all ages. It should be compulsory viewing for all politicians who cannot see the value of having\u00a0local airports. Here’s a link to the opening sequence (lo-res, sorry): One-Six Right<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Catch-22.<\/a> This is one out of the box. Based on Joseph Heller’s best selling book of the same name, the 1970 film\u00a0follows the story of a B-25 squadron during World War 2. The ‘Catch-22’ of the title is based on an insoluble problem like: if you lose your glasses, you can’t see to find them.\u00a0Have a look at the official film trailer here<\/a> for a complete explanation. The film is hilarious and shocking in almost equal measure and must be one of the more provocative\u00a0war films made.<\/p>\n

3. The High & the Mighty<\/a>. Starring John Wayne and Robert Stack, this 1954 film is about a DC-4 airliner on a\u00a0night journey\u00a0from Honolulu to San Francisco. Although set in the airliner, with engine and fuel problems, the film is really an interesting drama about people with all sorts skeletons in (and not so ‘in’) their cupboards.\u00a0Good fun. Interesting fact – composer\u00a0Dimitri Tiomkin\u00a0won an\u00a0Academy Award\u00a0for his original film music score including\u00a0the\u00a0title song, but the title song did not actually appear in release prints. Here’s a (very low quality) clip of John Wayne being very macho<\/a>\u00a0in the cockpit.<\/p>\n

4. The Flight of the Phoenix<\/a>. This is one for all you amateur builders out there. Dennis Quaid stars in this 2004 remake of the 1965 film, based on the novel\u00a0of the same name. Flying across the Gobi Desert, a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar<\/a> crashes. As its name suggests, the C-119 is not the most photogenic of aircraft, with its inverted gull-wing and high twin-tail boom design. But the aircraft design\u00a0does at least make the story reasonably plausible. It tells\u00a0of how the crew transforms the crashed aircraft into a single engine version to enable them to fly out. Needless to say, the story takes many twists and turns and not everyone makes it out. Not very successful at the box office, it’s an interesting film nevertheless.<\/p>\n

5. Capricorn One<\/a>. Although a thriller\u00a0about a faked Mars\u00a0landing, it includes one of the best aeroplane chases on film. Here’s a link to the whole chase: Capricorn One Bi-Plane Helicopter Chase<\/a>. This film was made in the days before computer generated graphics (CGI) and remote controlled helicopters, so all the footage is shot for real – and very well shot too. Interesting fact: Telly Savalas – he of ‘Kojak’ detective fame – plays the role of the crop dusting pilot who rescues our hero (Elliot Gould) in his red bi-plane.<\/p>\n

Look out for part 2 coming up soon. Meanwhile – do you have any favourite flying films?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t often go to the cinema but when I do, I want to see a good film. And if it’s a film that includes aeroplanes and flying, it needs to be very good. Here’s a short list of some … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[256,266,417,712,975,1014],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foxbatpilot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}