What is your favorite aviation movie?

one man's opinion...

[ken5050]

Well, the cable news networks are non stop with their coverage of the air crash in San Francisco. Looking at the pictures, it seems a miracle that the number of fatalities is so low. If there is one unintended consequence of this crash..at least we will be spared talk about Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman for the next few days. As the networks are talking aviation and nothing but, I thought it would be a slight diversion to discuss our favorite aviation themed movies.

[Pollster1]

One more - or one scene from a non-aviation movie - "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNremK0cBEg

Not my very favorite, but good for a smile.

[P.O.E.]

That was a good one - I’d forgotten about that. Too bad Breathed was such a loony lib.

[virgil283]

Don’t remember the name...Robert Stack..Edmund Obrian and live footage of P47s over England in WW2

[Fiji Hill]

My favorite aviation movies that are not war films include:

• Dirigible (1931)--a dirigible must rescue stranded explorers in Antarctica--directed by Frank Capra

• Flying Down to Rio (1933)--a musical with some great production numbers featuring aircraft

• Lost Horizon (1937)--passengers aboard a plane fleeing Japan's invasion of China find themselves headed for a strange lamasery in Tibet.

• The Wizard of Oz (1925)--This film features some aviation scenes, as when the infant Princess Dorothea, the rightful heir to the throne of Oz, is flown to a Kansas farm to escape the evil junta that rules the country, when agents of the junta fly to Kansas to get her, and when one of the good guys uses an airplane to try to rescue the Scarecrow.

• The High and the Mighty (1954)--drama aboard an airliner.

• The Crowded Sky (1960)--a Navy plane and an airliner are on a colliion oourse.

[raybbr]

Without a doubt “Always” with Richard Dreyfus, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, et al.

[pops88]

Mmmm K.... Before I went to nursing school, then switched to aviation, I was pursuing a degree in psychology. Let’s talk about your dream....I probably try to suspend disbelief way too often.

[Borax Queen]

OH, that looks like a good one!

[Jim from C-Town]

‘Why can’t they make films like this anymore?’

People would require more than a tenth grade education and an attention span longer than a two year old to appreciate a film of greater emotional depth than “the Transformers”

[saganite]

Another trivia factoid. Slim Pickens actually said Dallas but they voiced over the scene to have him say Las Vegas because of JFK’s assassination. But I suspect you already knew that since you said Dallas.

[rlmorel]

Heh, I dream a lot and often. Usually not nightmares, though. I have found that eating pepperoni right before going to sleep will give unusually vivid dreams...:)

[rlmorel]

Heh, I didn’t know that until I copied the quote from a website. Interesting trivia...

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

I liked The Guardian with Kevin Costner.

[rlmorel]

I like that one as well...

[Rebel_Ace]

High Road to China, with Tom Selleck

[dancusa]

Upon leaving the USAF in 1955. Pratt and Whitney hired him. Gave dad a job in 1955. Worked 35 years there. His MOS was crew chief, mechanic. Harry Morgan played the role in the movie and had about 6 stripes. Dad got up to Airman 1st Class, 3 stripes. I found his DD-214 after he passed away. Good Conduct Medal and National Defense Service Medal. He did his job. I also have a cool scrapbook of pictures of in flight refueling and USAF fighters flying in support formation. I don’t have a scanner though. The fuelers looked like a retrofitted B-29.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I guess you're right. The guy who built model airplanes.

I just looked this up, but guess where their original destination was? Before they crashed, I mean.

[Borax Queen]

That was an amazing movie, quite the find when I accidentally came across it.

[greene66]

How about “13 Hours by Air” (1936)? That was a really enjoyable aviation-themed flick. One of the earliest in regards to passenger service. Used to be a commonly encountered flim on the late-shows of the 60s/70s, but has long since disappeared from view. Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett.

[isom35]

Die Hard II

[SeaHawkFan]

The Flying Tigers