Capricorn One

[Pogmusic]

The Great Santini!!!!!!! Now THAT'S a great movie! Few actually touch on the stress the family is under when the dad is in the military. Great sceen was when Duval pulls the wrong guy under the latrine. LMAO then and now!

[gregv]

Telly Savalas was great, I loved his whole "Do you know which one of the A's in A&A I am?" speech....

Now, I haven't seen that movie for YEARS. But isn't he BOTH? Isn't that the punchline?

Yup! The other A was for his son, but he became a lawyer......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8jJxKTFXPc

gv

[RMAllnutt]

Yeah, but Malcolm McDowell was absolutely wrong for that part - C'mon, I mean an Englishman playing an American Vietnam vet? Who's brilliant idea was that?

Malcolm McDowell wasn't supposed to be American at all, but English.... believe it or not, some Brits did serve in Viet Nam (on exchange), as did a whole bunch of Australians (which nearly everyone over here seems to forget).

Cheers, Richard

What makes you so sure that he was supposed to be English? In the flashbacks, he was flying with an American pilot (Roy Scheider) in an American helicopter and he was wearing an American uniform. Years later, in the movie/story's "present" he is working with an American law enforcement agency and US Army and Air Force personnel in an American city. The only thing English about the character was the actor and the accent.

Even if Malcolm McDowell wasn't English himself, he was still the wrong actor for the part. IMO Robert Duvall would have been a better choice - he has often played the quintissential US Army colonel roles (Apocalypse Now) or USMC (The Great Santini).

You may be right about him being the wrong person for the part... he always annoys me, but he was most definitely English. The language they chose for him to use was complete English idiom, and Roy Schieder's character even mocks it during the early stages of the film. Sure he was in an American helicopter, with American uniform in the flashback scenes, but, as I said, there were Brits who served in US units during Viet Nam, even SAS types, which he seemed to be portraying. That he was working for a US law enforcement agency isn't that big a deal either. A lot of SAS/special forces types have been hired that way. Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch for some, but I never doubted that he was supposed to be a Brit.

Wasn't meant to be a jab, by the way... just an observation.

Cheers,
Richard

[Zac Yates]

And if anyone's still curious, the other 500C movie - the Larry Hagman one - is Deadly Encounter, aka American Eagle, released in 1982 and available on DVD. That and Birds Of Prey are two of my favourite movies, if only for the flying. Love those 500s!

[Rajay]

Wasn't meant to be a jab, by the way... just an observation.

Cheers, Richard

No problem! I didn't take it as a jab. It just never occurred to me that anyone would assume that he was supposed to be British. This is just a friendly little discussion....

And surely ("Please don't call my Shirley") you're not saying that twerpy little Malcolm McDowell was supposed to be taken for a "SAS type" - (for the record, you really didn't say that, but just the thought is funny to me!)

[Jerry O'Neill]

And if anyone's still curious, the other 500C movie - the Larry Hagman one - is Deadly Encounter, aka American Eagle, released in 1982 and available on DVD. That and Birds Of Prey are two of my favourite movies, if only for the flying. Love those 500s!

I've been wanting a copy of that film with Larry Hagman because some one said the flying is just as good as "Bird's of Prey".
Here's two YouTube clips from the film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB0O1MKX ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve1nb7GjkjI

Jerry

[Steve Nelson]

I've been wanting a copy of that film with Larry Hagman because some one said the flying is just as good as "Bird's of Prey".
Here's two YouTube clips from the film:

I remember it was a fun movie. But speaking of the earlier thread on Aviation Film Inaccuracies: who starts up any aircraft inside a hanger..much less fires up a helicopter in a hangar and flies it out the door?! I guess we're just supposed to believe Hagman's character is that good! The filmakers also must have broken every safety rule in the book letting a couple of kids run underneath a helo hovering just a few feet off the ground!

I still wouldn't mind having it on DVD though...

Any idea where that opening sequence was shot..or the fate of the Lodestar/Howard in the background?


SN

[bipe215]

I have Birds of Prey on VHS but have never found it on DVD. If anyone has a source, please pass it on.

Steve G

[airnutz]

I've been wanting a copy of that film with Larry Hagman because some one said the flying is just as good as "Bird's of Prey".
Here's two YouTube clips from the film:

I remember it was a fun movie. But speaking of the earlier thread on Aviation Film Inaccuracies: who starts up any aircraft inside a hanger..much less fires up a helicopter in a hangar and flies it out the door?! I guess we're just supposed to believe Hagman's character is that good! The filmakers also must have broken every safety rule in the book letting a couple of kids run underneath a helo hovering just a few feet off the ground!

I still wouldn't mind having it on DVD though...

Any idea where that opening sequence was shot..or the fate of the Lodestar/Howard in the background?


SN

A quick google returned CD Universe online as having remastered DVD's of this film. Yup, lucky for
the kids in that stunt, too bad Vic Morrow and the 2 kids couldn't get that lucky in the Twilight Zone
accident.

[Jerry O'Neill]

I remember it was a fun movie. But speaking of the earlier thread on Aviation Film Inaccuracies: who starts up any aircraft inside a hanger..much less fires up a helicopter in a hangar and flies it out the door?! I guess we're just supposed to believe Hagman's character is that good! The filmakers also must have broken every safety rule in the book letting a couple of kids run underneath a helo hovering just a few feet off the ground!

SN

It may be an not an approved method to start and fly a helo out of a hangar, but it it is "accurate" for the film, as James Gavin did just that. He started it and flew it out of the hangar.
That's why it's called a stunt.
He had done it previously in the closing sequence in "Birds of Prey". Nice aerial choreography in a very enclosed space.

So, though in real life, as far as safety goes, it may not be accurate, it was done and I wouldn't be surprised if there are others out there who have flown helos inside a hangar over the years just to say they did it.

That fake or inaccurate thing was kicking the ball into the can with the skid. I don't thing he could've generated enough side force with the skids in that small area to push the ball that fast and that far.


Jerry

[bipe215]

At one point, there were actually two helicopters hovering in close proximity in the same hangar at the end of "Birds of Prey'.

Steve G

[Steve Nelson]

Oh, I'm not saying it wasn't actually done, or that it wasn't cool (it was!) Just not something that would normally be done in real life. Of course, even though I only saw the movie once, some 30 years ago, as I recall it was basically a fun action-adventure flick that wasn't intended to be taken "seriously." I like movies like that occaisionally (even though it's wildly implausible, "Independence Day" is one of my guilty pleasures.) The ones that bug me are the pretentious films like "Pearl Harbor" (the flick we all love to hate) that claim to be "serious historical dramas," but are actually melodramatic cartoons with no resemblence to actual history or reality.

SN

[aerojock]

I think in "Birds of Prey" one helicopter in inside the hanger and the other is just outside the hanger blocking the exit point.

Here is a helicopter chase from an action series in the 1970s called 240 robert. The chase ends up with both helicopters in a hanger or warehouse doing a dance. Corny dialogue but good flying!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0QXTLvktOY

Jim

[aerojock]

I think in "Birds of Prey" one helicopter in inside the hanger and the other is just outside the hanger blocking the exit point.

Here is a helicopter chase from an action series in the 1970s called 240 robert. The chase ends up with both helicopters in a hanger or warehouse doing a dance. Corny dialogue but good flying!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0QXTLvktOY

Jim