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A GUIDE TO HELICOPTERS
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Baby: Secret Of The Lost Legend (1985) - in this dinosaur adventure, the villains get airborne in a helicopter and fire their machine-guns at the adult brontosaurus.

Bacterium (2006) - in the opening scenes of this low-budget sci-fi horror, a Bell 47 chases a car along a desert road, forcing the driver to crash, and the chopper lands nearby so that hazmat-suited henchmen can use a flame-thrower to burn the car and destroy stolen evidence of secret military experiments. Later, when the monster escapes from the old house, the helicopter fails to evade the creature's tentacles, and (in some obvious but amusing miniature work) the gigantic blob catches and eats the pilot, crewman, and the helicopter, too!

Bad Boys (1995) - Michael Bay's comedy thriller set in Miami has a TV news helicopter videotape a noisy public argument between two black cops, and the embarrassing footage is seen later at home on TV by one cop's family.

BAD BOYS II

Bad Company (2002) - Joel Schumacher's comedy thriller pairs a streetwise hustler (Chris Rock) and a CIA spymaster (Anthony Hopkins) in a sting operation against Russian mafia gang who plan to sell a suitcase packaged nuclear bomb. In the final action sequence, helicopters are used to help track the bad guys' getaway van through the streets of New York.

Batman (1966) - big screen spin-off from the campy TV series starring Adam West, has the caped crusader crusing Gotham City's skies in his bat-copter (a modified Bell 47-G3, with bat-wings and 'Batman' logo). In one amusing scene, Batman (West) climbs out of the hovering chopper down rope ladder to investigate a boat - which promptly vanishes, and then finds himself being attacked by a (cheapo, rubbery) shark.

The Batcopter was created by National Helicopter... "The wings did distort the flight characteristics of the helicopter quite a bit." - RICHARD HART

Batman (1989) - "in Tim Burton's big-budget movie version of the classic superhero mythology, the Joker's (Jack Nicholson) helicopter seen at the end of the film is a modified Aerospatiale SA341 Gazelle." - NATHAN DECKER

BATMAN FOREVER

Battle Circus (1953) - director Richard Brooks' worthwhile but flawed documentary style adventure, about a military hospital camp in the Korean War, anticipates Altman's satirical M*A*S*H, and that film's TV spinoff. As heroic action movie it's marred by the romance between a surgeon (Humphery Bogart) and a nurse (blonde June Allyson), but there's still plenty of aerial medevac sequences, featuring a Bell 47D-1 (H-13E) chopper, all photographed with convincing details of how wounded soldiers are airlifted to safety.

Battle Taxi (1955) - an airborne rescue team in the Korean War show a former hotshot jet pilot the vital role of helicopters in modern combat.

BAT*21 (1988) - offbeat Vietnam war story about the difficulties of a priority rescue mission - to pluck a missing officer (Gene Hackman) from enemy territory, and the friendship which develops between him and a recon pilot (Danny Glover). Exciting fixed-wing action precedes the climactic helicopter evac sequence.
"Filmed in Malaysia, with Malaysian Air Force Sikorsky S-61A helicopters posing as American search and rescue craft." - NATHAN DECKER

The Beast (aka: The Beast Of War, 1988) - Kevin Reynolds' drama, about a Russian tank playing cat 'n' mouse with Afghan rebels, features a fake Soviet helicopter (it's supposed to be a Mil Mi-8 Hip, but is actually a modified Aerospatiale SA 321 Super Frelon with landing-gear add-ons) that comes to the aid of the tank crew who are lost in the desert. Another helicopter (probably the same one) shows up later, in the film's closing scenes, to rescue the only surviving Russian soldier.

Behind Enemy Lines (2001) - while flying over Bosnia, a US Navy recon plane is shot down by Serbian forces, so its aviator (Owen Wilson) has to survive alone in enemy territory and evade sniper patrols, until he can be rescued.

The adventure's climactic American helicopter assault led by a US admiral (Gene Hackman), on a mission that defies the strict orders of his UN peacekeeper boss, unleashes airborne firepower against enemy tanks and ground troops.

"The French Special Forces sent to try and rescue Burnett (Owen Wilson) arrive in a Russian Mil-17 Hip transport, which looks cool, but it's something of a mystery as to why the French are using a Russian chopper. In the final rescue sequence, we see two escorting gunships (Bell UH-1Y Hueys) armed with rocket pods and mini-guns, and the Admiral's rescue chopper is a Hughes 214ST (based on UH-1 platform, ST = 'super transport')." - NATHAN DECKER
"Leaving the aircaft carrier: Sikorsky SH-60F Oceanhawk (of US Navy) and Bell UH-1N Twin Huey (from US Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron)... Nathan Decker is wrong about the Admiral's 214ST, it was actually a Bell, or Agusta-Bell 412 (a four-blade Twin Huey in essence) and the support gunships were actually Bell 205s, or UH-1Hs as the US Army would call them." - IAN VINCENT FRAIN
"We actually shot the aerial sequences (and the majority of the movie) in Slovakia. The reason the French Special Forces are flying in a Russian Mi17 is because that's all I could get from the Slovak Air Force! I had originally wanted a Super Puma, but, them's the breaks!" - JOHN MOORE (director, Behind Enemy Lines)

Biggles: Adventures In Time (1986) - First World War air ace (Neil Dickson) and his heroic chums spread havoc among German troops when a helicopter travels back in time to overfly the trenches.

Bird On A Wire (1990) - "in this movie, with Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn, there's a helicopter and crop-duster chase, where the helicopter does a loop-the-loop." - DARYL PRIVETTE

BIRDS OF PREY

BLACK HAWK DOWN

The Black Hole (2005) - not to be confused with Disney's 1979 space opera, this sci-fi disaster movie (from genre journeyman Tibor Takacs) features a Bell 206B JetRanger II used as transport for military and scientists around St Louis. There's also a Sikorsky Black Hawk that hauls a modified container as 'trap' with Special Forces troops to capture the electrical entity. Finally, there's stock footage of a US Army Ah-64 Apache plus a Bell 206L-1 LongRanger II that searches the ruins of St Louis for the missing hero (Judd Nelson).

The Black Scorpion (1957) - a helicopter tackles the gigantic arachnid from a volcano in this classic monster movie, with animation by Willis O'Brien.

Black Scorpion (1999) - campy TV superhero adventure series from Roger Corman, this stars Michelle Lintel as Darcy Walker, a cop by day and masked crime fighter by night in Angel City, a parallel world version of Los Angeles. In the first episode, Armed And Dangerous, a former pilot (Martin Kove) has flashbacks to a helicopter dogfight with another Vietnam veteran. There's stock wartime footage of US Army Hueys, plus an aerial combat sequence, featuring two Hughes/ MD 500 series gunships, borrowing action from another Corman production, the movie Future Fear (1997).

Blade Trinity (2004) - in the opening scenes of this action-horror movie about vampire hunters, two helicopters (a Bell JetRanger and a Eurocopter AS 350) carry a team of bad guys into the Middle East desert, on a daylight mission to investigate a secret tomb.

The Blob (1988) - "in this remake of the 1958 movie, US Army helicopters (Bell JetRangers) mounted with huge searchlights pursue the rebel hero through the forest after he learns of the military's dastardly plot to sacrifice the whole town in order to capture the film's titular space monster." - BILL HIERS

Blood Diamond (2006) - Edward Zwick's contribution to the mercenary and reporter cycle of third-world adventure movies uncovers diamond smuggling in Africa provides a showcase for Russian helicopters. There's a Mil Mi-8 Hip used by the heroes to reach a refugee camp, and a Mil Mi-24 Hind that spearheads a Sierra Leone army attack on the revolutionaries' jungle base.

The Blues Brothers (1980) - after numerous car chases, our heroic musicians visit city hall to pay taxes, while cops and troops with tanks surround the building and two choppers buzz over the area to prevent any escape.

BLUE THUNDER

Boa Vs Python (2004) - apart from the brief shot (possibly stock footage) of a National Guard convoy, with three Bell UH-1 Hueys providing air cover, this schlock monster movie has no other aerial sequences, and no helicopter action whatsoever. Both the poster and DVD box artwork are particularly misleading, as they feature Boeing AH-64 Apache gunships - which do not appear in the movie at all. Along with Reign Of Fire, this film qualifies for the Rotary Action HALL OF SHAME for blatantly misusing the technothriller appeal of military helicopters in its promotional artwork.

Body Snatchers (1994) - Abel Ferrara's remake of this chilling alien invasion story is set on a military base, and climaxes with an escape attempt via helicopter and subsequent use of airborne weaponry against a convoy of the pod people's army trucks.

Braddock: Missing In Action III (1988) - features a fake Russian Mil Mi-24 Hind. This is actually an old 1960s' Sikorsky S-62 with dummy engines added to the sides and fake wings bolted on. Not as good a job as Rambo, but then again I'm sure they had a much smaller budget. - NATHAN DECKER

Brave New World (1998) - this TV adaptation of Aldous Huxley's SF satire features an off-screen helicopter crash (see Rotary Action clich� #1) that strands two researchers in territory of savages they were flying over. Later, in this drama's climactic scenes, three Robinson R44 Astro helicopters buzz the media-stalked protagonist as he stands atop a microwave communications tower.

Breakout (1975) - directed by Tom Gries, this film stars Charles Bronson as a trainee pilot, who helps his convict buddy (Robert Duvall) escape from a Mexican prison. Bronson's stalwart hero learns to fly in a Bell 47G, before carrying out the actual rescue flight in an Aerospatiale Lama.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) - there's some early air-sea rescue footage with Sikorsky HO2S-1 (R5) helicopters in this Korean War drama about a lawyer (William Holden), who's recalled to active service as a US Navy jet pilot. The aerial action is exciting and the visual effects won an Oscar.

British Airshows 2003 - this compilation DVD has highlights from a series of special events celebrating the centenary of powered flight, with the main focus being on historic aircraft, warplanes and jets. There is brief footage of two Royal Navy Lynx helicopters (made by GKN Westland), plus some incredible dizzying aerobatics preformed with a little Schweizer 300. Unfortunately, the Blue Eagles' appearance at Blenheim Palace is not featured. The extras disc has footage of three Mil Mi-24 Hinds, plus two Boeing CH-47 Chinooks, which deploy troops on rapid-ropes. A Robinson R44 Astro is the camera-ship for aerial views of a 50-year-old Vulcan bomber's aborted takeoff run. There are also brief clips of a Eurocopter Tiger and NH-90 performing dazzling stunts like hovering flips and barrel rolls at the 2003 Paris Airshow.

Broken Arrow

(1996) - John Woo's thriller about stolen nukes has rescue helicopters searching for lost USAF pilots after a stealth bomber crashes in Utah. A park ranger's truck is destroyed by airborne thieves who then strafe the canyon floor, from where the hero (Christian Slater) shoots at their gunship so it crashes, but flips over so the whirling tail rotor nearly kills the fallen heroine (Samantha Mathis). Another chopper is bought down by an EMP shockwave after the bomb explodes in a disused mine. Then, three more helicopters bring troops to secure the blast area, and pursue the villains to a hijacked freight train where, in a digitally enhanced scene, a bad guy standing atop the moving train gets sliced in half by the rotor blades of a low-flying chopper (pun intended). Several rotary action decapitation scenes exist in various movies, but this marks first time a human torso is struck on-screen.

Later, our hero fires at the thieves (who are led by John Travolta) from the air, while a third crash 'n' burn occurs when the pilot is shot and his helicopter veers into the hillside of a railway tunnel entrance. One final helicopter, stashed on a flatbed train carriage ready for the villain's escape, leaks fuel and blows up when its engine is started. This film holds the record for the spectacular destruction of helicopters!
[Thanks to Robin Petgrave at Celebrity Helicopters for 2 pictures above.]

The Bronx Executioner (1988) - this Italian schlock sci-fi actioner, where scavenger humans battle decadent androids in an unrecognisable NYC of wasteland and castle estates, features the brief appearance of a Schweizer model 300 (a former Hughes light helicopter design from the 1960s) used to drop supplies to the beleaguered local law-enforcer.

Brute Force: Air Weapons - Helicopters

(1991) - this 48-minute documentary, directed by Robert Kirk, and narrated by Hollywood actor George C. Scott, is one episode of a three-part television series exploring the development of aerial weaponry in modern warfare. Before launching into a brief history of the technology of vertical flight, this opens with promotional (and very fearsome looking) footage of Boeing AH-64 Apaches in action. There are profiles of utility 'Huey' choppers in Vietnam, a look at the use of helicopters in the Korean War, and interview clips with experts - but the main part of this quite impressive show concerns various military helicopters in daring rescue missions.

Budgie The Little Helicopter (1994-7) - this animated TV series was based on some children's books written by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York (whose ex-husband, Prince Andrew, was a Royal Navy helicopter pilot in the Falklands conflict). Budgie was a supposedly 'cute' cartoon for the under-fives, about the adventures of a plucky 'copter at an airport, and it ran for three seasons.

Bullet In The Head (1990) - John Woo's searing drama about three friends from Hong Kong in the Vietnam War has one set-piece airborne assault on an NVA camp, which uses US Army stock footage of Huey gunships, but also features some dramatic scenes of low-flying helicopters.

Bulletproof Monk (2003) - this modern day martial arts fantasy adventure sees the hero (Chow Yun-fat) fighting armed bad guys on a helicopter gunship after the villains attack him on the roof of a disused warehouse. Digital effects are used for the chopper when it swoops just above the rooftop, to ensure safety of the actors.

By Dawn's Early Light (1990) - during a limited nuclear strike by the Soviet Union, the American President's helicopter escape to the safety of a USAF airbase is affected by an EMP blast-wave, so his chopper crashes, leaving the chief executive blind in hospital without any control of the US military, and unable to prevent WWIII...

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