page E - flight logs, helicopter action movie and TV reviews for Rotary Action at rotaryaction.com

A GUIDE TO HELICOPTERS
IN CINEMA & TELEVISION

HOME A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Eagle Eye (2008) - this conspiracy thriller often slides into blockbuster action mode, but the movie only features brief use of helicopters. A Sikorsky (S-70) UH-60 Black Hawk arrives at one military base in the opening sequence. A different Black Hawk picks up investigator (Rosario Dawson) from dockside after the first car chase. Another Black Hawk is used for the flight to the Pentagon.

Earth: Final Conflict (1997-2002) - this sci-fi TV series is about secretive humanoid aliens plotting conquest of the planet by stealth, and the ultimate enslavement of mankind. In season three's episode Déjà Vu, there's a CGI shot of Apache gunships in a battlefield scene.

Earth: The Power Of The Planet (2007) - this TV series is a science documentary in the now familiar travelogue style of today's BBC productions. In the first episode, Dr Iain Stewart flies in a Mil Mi-17 Hip transport, courtesy of Ethe thiopian military, to visit an African volcano. For third episode, Ice, there is a Eurocopter AS-350 that flies to a glacier in Norway. The fifth and last episode, Rare Earth, takes a trip in a Bell 206L-1 LongRanger II (operated by Grand Canyon Helicopters) to visit Meteor Crater in Arizona.

Eden Of The East - The Movie I: The King Of Eden (2009) - this spin-off anime feature is based on a Japanese TV series. Near the very end of the film, a Eurocopter AS 365N1 takes an executive for a night flight over Tokyo city.

The Edge (1997) - a rescue chopper saves a billionaire (Anthony Hopkins) from dangers of the Alaskan wilderness after his small plane has crashed there.

Edge Of Darkness (2010) - this US movie remake of a British 1985 TV series, features a Eurocopter AS-350BA landing at the marina in Boston, where it brings government spooks to meet a corporate executive.

El Comisario (1999 - 2009) - a Spanish TV series in which the daily life of a police squad is described. The Bo105 helicopters shown in early episodes were replaced in 2008 by modern and sophisticated Eurocopter EC135 models. - JOSÉ M. RUBIO

The Electric Horseman (1979) - the finale of Sydney Pollack's romantic drama sees the movie stars (Robert Redford and Jane Fonda) pursued by helicopters when they steal away with a thoroughbred stallion.

Elite Choppers: Birds Of Prey

(1998) - a pair of 55-minute TV programmes directed by Elan Frank for the Discovery Channel, released on video in 2003...

VOLUME ONE begins with 1989 news footage of Bell AH-1 Cobra gunships in Lebanon, on a daring rescue mission to pickup some stranded troops. It also features interviews with American, Israeli and German servicemen who pilot Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion, Eurocopter (MBB) BO-105 Bölkow, and (S-70) UH-60 Black Hawk choppers. There's a brief sequence of a Lockheed AH-65 Cheyenne (prototype 'compound helicopter') in flight, and spectacular footage of the US 101st Airborne Division on a training exercise.

VOLUME TWO spotlights the 1991 Gulf War, where eight Boeing (MD) AH-64 Apaches totally destroyed Iraqi radar/ listening outposts. Also showcased are Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior recon helicopter and AH-1 SuperCobra, flown in Taiwan, and Sikorsky MH-60 Pave Low assault gunship in service with US special ops based in UK, filmed training in Wales. Despite over-excited narration and a somewhat risible, gung-ho attitude, the two documentaries provide different views of military personnel around the world.

El Mañana (2006) - Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland's nifty four-minute animated promo (produced by Passion Pictures) for a song by the Gorillaz, features cartoon character Noodles hiding inside a windmill on a flying island when a couple of helicopters (clearly based on Comanche gunship design) attack the refuge. Cover artwork for the band's CD single includes the image of a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane.

Empire State (1988) - this British crime thriller features an Agusta-Bell 206B which lands in a car park at the docklands development site.

Endangered Species

(1982) - Alan Rudolph's mystery thriller about a secret government project boasts one of the first screen appearances of a stealth helicopter. This unmarked black rotorcraft has an array of sound baffles to suppress the noise of its engines. In early scenes, the chopper's night flights are filmed to appear like mysterious UFO sightings.

End Game (2006) - Andy Cheng's political thriller concerning the assassination of a US president, has a Eurocopter E135-P2 used for emergency medevac, with a Boeing (MD) 520 NOTAR helicopter, armed escort for the Med Star ambulance. Brief evening flight at sundown looks more like glossy CGI candy than actual cinematography. The first lady (Anne Archer) exits the hospital via the rooftop helipad.

End Of Days (1999) - in Peter Hyams' lively occult thriller, a low-flying urban NY security helicopter (a Bell 'Twin Huey') is used by the cop hero (Arnold Schwarzenegger) as his private elevator, during a chase from street level to a rooftop and back down to the ground again.

Enemy Of The State (1998) - Tony Scott's gripping urban conspiracy thriller makes good use of helicopters (an Aerospatiale AS-355F1 TwinStar) as surveillance vehicles, so the baddies can track a fugitive lawyer (Will Smith, in his best screen role to date), through the city streets while he tries to evade all the 'big brother' monitors and spy satellites.

The Enforcer (1976) - this cop thriller, directed by James Fargo, is third in the Dirty Harry franchise. The movie features a radio news helicopter (a Bell 47J, with pontoons), which flies over the San Francisco skyline during the title sequence. After the final showdown with psycho villains, there's a police Hughes 269/ 500C landing at Alcatraz island prison to pick-up the hostage mayor, just rescued by the hero.

The Enforcer (aka: My Father Is A Hero, 1995) - not to be confused with Clint Eastwood's third Dirty Harry movie, this Hong Kong crime adventure has a kung fu action climax that sees the pretty heroine (Anita Mui) using a helicopter and a rope ladder to rescue the hero's kidnapped young son from dangerous villains aboard the doomed cargo ship.

Entrapment (1999) - "has some brief helicopter action, as the hero (Sean Connery) and heroine (Catherine Zeta-Jones) try to escape from one of the top levels of Petronas Towers. At the same time, an Aerospatiale AS-355 Twin Ecureuil of the local S.W.A.T. team appears using a searchlight to look for the two thieves. The helicopter is painted black with high-visibility markings of the Malaysian Air Force (Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia), and its serial number is TUDM M20-03. This aircraft is actually listed in TUDM inventory and being used for special forces and military police operations." - MARTIN GULA
"..355 is not a Royal Malaysian Air Force spec ops machine... totally wrong. (Royal Malaysian police AS-355 helicopters are white with blue and orange stripes across)." - IAN VINCENT FRAIN

Epicentre (2000) - this cop thriller and disaster movie offers a re-mix of plot clichés with a patchwork combo of used footage, cobbled together from Hollywood pictures, including Speed (1994), and Metro (1997). An FBI sting operation (with Traci Lords playing an undercover agent!) against data thieves segues to witness protection for a mobster turned informer, set against catastrophe of the Los Angeles earthquake. There's a JetRanger as radio news' eye-in-the-sky chopper for traffic watch over downtown areas, but this TV film's helicopter action is saved for the climax. The main villains fly into L.A. at night, using a big Aerospatiale SA 330 Puma, and fire a machine-gun from the chopper's open side door into a ruined mall building to kill one cop (the unlucky Jeff Fahey). When the Puma's lone gunman shoots at the heroine, the hero (Gary Daniels) drops a chunk of masonry from the rooftop down into whirling rotors of the helicopter, so pilot loses control and crashes nose-first into an upper floor of the building, and then the damaged helicopter topples backward onto ground, where it promptly explodes.

Epoch Evolution (2003) - this sci-fi disaster movie sequel to Epoch (2001) has scenes with Sikorsky S-70 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters doing recon flybys (some CGI work is obvious) of two mysterious alien torus machines that erupt from the earth in France and Russia. A science and military team parachute from a hovering Black Hawk onto the top of one of these monoliths, and the bad guys follow suit in a hijacked chopper - but their Black Hawk is destroyed by the giant torus' defensive energy wave. In a climactic digital effects' sequence, the hero (David Keith) and heroine (Angel Boris) are both saved from apparent danger when a rescue helicopter uses its winch cable to lift them to safety.

ER (1994 - 2009) - created by Michael Crichton, this successful US medical drama features occasional scenes with medevac choppers bringing emergency patients to the Chicago hospital's rooftop helipad... After having his arm severed by the tail rotor of a helicopter in the first episode of season nine, vindictive Dr Romano (Paul McCrane) nervously meets his end in episode Freefall, killed by spectacular accident when another helicopter is hit by crosswinds just as it gets airborne, making it crash down on the helipad, then drop off the building to land right on top of Romano, who's outside in the car park's ambulance bay. Tragedy or poetic justice?

Cobra gunship in ER episode Here And There

Cobra makes a pass on ER desert Iraq set

Rick Shuster flies Bell AH-1 Cobra for ER

In episode #240, Here And There (2005), there are scenes at a US Army hospital in Iraq during the Gulf War (filmed on location at Edwards Air Force base in California using a desert set). Here, we have shots of a Huey medevac chopper, a pair of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk transport helicopters that overfly the camp, and the brief appearance of a Bell AH-1 Cobra gunship - flown by pilot Rick Shuster.
Thanks to Motion Picture Pilots Association for behind-the-scenes photos above.

Eraser (1996) - a police chopper (a Bell 206L Longranger) lands at the crime scene to pick-up top cop (James Coburn), who talks to the hero (Arnold Schwarzenegger) on a phone, while in flight. Later, a girl witness is captured by the bad-guys from a rooftop helipad. Also, two helicopters (including an Agusta-Westland A-109A/C) bring federal agents to a final shootout at the docks.

Escape From Afghanistan (2002) - directed by Timur Bekmambetov, this English language remake of Russian war movie Peshavarskiy vals (1994) features a couple of UH-1D Hueys flying over Afghan battlefields in the opening montage - that includes stock visuals of Hueys exploding in midair, and on the ground.

This low-budget docudrama is mostly video shot in caves and catacombs, but Mil Mi-24 Hind gunships appear in stock footage as they drop bombs and fire missiles against enemy positions. There are close-up views of a low-flying Mil Mi-17 Hip helicopter, fully armed with rockets and guns, during the closing scenes.

Escape From L.A. (1996) - helicopter gunships over-fly the Los Angeles prison island in John Carpenter's SF adventure sequel. Also, a hi-tech stealth chopper (with nifty foldaway rotor blades!) enters the stadium battlefield, but is then hit by bazooka fire so the damaged machine only just escapes to the mainland, where the fleeing hero (Kurt Russell) jumps clear before the inevitable crash 'n' burn scene.

Escape From New York (1981) - although the glider flown to the prison island by our antihero commando (Kurt Russell) is suitably hi-tech, the police helicopters in this SF thriller are not futuristic at all.

Escape From The Bronx (aka: Fuga dal Bronx, 1983) - this Italian sci-fi actioner is a sequel to 1990: The Bronx Warriors (aka: 1990: I guerrieri del Bronx, 1982) features a Bell 206B JetRanger from which a gunman shots at hero, and when our New York rebel returns fire, the chopper explodes. There is also a shot of three A-Stars flying across the city, but only one helicopter actually lands at the destination site.

Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971) - "in this 2nd sequel to SF movie, Planet Of The Apes (1968), two late-model, Bell 47G helicopters, both with pontoons, help police chase some time-travelling apes from the future through the streets of Los Angeles." - NATHAN DECKER

Escape To Witch Mountain (1975) - this Disney comedy adventure features a chase sequence of a helicopter (a Hughes 500C with extended landing skids) in pursuit of two special children. The chopper winds up flying upside-down and landing in that position, still spinning, making the pilot and his passenger dizzy.

helicopter inverted for Escape To Witch Mountain

The Escort (aka: Mauvaise passe, 1999) - this drama about a French gigolo in London features an Aerospatiale AS-355F-1 as air taxi, flying to a country estate.

Eureka (aka: A Town Called Eureka, 2006-12) - this TV sci-fi comedy-drama is about a secret community where nearly everyone is a scientific genius. First season episode Purple Haze begins with a radio-controlled model helicopter (based on Hiller 12E design) used for crop-dusting, with Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries music playing in homage to Apocalypse Now: "I love the smell of pesticides in the morning."

Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (aka: Evangerion shin gekijoban: Ha, 2009) - this Japanese animated sci-fi movie features Osprey transports which appear briefly in a couple of scenes. There are also Sea Knight helicopters used for military ops.

The Event (2010) - this sci-fi TV series features the US presidential helicopter, Marine One (the Sikorsky UH-60 'Whitehawk'), flying to a secret base in Alaska. It's seen again, later, when it lands in the Arizona desert near a crashed plane.

Eve Of Destruction (1991) - in this amusing SF thriller, Gregory Hines' security agent pursues a nuclear powered android (Renee Soutendijk) using several military and civilan helicopters, following the bloody trail of dead victims that she leaves across the city.

Evolution (2001) - Ivan Reitman's largely derivative sci-fi comedy adventure, about several weird alien creatures found in Arizona, features two Bell UH-1 Hueys and one UH-1N Twin Huey, flying over Lake Powell and circling a US military base constructed around the site where a strange meteor has landed. There's also a Bell 206L-1 Long Ranger which brings the governor (Dan Aykroyd) to the desert scenes. The film's aerial unit co-ordinator was Cliff Fleming.

Thanks to Motion Picture Pilots Association for behind-the-scenes photos above.

Executive Decision (1996) - this airborne thriller, about a plane being hi-jacked by terrorists, features a Bell 206 JetRanger, a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, and a Boeing CH-47 Chinook, appearing on-screen the during military prep for a flying rescue attempt.

military helicopters in Executive Decision

Executive Target (1997) - this movie, about a kidnapping plot against the US President, features a pair of Hughes 369D (MD 500D) helicopters which fly over the city while tracking the presidential motorcade.

The choppers swoop into action when kidnappers attack, and gunmen aboard both machines shoot at the bad guys. Both helicopters are shot down by the villains, using an anti-aircraft gun mounted on the back of a lorry.

However, for the crash stunts, the filmmakers commit a continuity error by using Bell 206 JetRanger models for the crash 'n' burn scenes, when the two choppers explode in mid-air, and fall as prop wreckage onto the street.

Exit Wounds (2001) - a red gunship (a Bell 212 Twin Huey), with a big yellow smiley face and a "have a nice day" message on its side, attacks the Vice-President's motorcade on a road bridge. The cop hero (Steven Seagal) shoots at this helicopter, which promptly explodes in midair... Nice one, Steve!

The Exorcist III (1990) - William Peter Blatty's terrifying sequel to the occult horror classic opens with an atmospheric flight of helicopters silhouetted against the Sun.

The Expendables (2010) - during this mostly dismal American actioner (a blatant vanity project starring, and directed by, Sylvester Stallone), the ageing heroes' raid, to rescue some hostages from an island stronghold, sees the villain's getaway helicopter (a Bell UH-1B Huey) destroyed - in a big explosion, of course! - before it even takes off. Well, they did call it 'expendable'...

Experiment In Terror (aka: The Grip Of Fear, 1962) - "during the climax of this police movie, a Bell 47G chases the kidnapper through San Francisco. The pursuit ends in Candlestick Park, where the chopper hovers low over the captured criminal." - NATHAN DECKER

Explorers (1985) - Joe Dante's quirky SF adventure sees a police helicopter buzzed by the homemade spaceship built by the film's young heroes.

The Exterminator (1980) - in the first sequence of this vigilante action movie, a UH-1 Huey flies low through explosions and the proverbial 'wall of flame', to rescue US soldiers in a Vietnam War scene.

Artwork for the blu-ray release features a Robinson R-44, which did not even make its very first test flight until a decade after this movie was produced!

Extreme Prejudice (1987) - Walter Hill blends modern-day gangsters with a western ethos in this crime thriller, as a wealthy drugs baron (Powers Boothe) flies over the US border to Mexico and back again - whenever he likes - using his private helicopter, a Bell 206 JetRanger.

An Eye For An Eye (1981) - this Chuck Norris actioner features a brightly painted Hughes 500 as air support for a triad hit squad's assault on the San Francisco hillside home of the ex-cop hero's mentor. An airborne gunman strafes the patio grounds and shoots at the fighting hero. In later scenes, the top villain (Christopher Lee) escapes from a TV station rooftop helipad in a Bell 206 JetRanger (that's fitted with pontoons), and lands on the terraced lawns of his out-of-town mansion.

Eye Of The Needle (1981) - when British authorities in this WW2 drama finally track down a German spy (Donald Sutherland) to 'Storm Island' off the Scottish coast, they use a Westland S-51 Dragonfly (Sikorsky H-5) to get there. (Like the Bell 47 in Where Eagles Dare, the Dragonfly is a couple of years out of place, but it's still nice to see on screen.) - ALEX YOUNGS

NEXT TOP