The Edge (1997) - a rescue chopper saves a billionaire (Anthony Hopkins) from
dangers of the Alaskan wilderness after his small plane has crashed there.
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 Choopers: 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
opens 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 a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane.
|
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 aircraft 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 choppers (Eurocopter AS355) 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) -
"in this thriller, starring Clint
Eastwood as 'Dirty' Harry Callahan, a Bell 47J, with pontoons and a radio station's call
letters, is seen gliding over the San Francisco skyline... There's also a Hughes 269/ 500
flying to Alcatraz at the end." - NATHAN DECKER / IAN VINCENT FRAIN
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 AS355 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
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 use its winch cable to lift them to
safety.
ER (1994 - ?) - 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?
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 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 pilot (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 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
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. The film's aerial unit co-ordinator was Cliff Fleming.
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.
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.
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.
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.
|
|