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A GUIDE TO HELICOPTERS
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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?

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 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.

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

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.

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