Face/ Off (1997) - FBI agents (led by John Travolta) confront a gang of killers
at a Los Angeles airfield, where helicopter use includes a dramatic runway pursuit of
the villains' executive jet, causing it to crash into an empty hanger.
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Fair Game (1995) - Cindy Crawford is the target of hitmen dropped by chopper onto
a moving train in this ludicrously hectic action thriller (co-starring William Baldwin).
The Fallen
Ones (2005) - oddball adventure into fantasy-horror with a giant 40-foot
mummified titan unearthed by US contractors and investigated by archaeologists. Egyptian cultists
wake the monstrous mummy, and it stomps around in the dark of a lunar eclipse. When an airborne
marksman (in a Eurocopter 350) shoots at the mummy, the giant snatches the helicopter in midair,
mangles the chopper into scrap metal and then flings it behind a hillside, where a fiery glow
from off-screen indicates the aircraft has just exploded.
Family Plot (1976) -
"at the beginning of this last ever
Hitchcock thriller, a late-model police helicopter (a Bell 47G) ferries Karen Black around
town." - NATHAN DECKER
Fandango (1985) -
"an early Kevin Costner movie, set in
the Vietnam era, about some Texas college boys on their last fling before they become adults.
At the end of the film, hippie pilot Truman Sparks (Marvin J. McIntyre), flies a Cessna plane
after one character's girlfriend in Dallas, and is chased by a Hughes 500 police chopper that
forces the plane to land." - STEVE COVINGTON
Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (2007) - this superhero adventure sequel
has an out-of-control TV news helicopter (a Eurocopter AS-350) which plummets onto a rooftop
at the open-air wedding ceremony, where endangered guests run away from whirling rotor blades
as the chopper tilts forward and wrecks furniture. Sue alias Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba)
uses her force field powers to stop the helicopter from crashing, and Ben alias The Thing
(Michael Chiklis) uses super-strength to tear off the helicopter's tail boom, and save his
blind girlfriend from being hit by the machine's tail rotor. In a later scene, villain Dr Doom
flies in a Eurocopter EC-130 to Greenland for his encounter with the mysterious Silver Surfer.
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F.A.Q.
- Frequently Asked Questions (2004) - Carlos Atanes' low-budget SF drama features
(probably digitally-generated) footage of two European PZL (Mil) Mi-2 Hoplite helicopters.
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Father Hood (1993) -
"I saw this Patrick Swayze film (not
his best!), a comedy drama that's really brightened up by a helicopter scene toward the
end, involving a Bell LongRanger chasing a speedboat probably doing 25 knots, or so. The
LongRanger is flying sideways with the aft door off and a couple of cops with guns are
hanging out of it. As a helicopter pilot (from Kent, where I'm currently flying the Bell
206 series), I was drawn to this because I admired the control of the helicopter flying
sideways at that speed with doors off!" - TONY LOWRY
Fathom (1967) - in this campy spy caper, the roguish hero (Tony Franciosa) and
his sidekick use a little Hughes 300 to overfly the scene of a speedboat 'duel' on the
Spanish coast. Later, the helicopter lands on a hillside and Franciosa uses a powerful
searchlight to blind the driver of heroine Raquel Welch's jeep, forcing the vehicle to
swerve off the road.
Figures In A Landscape
(1971) - in Joseph Losey's atmospheric thriller, Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell are
pursued by a black helicopter (an Aerospatiale SA315 Lama), relentlessly, across a barren
landscape. There's some fine aerial stunt work in this mysterious drama.
The Final Countdown (1980) - Don Taylor's botched time-travel adventure sees a
nuclear aircraft carrier (from present day Pearl Harbour) transported back to 6th December
1941, where a US senator is rescued from his damaged yacht (after being attacked by
Japanese warplanes) by a Sea King helicopter.
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Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005) - this Japanese sci-fi adventure features
a Black Hawk type helicopter, on a rescue mission, that descends into but soon emerges from
a smoking volcano. The film also boasts a large futuristic aircraft (pictured left), seemingly
held aloft by a triple rotor system that seems far too small for the job. And yet, amusingly,
the digital visuals of airborne hardware in this entirely computer-animated film look more
convincingly realistic as flying machines than CGI work that's supposed to 'real' footage in
other live-action cinema and TV shows!
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The Final Programme (1973) - the new messiah arrives via helicopter in Robert
Fuest's campy sci-fi satire, based upon Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius stories.
Final Run (1999) -
"in this TV movie about a runaway train,
there's a Eurocopter AS 355 Squirrel following the train's progress, and a Sikorsky CH54
Tarhe sky crane (the pilot is played by Drew Taylor) used to slow the separated coaches on
the end of a rope!" - DEREK BLAKE
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Firefox (1982) - this spy drama and aerial thriller is based on a novel by Craig Thomas.
"In the opening sequence of this great movie,
there's a Sikorsky HH-53 Super Stallion flying over Alaskan terrain in search of hero Clint
Eastwood's hideaway. Fantastic photography and helicopter action!" - DAN DEMETER
After our hero (Eastwood, both star and director) steals the Russian jet fighter (a fictional
version of the MiG-31 plane), Firefox shakes off a missile attack before encountering a Soviet
warship, and destroying a pair of Mil Mi-24 gunships (top quality miniature effects work, based
upon the original 1974 design of the Hind, with its ‘glasshouse’ cockpit instead of the usual
tandem format).
Later, when the Firefox has landed on the Arctic icepack for refuelling, another
couple of Hinds recon the US submarine’s surface camp and its makeshift runway site. Close-up
shots of the Hind cockpits appear to use the same ‘set’ as created for the hi-tech chopper in
Blue Thunder.
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Firestorm (1997) - in Dean Semler's action thriller, heroic fire-fighters (Scott
Glenn, Howie Long) called 'smoke-jumpers' parachute out of a helicopter to tackle a forest
blaze.
Firetrap (2000) - when a hi-tech robbery goes awry and starts a blaze in an office
towerblock, a helicopter is used to airlift the corporate execs to safety from the
bulding's rooftop.
First Blood (1982) - Stallone's disgruntled Vietnam war veteran, Rambo, is cornered
by a sheriff's Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter on the side of a cliff during one of this film's
many chase sequences.
First Kid (1996) -
"this Disney comedy, starring Sinbad,
features a Sikorsky S-62A Seaguard transport helicopter posing as the Presidential
transport." - NATHAN DECKER
Jackie Chan's First Strike (1996) - directed by Stanley Tong, this fast-paced
comedy-thriller finds Asian superstar Chan on good form throughout the production's international
scope, as a Hong Kong cop saving the world from nuclear terrorism. In the Ukraine sequence, two
Bell 206 JetRanger helicopters (with Russian markings) bring local police to a mountainside
lodge in search of bad guys. The villains use a Hughes 500 gunship to blow up one of
the Bell choppers in midair, and hitmen skiers drop from other 500s to chase our hero
(Chan), who flees on a snowboard. Chan has to jump off a cliff and grab onto the skids
of the second JetRanger, and he only just escapes to safety before it also gets destroyed
by rocket-fire from the enemy's Hughes. Later, our hero takes a trip out to sea in a Mil
Mi-14 Haze ASW to board a submarine on the way to Australia. In the final scene, more Bell 206s
circle around the submarine for Chan's return journey home.
Fit To Kill
(1993) - this Andy Sidaris film has lethal remote-control model helicopters, credited to
Mark Ewart and David Zimmerman, alongside all the usual girls-with-guns mayhem. In the first
aerial sequence, the heroes use one mini-copter during hi-tech war games. Next, the villains
deploy their own lite chopper, armed with rockets, to kill a lone biker, and then for transporting
a stolen diamond to a yacht. The film's big climax has a nifty dogfight between these RC gunships,
ending with one getting blown up in midair, quickly followed by the duel-winner's air strike to
destroy the bad guy's yacht.
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Flight Line: The Army Helicopter Pilots Of Vietnam (2000) - a P.B.S. documentary,
executive produced by Robert Mason
(author of the bestselling war memoir, Chickenhawk), hosted and narrated by Harrison Ford,
this features interviews with 16 veteran pilots. The film was released on video in USA, but
it's currently not available. If you have seen this TV programme, or have a copy of the VHS,
send your comments to Rotary Action website for inclusion on this page.
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Flight Of The Intruder (1991) - this war movie by John Milius, about American
bomber pilots in Vietnam, was filmed with much US military participation. It features
Sikorsky H-3 and SH-2 helicopters in several scenes.
Flood! (1976) - this made-for-TV disaster movie by Irwin Allen (undoubtedly the
king of disaster movies), features a heroic chopper pilot (played by Robert Culp) who
helps the folks in a small town hit by waters from a local dam burst. The helicopter
is an Aerospatiale Gazelle.
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The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children? (1987) - filmed in Australia, this disaster
movie is based on the true story of tragedy at a kids' summer camp in Texas. It features
both rescue and TV-news choppers in action.
The Flying Gardener (2001-3) - this BBC series presented by Chris Beardsaw goes
soaring above the natural landscapes of Britain using an Agusta 109-II helicopter.
Flying
Virus (2001) - this derivative nonsense about mutant killer bees, international terrorism
and an endangered plane, features a likeable bad guy (Rutger Hauer) leading his gang of mercenaries
with helicopter gunships to shoot up a Brazilian village - where the natives are rebelling against
exploitation by a secret US government project's use of the region for testing bio-weapons.
The Fly II
(1989) - in the first scene of this horror movie sequel, a buzzing sound like a fly
segues into the clatter of rotor blades as a helicopter arrives at the mad scientist's
laboratory complex.
The
Forbin Project (aka: Colossus: The Forbin Project, 1970) -
"in this sci-fi adventure, a USAF
Bell 47G is vaporised by a nuclear blast. Earlier in the film, there are quick shots
of a Hughes 269A, and an Aerospatiale Alouette, as scientists fight to overcome the
tryanny of Colossus, the world-dominating computer they have created." -
NATHAN DECKER
For Your Eyes Only (1981) - after figuring out how to unlock the joystick of
his remotely controlled Agusta-Bell 206B helicopter, James Bond (Roger Moore) chases
his wheelchair-bound enemy Blofeld in the chopper, hooks the wheelchair on one of its
landing skids and drops the disabled villain down an industrial chimney. This funny
pre-credits sequence is, unaccountably, never mentioned in the rest of this film!
"The sequence where a helicopter flies through the aircraft hanger is priceless.
At the end of the film, General Gogol (Walter Gotell) arrives at the peak of St Cyril's
in a Polish PZL W-3A, which is a licence-built version of the Russian Mil Mi-2 Sokol."
- NATHAN DECKER
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The Fourth War (1990) - John Frankenheimer's "Cold War" drama pits
American and Russian colonels (Roy Scheider and Jurgen Prochnow) against each other
in a personal feud with dire political consequences. In an early scene, a Soviet
chopper hovers symbolically over the body of a slain defector.
"This chopper is actually a Westland Wessex
with mock gunship paraphernalia and a snazzy Soviet paintjob. Impressive though!"
- BERND BIEGE
Freefall (1993) - John Irvin's spy thriller features a Red Cross helicopter
flying just above the ground during the shootout on a cricket pitch. Later, a police
chopper rescues the heroine from a mountain chalet.
From Russia With Love (1962)
- "early in this OO7 adventure, SPECTRE agent
'Number 3' arrives at SPECTRE Island in a Hiller UH-12. Later in the film, another SPECTRE
Hiller UH-12 buzzes James Bond (Sean Connery) out in the open. Bond shoots it down [a model
helicopter is used, of course] with his sniper rifle." - NATHAN DECKER
Full Eclipse (1994) - after the unconvincing stunt of three dead thugs being
dropped from a helicopter through the skylight of a mobster's house, a group of
vigilante cops steal a police chopper from the L.A.P.D. heli-pad for their mission at
the docks.
Full Metal Jacket (1987) - Stanley Kubrick's drama about US Marine recruits in
Vietnam has civilians being machine-gunned at random from a helicopter in flight. Sound
effects of air support can often be heard in the war zone scenes, though helicopters
are not seen very often - perhaps because the film's director always refused to fly, even
or location shooting overseas.
"The big helicopters dropping GIs in Vietnam are actually British Westland Wessex
troop carriers. The movie was filmed in England and they used the Wessex because it is
very similar to the American H-34 that was used in Vietnam during the time-frame of
the movie." - NATHAN DECKER
Fun With Dick And Jane (2005) - a bland remake (with Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni) of
George Segal and Jane Fonda's 1977 caper, this comedy adventure sees a corporate CEO (Alec Baldwin)
quitting before the company goes bankrupt, and leaving his office tower block's rooftop helipad in
a Eurocopter AS350-B2 Ecureuil.
Future Fear (1997) - badly acted sci-fi nonsense with a muddled plot, and a pointlessly
fragmented narrative (that does it no favours), this features a helicopter dogfight in
the desert between 'gunship' versions of Hughes 500 and a newer Boeing (MD) 500E - both
furnished by Executive Helicopters - which ends with the clumsily faked pyrotechnics of
an unconvincing crash 'n' burn sequence.
Future Hunters (1986) -
"in this low-budget Indiana Jones ripoff,
a Bell 47G-4A helicopter is destroyed by a hidden bomb." - NATHAN DECKER
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