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Kaena: The
Prophesy (2003) - the first French computer-animated movie is a fantasy adventure
and space opera about opposing cultures on neighbouring alien worlds, and features a bizarre
sci-fi helicopter design with laser beams for rotor blades! This might be technically absurd,
but it's certainly unusual and quite original enough to warrant the attention of all rotary
action fans.
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Keys (aka: Keys To Her Past, 1994) - glamorous Marg Helgenberger plays
helicopter-flying, expert 'freelance' pathologist, Maureen 'Kick' Kickasola, called out of
semi-retirement to help police detectives solve a case of murder and kidnapping.
The Kingdom (2007) - this action drama, which concerns a team of FBI agents investigating
terrorism in the Middle East, features a MBB Bo 105 Bölkow circling the bombsite. Later,
there's an AH-64 Apache gunship used to escort a police convoy.
King Kong (1976) - whereas the giant ape of 1933's original film was attacked by a
squadron of bi-planes, the monster of this remake (produced by Dino De Larentiis) is shot
down from atop the skyscraper by three Hueys. Before falling to his death from the World
Trade Centre, 40-foot tall Kong hits one of the gunships, which crashes into the side of
the building. Sadly, the special effects combining miniature helicopters and the 'giant
ape' with the New York skyline are poor quality and, compared to 21st century digital visuals,
the air strike sequence is unconvincing... Just before the finale, a Bell JetRanger brings
the heroine (Jessica Lange) to Shea stadium.
King Kong Escapes (1967) - this Japanese monster movie features the big ape of
the title in a battle against his mechanical counterpart, while a swarm of helicopters
buzz around them to no effect or purpose.
"This great movie features a fancy jet helicopter flown by the evil industrialist
Doctor Wu. It is just a model, but looks pretty cool. And yes, that is a robotic version
of King Kong there..." - NATHAN DECKER
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King Kong Lives (1986) - the famous giant ape gets an equally oversized mate in John
Guillermin's daft 10-years-later sequel. After the male and female pair escape from captivity,
US Army search teams use Huey gunships to hunt them down, and the helicopters spray knockout
gas to control 'Lady Kong'. A key sequence has the great beastie airlifted from the apes' forest
hideaway by a twin-rotor Boeing CH-64 Sea Knight. Hueys appear in various later scenes, usually
flying security patrols at the military base.
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King Kong vs Godzilla (1963) - yet another Japanese monster epic by Inoshiro
Honda, as ape meets lizard in the big fight sequence. There are some miniature rotorcraft
here, purportedly Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw helicopters, and the main bout is observed by
our heroes Fujita and Sakurai, who fly too close to the action and get smacked by the
monsters.
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Knight Rider (1982-86) - campy TV action series created by Glen Larson. In 3rd season
episode Just My Bill, a low-flying helicopter pursues the hi-tech car for a
grenade-dropping attack. The nominal hero (David Hasselhoff) uses an ejector-seat gadget
on the auto-drive KITT car, to launch himself up through the open sunroof and into the
chopper so he can throw both gunman and pilot out, making the enemy rotorcraft crash -
as soon as our hero jumps back into his car safely behind the steering wheel!
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K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) - Kathryn Bigelow's tense Cold War drama features an
American CH-34 "Seahorse" helicopter (a Sikorsky S-58) in its climactic scenes,
as Marines from a US Navy warship offer to help the crew of a stricken Russian nuclear
submarine.
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Kronos (1957) - in this SF drama, the scientist heroes fly in a helicopter
around the gigantic alien machine (of the title), which threatens planet Earth. The
chopper (a Bell 47G-2) lands on top of the huge boxy structure near a transparent dome
so the boffins can survey its inner workings. However, they have to make an emergency
getaway when the tower block sized invader starts moving.
"The sequence of landing on the alien robot was faked on a studio stage, with painfully
obvious stairs leading 'downstage' inside the machine's brain." - NATHAN DECKER
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