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A GUIDE TO HELICOPTERS IN CINEMA & TELEVISION |
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UHF (1989) - in a parody of Rambo, weird Al Yankovic pilots a helicopter to rescue his TV station's kidnapped janitor from the bad guys. Uncommon Valor (1983) - "has top-notch rotary action, as one of the first Vietnam POW rescue films. In the film, a Jet Ranger and a Huey get shot down and they actually show the crash sequences. There is plenty of action and a fine story featuring a superb performance by Gene Hackman. Strongly suggested viewing!" - JLH "One of the ex-soldiers that Gene Hackman tracks down is a helicopter pilot who is now flying a Bell 47G." - NATHAN DECKER Under Fire - Roger Spottiswoode's excellent political thriller about journalists in war-torn Nicaragua, has several scenes with helicopters. One of most notable is from an early scene set in Africa, captured by a news photographer (Nick Nolte), and shows a military chopper flying above an elephant, to make a telling visual comment on the cultural and technological disparity between developed industrial nations and the third world - and never mind that it's also a visual pun on Dumbo! Under Siege (1992) - Andrew Davis' crowd-pleasing hijack thriller sees a big twin-rotor Kawasaki/Vertol KV107 (operated by Columbia Helicopters) bring a gang of villains (led by Tommy Lee Jones) to the deck of a US battleship out at sea. The hero (Steven Seagal) blows the chopper to pieces during one of the film's ensuing firefights. Later, another helicopter, carrying a Navy S.E.A.L. team on an anti-terrorist mission, is destroyed off-screen by the bad guys - using the hijacked Navy ship's own arsenal of missiles. Underworld: Evolution (2005) - the action packed climax of this vampires-verses-werewolves horror movie, features the rotor-blade dismemberment of a bat-winged monster after he pulls a helicopter down from an overhead hovering position into the ruins of a castle. The chopper nosedives into the stonework with main rotors still turning fast enough to dry the heroine's hair, and slice up the bulletproof villain. Sadly, too much of this 'stunt' sequence is obviously CGI work, or digitally enhanced live-action, so it fails to be convincing. The Unit (2006) - US TV drama series, created by David Mamet, about the private lives and secret operations of America's military special forces. In season one's episode Dedication (directed by Helen Shaver), there's a Huey transport used by Delta Force teams during the mission overseas, plus another helicopter (seen only as wreckage on the ground after being shot down, off-screen). The chopper returns in time for medevac of survivors but one soldier dies in the flight home, and the pilot also gets shot and wounded by gunfire from enemy troops. Eating The Young features the brief appearance of a Eurocopter AS 550 used by terrorists to haul away some missiles, bought on black market in Brazil but (in a first-class visual effects sequence) our heroes use a Stinger rocket to destroy the helicopter in midair before it flies out of range. Universal Soldier (1992) - in the opening raid to free some hostages, the cyber-commando team jump out of a Sikorsky S-58T helicopter into the river near the Hoover Dam. US Marshals (1998) - several different helicopters perform various jobs in this chase thriller (starring Tommy Lee Jones), a sequel to The Fugitive. There's a TV news chopper at the scene of a plane crash, the aerial search of a swampy river for a fugitive (Wesley Snipes), plus exec air-taxi work to a small town hospital and the city docks. "I'm a flight paramedic for my local helicopter service in Kansas. My claim to fame is that the Eurocopter (MBB) BO-105 in the movie was used by our LifeTeam for about six months in 2001. It's now operated by an EMS service in Texas." - TODD GOETZ Unspeakable (2002) - this derivative horror movie features a brief scene with helicopter gunships (a Hughes 500 and two Bell UH-1 Hueys) providing air support for the police convoy transporting a notorious serial killer to prison for execution. Unstoppable (2004) - this conspiracy thriller features a Bell model 430 executive transport, which brings drug buyers to a private airfield and lands outside a hanger. When the clandestine deal goes wrong the chopper takes off and uses a minigun that's mounted inside its main cabin to spray bullets at the hero (Wesley Snipes) as he flees into the hanger. When our hero shoots both the gunman and the pilot with a sniper rifle, the helicopter explodes and crashes to the ground spectacularly. |
