Air America (1990)

Director:

Roger Spottiswoode

Writers (WGA):

Christopher Robbins (book)
John Eskow (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 August 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy

Tagline:

The Few. The Proud. The Totally Insane.

Plot:

A young pilot finds himself recruited into a covert and corrupt CIA airlift organization operating in Vietnam War Era Laos.

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | CIA | Vietnam | Laos | Helicopter

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Mel Gibson	...	Gene Ryack
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Billy Covington
Nancy Travis	...	Corinne Landreaux
Ken Jenkins	...	Major Donald Lemond
David Marshall Grant	...	Rob Diehl
Lane Smith	...	Senator Davenport
Art LaFleur	...	Jack Neely (as Art La Fleur)
Ned Eisenberg	...	Nick Pirelli
Marshall Bell	...	Q.V.
David Bowe	...	Saunders
Burt Kwouk	...	General Lu Soong
Tim Thomerson	...	Babo
Harvey Jason	...	Nino
Sinjai Plengpanit	...	May Ling (as Sinjai Hongthai)
Natta Nantatanti	...	Gene's Daughter

Runtime:

112 min | Argentina:115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Lao

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Norway:10 | Finland:K-11 (re-rating) | Portugal:M/12 | USA:R (Certificate #30290) | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-10 | Germany:12 | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Chaing Mai Airport, Thailand

Company:

Carolco Pictures

Trivia:

The film is dedicated to Mike Katzin.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Gene's necklace appears to be defying gravity at one point, but the helicopter is pointed straight down; the camera is also twisted, which makes the characters appear to be upside down instead of at a 90 degree angle.

Quotes:

Senator Davenport: ...and unless my eyes deceive me...
Major Lemond: [clearly fed up] Oh they probably do!
Senator Davenport: Look here pal, I know you're a highly decorated veteran but...
Major Lemond: Senator! Kiss my 'highly decorated' ass!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Radar Secret Service (#6.20)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Right Place, Wrong Time

Thank God for Mel Gibson to rescue Hollywood from itself!!!

With Gibson involved; Couldn't wait for the show to hit the screen in Houston so I could take My kids and show them a reasonable representational response to their: "What did you do in the war, Daddy?" - (I was an H-34 Driver, out of Udorn '66 - '68)... Despite Gibson's standard magnificent acting, the writing was a bummer compared to the REAL calibers of wit & humor that took place. It's a damn shame the writer didn't have tapes of the up-country aircraft comm traffic to draw from; you'd be waking-up in the middle of the night, laughing at the one-liners. In 28-years and 13,000+ flight-hours in 7-Nations on 5-Continents; that was the greatest bunch of maniacs I ever had the honor of working with.