Air America (1990)

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

Director:

Roger Spottiswoode

Writers:

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

Stars:

Mel Gibson, Robert Downey Jr., Nancy Travis

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mel Gibson	...	Gene
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Billy
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	...	Pirelli
Marshall Bell	...	O.V.
David Bowe	...	Saunders
Burt Kwouk	...	General Lu Soong
Tim Thomerson	...	Babo
Harvey Jason	...	Nino
Sinjai Plengpanit	...	Gene's Wife (as Sinjai Hongthai)
Natta Nantatanti	...	Gene's Daughter

Storyline

Air America was the CIA's private airline operating in Laos during the Vietnam War, running anything and everything from soldiers to foodstuffs for local villagers. After losing his pilot's license, Billy Covington is recruited into it, and ends up in the middle of a bunch of lunatic pilots, gun-running by his friend Gene Ryack, and opium smuggling by his own superiors.

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Plot Keywords:

pilot | cia | soldier | vietnam | vietnam war | 

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Taglines:

Anything. Anywhere. Anytime.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Lao

Release Date:

10 August 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Air America: locos por el peligro

Filming Locations:

Santa Ventura Studios, Ventura, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$31,053,601 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carolco Pictures, IndieProd Company Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is dedicated to Mike Katzin.

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Goofs

Near the end of the movie while Nancy Travis (Corinne) is waiting to load the villagers she is wearing a white shirt with an OD over shirt unbuttoned. Once she is on the plane, only a minute later, she is wearing a tan colored shirt.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Richard Nixon: There are *no* American combat forces in Laos.

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Connections

Spin-off Air America (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Rescue Me"
Written by Carl Smith

User Reviews

sadly misunderstood movie

I just watched this movie for the first time. I find it truly sad that this story was turned into a comedy, and not even recognizably a dark comedy like Catch-22 or M*A*S*H. The premise of the movie is true, and had it been a documentary, one would expect a certain amount of disbelief and horror to be expressed about its subject; this does not seem to be the case. I will watch this movie many more times in my life, so that I will never forget that governments ( of all countries ) really don't care about the people of the world, just about their own bottom line. The next time you watch this movie, please pay attention to the "were are they now" type section just before the closing credits, and see just how scary and prophetic it was ( the movie was made in 1989 for goodness sake ) and think about someone like Colonel Oliver North and his contribution to the American war effort.