Airborne (1993)

Director:

Rob Bowman

Writers:

Bill Apablasa (screenplay)
Bill Apablasa (story)

Release Date:

17 September 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

Mitchell Became The Most Popular Guy On Earth...Once He Took To The Sky!

Plot:

Mitchell Goosen is sixteen/seventeen year old kid from California who loves to surf and roller blade...

Plot Keywords:

High School | Cousin | Cincinnati Ohio | Uncle | Aunt

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Shane McDermott	...	Mitchell Goosen
Seth Green	...	Wiley
Brittney Powell	...	Nikki
Chris Conrad	...	Jack
Edie McClurg	...	Aunt Irene
Patrick Thomas O'Brien	...	Uncle Louis (as Patrick O'Brien)
Jack Black	...	Augie
Alanna Ubach	...	Gloria
Jacob Vargas	...	Snake
Owen Stadele	...	Blane
Chris Edwards	...	Walt
Daniel Betances	...	Tony Banducci
David Betances	...	Mark Banducci
Jim Jansen	...	Mr. Goosen
Louan Gideon	...	Mrs. Goosen

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:G | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:L | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Bellevue, Kentucky, USA

Company:

Icon Entertainment International

Trivia:

Central High school is actually Western Hills High School, alma mater of baseball greats Pete Rose and Whitey Herzog.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: During the skate scene, the beginning of the race shows them coming down Springdale Road - which is in Ohio, about 10 miles from Cincinnati. A few scenes later during the same race, the skaters are coming down Devou Park hill - which is in Northern Kentucky. The entire race scene bounces back and forth between Cincinnati, suburbs and northern Kentucky.

Quotes:

Nikki: So, if you could have lunch with any three people in the entire world - alive, dead, fictitious, I don't care. Who would it be?
Mitchell Goosen: What kind of question is that?
Nikki: A fun one, c'mon.
Mitchell Goosen: Well, I'd have to say Tom Curren; greatest surfer in the world, now that would be cool. And, um, maybe Ghandi. Not for lunch though, he wouldn't eat lunch.
Nikki: And the third one?
Mitchell Goosen: I'd have to say you.
Nikki: Me? You can have lunch with anyone in the world, and you would choose me.
Mitchell Goosen: You're not just anyone. You're special.

Movie Connections:

References Eraserhead (1977)

Soundtrack:

What God Wants (Part one)

The "Citizen Kane" of teenage rollerblade movies!

Airborne is mostly a teen movie marketed back in the early 90's when the rollerblade craze was starting to catch on. It's like the rollerblade companies needed some more exposure, so they gave these guys a bunch of money and said "hey, make the kids crave rollerblades". With all that aside, it is a rather enjoyable movie. Shane McDermott plays Mitchel, a surfer from California who must move to Ohio for a couple months. His performance reminds me of a teenage version of Keanu Reeves in Point Break. Seth Green plays the comic relief hapless friend, and Seth's parents are played by Edie McClurg(secretary from Ferris Buehlers) and Patrick O'Brien. The parents in this are hilarious and they work very well with the rest of the cast. The moviesfollows Mitchel as he tries to adjust to the very different Cincinatti atmosphere. He quickly becomes a heartthrob thus alienating him from every guy in town. So he pretty much spends the next hour trying to avoid trouble, but at every turn it seems to find him. In the course of this he ends up playing ice hockey/roller hockey and then rollerblading. The major flaw of this movie is the motive and identity of the villains. You see very little of them throughout the movie, and their dialogue is terrible. There is also a huge disparity in the look of the males and the females in this movie. Most of the male cast looks and are well into their 20's (with the exception of the Shane and Seth).. The girls in this movie look like a bunch of 12 year olds... But since there isn't a lot of interaction between the two, it doesn't detract from the movie too much. All in all, I enjoy this movie. I really like the approach they have taken with the Mitchel character.. He's just a young surfer dude who is a vehement pacifist. He is very cool and very not violent (hero's always breed violence in modern movies).. He also makes a couple of Zen-like observations which are fun to watch. The movie ends with a rollerblade race through downtown Cincinatti with the hero's facing the "Preps". The rollerblade race is the best part of the movie, and it is very well played out. This movie isn't oscar material, but it is much better then any other "roller-skating" movie, sport genre movie, and many disney-teen movies.. Jack Black also play's a small role in this, and is fun to watch. I give this 7 out of 10 stars.