Air America (1990)

A young pilot finds himself recruited unwittingly into a covert and corrupt C.I.A. 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 Plengpanich	...	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.

---

Plot Keywords:

pilot | laos | vietnam war | black comedy | cigar smoking | 

---

Taglines:

The Few. The Proud. The Totally Insane.

---

Genres:

Action | Comedy | War

---

Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite the films Laos setting, some of this film was shot on the backlot and soundstages at Pinewood studios in England.

---

Goofs

Air America's plane side number 238 passes by in the background when Senator Davenport arrives at the airport in Laos when at the same time it is being flown by Ryack and Covington to the hill top air strip where they meet Ryack's brother in law.

---

Quotes

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

---

Alternate Versions

On the R1 Special Edition DVD, all of the Vietnamese/Laosian translations between Gene and the locals are missing.

---

Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Robert Downey Jr/Fiona Apple (1996)

---

Soundtracks

Horse with No Name
Performed by America
Written by Dewey Bunnell
Published by Warner Chappell Music
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.

User Reviews

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.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Lao

Release Date:

10 August 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Air America

Filming Locations:

Santa Ventura Studios - 5301 North Ventura Avenue, Ventura, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,064,480, 12 August 1990

Gross USA:

$31,053,601

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$33,461,269

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carolco Pictures, IndieProd Company Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1