The Rocketeer

In 1938, in Los Angeles, the pilot Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell) crashes his plane after being hit in the air in a shoot-out between gangsters and FBI agents in a car chase; completely broken, his best friend and mechanics A. 'Peevy' Peabody (Alan Arkin) tries to fix an old plane to raise some money in an exhibition show. However, Cliff finds a package hidden by one of the gangsters with a rocket with belts and they find that the device allows man to fly. Meanwhile, his beloved girlfriend and aspirant actress Jenny Blake (Jennifer Connelly) succeeds in an audition to make a small part in a movie of the great actor Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton) that is ranked the third in box-offices. During a flight exhibition, the mechanic Malcolm (Eddie Jones) has an accident, and Cliff uses the rocket to save him, being called Rocketeer by the public. With his picture in the front page of the newspaper, Cliff is chased by the FBI, the gangsters and German spies that abduct Jenny and forces Cliff to rescue her.

"Rocketeer" is a delightful adventure that recalls those classics from the old times of Hollywood. There is a handsome hero, a gorgeous heroine, gangsters, Nazi spies, betrayals, in a pace of cartoons with a magnificent art decoration, cars and costumes recreating Hollywood in the late 30's. The story has great lines and uses real characters, like Clark Gable and Howard Hughes, in fictional situations. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Rocketeer"

A great action adventure film from 1991 that proves to be enormous fun.

They don't make them like this any more.

This movie had a lot of hype around it before it was released. So much, I think, that many people were disappointed when it finally arrived in theaters. There were posters galore and rumors that Jennifer Connelly and Bill Campbell were dating, etc., etc.

It's too bad, as it's a nifty little film with LOTS of special little touches. What I really appreciated were wonderful little homages to the 1930s and 1940s--such as showing Campbell flying a Gee Bee Racer (how they did this scene I don't know), extensive Art Deco styling in the movie, the zeppelin and the villain on the zeppelin that was made to look exactly like Rondo Hatton--a very seldom talked about actor who starred in just a handful of horror-suspense movies of that era. After all, how many would remember Hatton and the Gee Bee Racer? I like these little touches.

Aside from all this, it's a good film. Great, maybe not, but very different and a nice tribute to the Commander Cody films (which featured a jet packed hero in movie serials).

I was chomping at the bit, waiting for this movie to come out, back in 1991. I had loved the Dave Stevens comics since I first encountered them (ironically, at the same time I had read about Bettie Page in an article about Bunny Yeager, in a photography magazine). The comic captured the spirit of 1930's aviation pulps, as well as the Doc Savage crowd. It also brought along that Republic Studios flavor. I couldn't wait to see this as a movie.

The movie captured the spirit of the comics beautifully. Sure it was disappointing that Doc Savage couldn't be included, but Howard Hughes made a sensible substitution. I was a bit annoyed that Disney felt they had to change Betty into Jenny, but with Jennifer Connelly in the role, I was in a forgiving mood. The film was full of action and humor, cliffhangers and character; just like Stevens' creation. If there was anything to criticize, it was the toning down of Betty/Jenny. Yeah, I know, this is Disney, and she was far tamer in the comics than the real Betty/Bettie Page; but, hey, a guy can hope.

Bill Campbell was perfect for Cliff Secord. He had that All-American look, with an impish twinkle in his eye. Watching the movie, you could see the excitement when he was flying, and that he was head over heels in love with Jenny.

Alan Arkin made a great Peevy, although he was far less cantankerous than his print counterpart (incidentally, Peevy was based on Doug Wildey, creator of Jonny Quest). He was more of a Connecticut Yankee than grouchy mechanic.

Timothy Dalton made a great pseudo-Errol Flynn. I wasn't too happy that they trotted out that Flynn-as-Nazi Spy nonsense; but, it works beautifully for the story. Paul Sorvino made a great 30's mobster, too. Add Tiny Ron as Lothar, modeled after Rondo Hatton, and you have some pretty fun villains.

Then, there's Jennifer Connelly, one of the most beautiful and talented actresses in Hollywood. As I said, I had hoped for a little sexier character; but, the compromise was still pretty good. Connelly brought both a wholesomeness and sex appeal to the role. She looked great in the period clothing, too.

Everything about this film worked. The period detail was first rate, from the costumes, to he set design, to the slang. The only thing that would have improved this would have been to make more films. This is a great film for the whole family and captures the spirit of Republic and the pulps as well as Indiana Jones did.

This film's a bit of a hard sell to general audiences. There have been more than a few knowing homages to serials (the Indiana Jones series being the most obvious), but this isn't really one of those. Rather than making a modern film that references old films, this is pretty much a serial with a $40 million budget and (at the time) modern effects. It's deliberately old fashioned and will work for you to the extent that you enjoy action stuff from simpler times. I do ... so I enjoy this.