Cedarjet From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 7724 posts, RR: 55 Posted (5 years 10 months 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 4161 times:
It is my pleasure and very great honour to introduce to you the best airline movie ever made: The Pilot, the story of an airline pilot and his battle with booze. A physical copy is rarer than rockinghorse shit, I paid a fortune on eBay for a clapped-out ex-rental VHS tape in NTSC format, but worth every penny (also look for movie posters, they seem to appear more often than the actual tapes).
There was a thread on here a few weeks back about Airport and it's accuracy, and yes, Airport is pretty accurate. But the inflight sequences were shot with pretty silly looking models and there were other things missing eg checklists, any flight-related dialogue.
The star and producer / director of The Pilot is Cliff Robertson, a great aviator as well as one of Hollywood's longest serving actors and a man of great bravery and personal courage in the face of a blacklist by a crooked Hollywood exec (read his story at http://www.cliffrobertson.com ). His career was badly damaged by the blacklist, and The Pilot was made during that period, in 1980.
The book, by Robert P Davis, is a classic of airline literature (you can find a copy on http://www.abebooks.com, also look for Control Tower, a novel about an inflight emergency after a Concorde has a midair with a small plane over Miami, and any other book that has ever been missing from your aviation bookshelf).
The film was made by Robertson, who added a DC8 typerating to his license and flew all the air-to-air sequences himself. The cameraship was flown by none other than Clay Lacy, and the results are some of the most beautiful airliner footage ever screened. The whole 90 minutes reeks of authenticity, for instance the other pilots up front may have SAG cards (or not, given Robertson's relationship with Hollywood at the time) but they're really his real-life pilot buddies, and this film is like, "I've written this script, let's hire a DC8 for two days and make a REAL airline disaster movie."
Secondhand ex rental VHS copies turn up occasionally on eBay, and it's worth keeping an eye out for it - a landmark in aviation movie history. I'm going to work out how to transfer my VHS onto DVD for some close friends (feel free to email me through this site if you'd like to be part of that select group).
Meanwhile here is the trailer, incorportating the best of the flying action and emergencies. Enjoy!
It's hi res, so it takes ages to load. Be patient, pause it so it can load up, you want to watch this all the way through. Here's the link if you want it in it's own window: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9k-_mLZ_zA
fly Saha Air 707s daily from Tehran's downtown Mehrabad to Mashhad, Kish Island and Ahwaz
MCOflyer From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 8556 posts, RR: 14 Reply 1, posted (5 years 10 months 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 4140 times:
Oznznut From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 153 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (5 years 10 months 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 4027 times:
I bought my copy in 1984 and watch it about 2 or 3 times a year. Just love the sequence where they reverse the 2 inboard engines on the DC-8 inflight! Yes, it could be done!
OPNLguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (5 years 10 months 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 4020 times:
Quoting Kellmark (Reply 2): Interesting. Part of the film was made inside the office where I used to work, the Eastern Airlines System Operations Office in Miami.
L1011 From United States of America, joined May 1999, 1589 posts, RR: 10 Reply 5, posted (5 years 10 months 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 3981 times:
This movie was obviously made to be shown in theatres, since it was filmed in the CinemaScope aspect ratio. I know it never played in theatres in the Richmond area, because I was a projectionist for 30 years, and as an aviation buff I would have been first in line to see it. I have the VHS version, which is in pan-and-scan. I would love to see it released on DVD in a wide screen version so we could get full value out of those air-to-air shots. I agree that it is a great movie.
Aleksandar From Serbia, joined Jul 2000, 3229 posts, RR: 34 Reply 7, posted (5 years 10 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 3660 times:
There is only one movie about aviaton that I can't get out of my memory. I've seen it ages ago, it was made in 70s. About young air traffic controller (in fact, he's still aprentice and there are scenes of him at classes), his girl-friend who's flight attendant (there was a scene when she sleeps in a hoptel room and wakes up. He says to her "even 707 didn't wake you up). Unfortunately, I can't remember the movie's title, but if someone knows more about it, I'd like to know at least the title of that movie.
UAL Bagsmasher From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 2131 posts, RR: 11 Reply 8, posted (5 years 10 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 3627 times:
You are thinking of "Crisis in Midair" starring George Peppard (The A-Team) and Desi Arnaz, Jr. It is set in LAX. Another good movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079009/
DAYflyer From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 3807 posts, RR: 4 Reply 10, posted (5 years 10 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 3588 times:
It is a interesting movie. I have a DVD of The Pilot and I watch it maybe twice a year. The pre-taxi checklist is interesting and so is some of plot. Definately a "B" movie though if there ever was one. The most interesting yet perhpas unknown fact about the movie is that Cliff Robertson is or was in fact an ATC rated pilot back in the 1960's and 70s. I think that his aviation knoweledge shows a little in the film.
Cedarjet From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 7724 posts, RR: 55 Reply 11, posted (5 years 9 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 3331 times:
Quoting Olympus69 (Reply 6): My Leonard Maltin Movie and Video Guide says the title of the Video version was "Danger in the Skies". Maybe that's why it's hard to find.
I think that was just one incarnation of the VHS. The Pilot is the more common title (and the title of the novel it's based on).
Quoting UAL Bagsmasher (Reply 8): You are thinking of "Crisis in Midair" starring George Peppard (The A-Team) and Desi Arnaz, Jr.
Ah yes! I'd forgotten about Desi Arnaz. I remember George Peppard. The titular crisis is when some escaping criminal shoots a bullet into the engine of a jet taking off (which might be a Convair 880 or 990? I'm not 100% certain it's a seven-oh). Cue that disaster movie staple, a flight engineer sweating like a marine about to take a spelling test.
Official copy? Or pirate? I'm ready to break a few copyright laws and run off half a dozen DVDs from my VHS. Didn't know there was an official DVD release.
Quoting MCOflyer (Reply 1): The links you posted are not valid.
They work for me; hopefully no-one else has had a problem?
fly Saha Air 707s daily from Tehran's downtown Mehrabad to Mashhad, Kish Island and Ahwaz
Highflier92660 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 596 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (5 years 9 months 4 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 3256 times:
Does anybody know where they got the DC-8 for the movie? Looking at the organ pipes and the ejector ring it must have been an old JT-4 powered 10/20/30/40 version. It's strange that this movie has gotten so little publicity over the years as Cliff Robertson (still current at 82) is one of the better pilot/actors who would have demanded aeronautical accuracy. Why do mind numbing Lindsay Lohan movies go straight to DVD and classic aviation films fade away in VHS?
I keep mixing up The Pilot, which was about an alcoholic captain hiding "spookers" in the lavatory with Robert Serlings The Left Seat about a guy who ends up crashing a DC-7 at Idlewild.
Cedarjet From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 7724 posts, RR: 55 Reply 14, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2817 times:
Quoting Highflier92660 (Reply 12): Does anybody know where they got the DC-8 for the movie? Looking at the organ pipes and the ejector ring it must have been an old JT-4 powered 10/20/30/40 version.
I'll have a look when I make the copies as promised, but I'm sure the reg is N, four digits (eighteen-oh-something?) U. Either that or something other clue made me think it was an ex-United bird. Will advise.
fly Saha Air 707s daily from Tehran's downtown Mehrabad to Mashhad, Kish Island and Ahwaz
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. Can it be found on DVD?
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