The Worst Aviation Movie of All Time

Jewel of the Nile.

Don't laugh! Last time I checked (which was when I was working at
the F-16 factory in Ft. Worth), it was not possible to fire any
weapons (particularly the machine guns) while the aircraft was
on the ground.

On the other hand, who can resist Danny DeVito and the Flying
Karamazov Brothers?

I'd have to put the TV movie based on Arthur Hailey's "Runway Zero Eight" as
the worst movie. It's the classic two man crew gets food poisoning, and the
hero pax saves the day by landing plane (Martin 404?) scenario.
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
We often talk about the BEST aviation movie here, but how 'bout the
worst?

Having spent nearly a year of my life showing aviation movies every
Tuesday night in our theater at the hotel, I am in a somewhat unique
position to comment on this. I've seen over 50 aviation movies in a
row, and can lend some perspective.

Many of the early aviation movies were saddled with the stilted acting
styles that followed the introduction of "talkies" in the 1920s/30s,
so you have to take some of them with a grain of salt.

An example is Howard Hughes' "Hells Angels", which is full of nice
flying scenes and some truly terrible acting. It's like they didn't
know how to write dialogue, yet -- which was okay, cuz the actors
didn't know how to deliver it.

John Wayne. Having seen all of his aviation flicks now, it's easy
to see where John Wayne got his reputation for being one-dimensional.
Every aviation movie he starred in (with the notable exception of the
"Island in the Sky" -- read about it he
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045919/
) has the same plot, and he played the same character. Many are quite
awful, although the WWII flying scenes are often quite good.

But after last night I can honestly say that the award for worst
aviation movie EVER made goes to "Iron Eagle" -- the 1986 movie that
was the Air Forces's quick answer to the success of "Top Gun".

By God, it's awful. The story line (Synopsis: A teenager and a
Colonol steal two F-16s, fly half-way around the world, destroy a
Saddam-look-alike's air force, and then LAND on the runway they just
destroyed to rescue the teenager's father from certain death), the
acting, the flying scenes, the combat scenes (astoundingly bad, with
missiles that fly at light-speed), even the credits are just
TERRIBLE.

This movie should have single-handedly ended Lou Gossetts' career, but
-- inexplicably -- they actually made a SEQUEL to this dog! I will
not see it.

We showed it last night at Movie Night, and the comments ranged from
"Thank God we didn't pay anything to *that*" to "I need another
beer." The scenes where targets on the ground -- like a water tower
on stilts -- blow up with near-nuclear force after just a few machine
gun hits were especially well derided...

Although Move Night is always just an excuse to get together and
hangar fly and fly the Kiwi flight simulator, this was so truly
terrible that it 'bout killed us.

Anyone got any other "nominations" for WORST ever?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In a previous article, "tom418" said:
I'd have to put the TV movie based on Arthur Hailey's "Runway Zero Eight" as
the worst movie. It's the classic two man crew gets food poisoning, and the
hero pax saves the day by landing plane (Martin 404?) scenario.

IMDB has never heard of a movie by that name. Are you sure you don't mean
"Zero Hour"? IMDB says Arthur Hailey wrote it, originally as a TV move
called "Flight Into Danger".


--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
"Pilots are reminded to ensure that all surly bonds are slipped before
attempting taxi or take-off"

In a previous article, (Paul Tomblin) said:
In a previous article, "tom418" said:
I'd have to put the TV movie based on Arthur Hailey's "Runway Zero Eight" as
the worst movie. It's the classic two man crew gets food poisoning, and the
hero pax saves the day by landing plane (Martin 404?) scenario.

IMDB has never heard of a movie by that name. Are you sure you don't mean
"Zero Hour"? IMDB says Arthur Hailey wrote it, originally as a TV move
called "Flight Into Danger".

Oh, my mistake, IMDB says that a TV movie called "Terror In the Sky" was
based on an Arthur Hailey novel called "Runway Zero 8". Evidently Hailey
went to the "flight crew incapacitated by food, passenger takes over" well
a LOT. He didn't write the screenplay for "Terror in the Sky" like he did
for "Flight Into Danger" and "Zero Hour", though.



--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
Get with the program, jeffrey. No one is 'wrong' on Usenet. They are
either 100% totally correct, or they are 'a lying, scum sucking weasel.'
There is no in-between. -- Garrett Johnson

Blanche wrote:
Jewel of the Nile.

Don't laugh! Last time I checked (which was when I was working at
the F-16 factory in Ft. Worth), it was not possible to fire any
weapons (particularly the machine guns) while the aircraft was
on the ground.

On the other hand, who can resist Danny DeVito and the Flying
Karamazov Brothers?

Blanche;
When did you work there? I did some software work on mission planning
systems there back in the 80's and got to walk down the assemble line
and got shown the chicken gun range. A truly amazing place.
John

Paul Tomblin writes:

Oh, my mistake, IMDB says that a TV movie called "Terror In the Sky" was
based on an Arthur Hailey novel called "Runway Zero 8". Evidently Hailey
went to the "flight crew incapacitated by food, passenger takes over" well
a LOT. He didn't write the screenplay for "Terror in the Sky" like he did
for "Flight Into Danger" and "Zero Hour", though.

As I recall, Hailey's _Airport_ was an excellent book, and quite accurate
(although very dated now--the aviation industry has changed a lot). The movie
by the same name was also very good, even if people make fun of it today, and
it was quite accurate technically as well.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Hailey did write a book by the name "Runway zero eight". I don't recall the
name of the movie. I remember seeing the movie in the early seventies, on
TV. I don't think that the name of the movie and book were the same. It's
quite possible that the movie name is one that you mentioned.
"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
In a previous article, "tom418" said:
I'd have to put the TV movie based on Arthur Hailey's "Runway Zero Eight"
as
the worst movie. It's the classic two man crew gets food poisoning, and
the
hero pax saves the day by landing plane (Martin 404?) scenario.

IMDB has never heard of a movie by that name. Are you sure you don't mean
"Zero Hour"? IMDB says Arthur Hailey wrote it, originally as a TV move
called "Flight Into Danger".


--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
"Pilots are reminded to ensure that all surly bonds are slipped before
attempting taxi or take-off"

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:06:07 +0000 (UTC),
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

. . . . Evidently Hailey
went to the "flight crew incapacitated by food, passenger takes over" well
a LOT.

Ever been one where the heroic Hobie sailor takes over the cruise
liner? With the number of mass episodes of gastric disturbances
taking place on cruises lately, it's only a matter of time before we
have one where the crew's kaopectate supply runs out and the only
passenger capable of bringing the Iowa City Princess into Santa Fe
harbor is the halal vegan who brought all his own food.

Don

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Paul Tomblin writes:

Oh, my mistake, IMDB says that a TV movie called "Terror In the Sky"
was based on an Arthur Hailey novel called "Runway Zero 8".
Evidently Hailey went to the "flight crew incapacitated by food,
passenger takes over" well a LOT. He didn't write the screenplay for
"Terror in the Sky" like he did for "Flight Into Danger" and "Zero
Hour", though.

As I recall, Hailey's _Airport_ was an excellent book, and quite
accurate

How th e**** would you know? You don't know anything about aviation
djikkkwad.


Bertei

Jay Honeck wrote:


This movie should have single-handedly ended Lou Gossetts' career, but
-- inexplicably -- they actually made a SEQUEL to this dog! I will
not see it.


Multiple Sequels:

# Iron Eagle II (1988)
# Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992)
# Iron Eagle IV (1995)