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Aviation Videos
Here is a list of flying movies which may be available on the Barnes and Noble website at the bottom of this page. If you think of more flying movies, please let us know. Also, we have many of these movies available to borrow.
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Categories:
Comedy
Flying
History
Biography
Aircraft
Fiction
Misc
Available Elsewhere
New Additions
- Category: Comedy
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 Air America -
- To Orson Welles, a motion picture studio was "the biggest electric train set a boy ever had to play with." To director Roger Spottiswoode, it's a model plane set, if the big-budget action comedy Air America is any indication. Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. play a couple of what-the-hell flyboys flying contraband to Laos during the Vietnam War. Gibson doesn't seem to care about anything but the "guts and glory" aspects of the job, but Downey has serious questions about the moral implications of their mission. When a Laotian general expresses more concern over the wellbeing of an opium shipment than the men who are risking life and limb to fly it in, Gibson comes around to Downey's way of thinking. By film's end, Gibson is stuck in one of those character-building dilemmas so common to films of this nature: Should he deliver his cache of weaponry, or should he dump it all to rescue a bunch of refugees? Inasmuch as one of the refugees is gorgeous USAID Nancy Travis, there's little doubt as to what course Gibson will eventually follow. - Hal Erickson
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 Airplane! -
- This hilarious spoof of the Airport series of disaster movies relies on ridiculous sight gags, groan-inducing dialogue, and broad comic acting to make the audience laugh - and it succeeds. Airplane! pulls out all the clichés as alcoholic pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays), who's developed a fear of flying due to wartime trauma, boards a jumbo jet to attempt to woo back his stewardess girlfriend (Julie Hagerty). Food poisoning decimates the passengers and crew, leaving it up to Striker to land the plane, and a deadpan, glue-sniffing air traffic controller (Lloyd Bridges) and Striker's vengeful former captain (Robert Stack) to talk him down. Along the way, we meet a clutch of stock disaster movie passengers like the guitar-strumming nun, sick little girl, and frightened old lady, as well as two African-American travelers whose "jive" has to be subtitled. That's just one of the many gags that fill the film to overflowing. Leslie Nielsen has some of the movie's best lines as the plane's doctor, launching a new phase of the actor's career that carried him through the next two decades in several similarly comedic roles. Much of the humor in Airplane! is intentionally sophomoric, but its sheer bravado keeps the movie fresh and the chuckles coming. - Don Kaye
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 Airplane II: The Sequel -
- The Jerry Zucker-Jim Abrahams-David Zucker team is conspicuous by its absence in Airplane 2: The Sequel. This sequel to the cash-cow 1980 spoof Airplane tries very hard to get laughs, and therein lies its main problem. Once more, garrulous man-with-a-past Ted Striker (Robert Hays) is compelled to take over the controls of crippled aircraft, all the while trying to patch up his relationship with stewardess Elaine (Julie Hagerty). This time, an atomic-powered Concorde is accidentally catapulted into outer space. Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves are as amusing as they were in the first Airplane, while William Shatner, Chad Everett, Sonny Bono, Raymond Burr and Chuck Conners are very appealing as they lampoon their established images. Where the film falters is in its handling of individual gags. Part of the fun in the first Airplane was the lampooning of cliches that the audience had never previously regarded as cliches, and the surprise twists on the various jokes. In Airplane 2, the cliches presented are strictly within the realm of "we know that; what's next?" while we can see most of the punchlines coming a mile away (Example: when Hays declares that the passengers are "in jeopardy", we just know we're going to see Art Fleming and the "Daily Double" board in the next shot). To be sure, Airplane 2: The Sequel gets laughs; it simply just doesn't have a high a batting average as the original. - Hal Erickson
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 Chicken Run -
- A coop full of tender chickens attempt to fly for freedom in the newest claymation creation from Nick Park and Peter Lord, whose U.K.-based Aardman Animations is known for its wildly popular Wallace & Gromit series. After several unsuccessful attempts to escape the chicken farm of vicious Mrs. Tweedy (voiced by Miranda Richardson), a snappy hen named Ginger (Julia Sawalha) thinks she finds the answer to her prayers in the form of a Yankee Doodle Dandy named Rocky (Mel Gibson), who can supposedly fly. But can the charming rooster save the hens from their imminent doom -- being diced for pot pies? Intelligent execution of a witty story makes this farmhouse allegory vastly entertaining, and it's enhanced all the more by a colorful cast of characters and clever references to films like The Great Escape. Simultaneously humorous and touching, Chicken Run's visual and technical magic is wholly cinematic in scope, a perfect example of the animation niche Aardman has carved for itself. Although not always the fun-filled children's romp you would expect -- several allusions to the tragedies of World War II are made -- Chicken Run still strikes home on many levels. And after only one viewing, you may think twice before eating another chicken pot pie. - Patricia Kim O'Cone
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 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang -
- One of the stars of Walt Disney's Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke, is re-united with that film's composer and lyricist, Richard M.Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, in this big budget and bloodless children's fantasy musical, based on the children's book by James Bond author Ian Fleming. Van Dyke plays Caractacus Potts, a failed inventor who lives in a big house with his two children -- Jemima Heather Ripley and Jeremy Adrian Hall -- and eccentric father Lionel Jeffries. Potts has to raise 30 shillings so his children can buy a broken-down racing car from the junkyard. After a disastrous attempt to sell his invention of whistling sweets to Lord Scrumptious (James Robertson-Justice), the local candy maker, he finally gets enough money for the car by doing a Dick Van Dyke dance routine at the county fair. Potts takes the car and miraculously transforms the vehicle into a shiny new car named Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. While on a picnic with the children and Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes), Lord Scrumptious' beautiful daughter, Potts concocts a fantasy tale about the magical powers of the car, which can now float on water and fly. In the tale, Baron Bomburst (Gert Frobe) wants the car for himself and kidnaps the automobile and the inventor. But Bomburst captures Grandpa by mistake along with the wrong car, so Potts, Truly, and the children have to enlist Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on a rescue mission to Bomburst's lair to save Grandpa. - Paul Brenner
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 Hot Shots! -
- Hot Shots! is another parody from the team responsible for The Naked Gun and Airplane. This time around, they set their sights on action/adventure films like Top Gun. Charlie Sheen plays Topper Harley, a maverick Airforce pilot who has to live with the legacy of his father and battle a rival pilot, Kent Gregory (Cary Elwes). Along the way, Hot Shots! throws in jokes about Dances With Wolves, 9 1/2 Weeks, The Fabulous Baker Boys, and Gone with the Wind. Like any parody, the jokes run hot and cold, but they arrive very quickly throughout the film, and the majority of them hit the mark, making Hot Shots! fun, mindless entertainment. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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 Hot Shots! Part Deux -
- Movie references, stupid sight gags, bad puns, and double entendres abound in Hot Shots! Part Deux, Jim Abrahams' sequel to Hot Shots -- only now the object of the skewering is the Stallone Rambo movies instead of Top Gun. Charlie Sheen returns as the lunk-headed Topper Harley, who has retreated to a Buddhist monastery after being dumped by Ramada Rodham Hayman (Valerie Golino). In this far-off retreat, the monks have "taken a vow of celibacy, just like their fathers and their fathers before them." But Topper bulks up and goes back into action when his superior officer, Colonel Denton Walters (Richard Crenna) is captured by a Saddam Hussein look-alike, missing somewhere between "Iraq and a Hard Place." Topper charges into Iraq (after barreling through a Beverly Hills barbecue) along with sexy CIA operative Michelle Rodham Huddleston (Brenda Bakke) in tow, his guns ablazing. - Paul Brenner
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 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -
- The third, and last, of the Spielberg/Lucas Indiana Jones saga, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade evokes many of the thrills of the first two efforts (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) without blatantly copying either of them. After a lengthy prologue in which we learn how young Indy (River Phoenix) first developed a taste for heart-pounding adventure -- and his lifelong fear of snakes -- we find the grown-up Jones (who else but Harrison Ford?) teaching his archeology classes in 1938. He is approached by an art collector (Julian Glover), who wants Jones to embark upon a search for the Holy Grail. It so happens that another archaeologist has disappeared while searching for the precious goblet; it so happens further that the missing man is Indy's own father, Dr. Henry Jones (marvelously portrayed by Sean Connery). What follows is a roller-coaster of thrills, whisking both the elder and the younger Joneses to Venice, Berlin, and the most treacherous regions of the Middle East. Complicating matters is the presence of lovely Alison Doody, whose attraction to Indy -- and his dad -- does not dissuade her from her loyalty to the Nazi party. As in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the much-sought-after religious artifact in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is not so easily found -- and even when it is discovered, its powers are a bit too much for those impure of heart. This Indiana Jones effort set a record by grossing $50 million in the first week of release. - Hal Erickson
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 Keep 'em Flying -
- Having joined the army in Buck Privates and the navy in In the Navy, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello signed up with Air Force in Keep 'Em Flying. Bud and Lou play Blackie and Heathcliff, carnival workers who are fired from their jobs along with their pal, reckless stunt pilot Jinx Roberts (Dick Foran). When Jinx joins the Army Air Corps-the better to be nearer pretty USO singer Linda Joyce (Carol Bruce)-Blackie and Heathcliff loyally join up as well, obtaining low-echelon ground crew jobs. While Jinx tries to cure Linda's brother Jim (Charles Lang) of his fear of flying, Heathcliff pursues a romance with wisecracking waitress Gloria Phelps (Martha Raye), never quite catching on that Gloria has an identitical-twin sister (also Martha Raye). A bit too plot-heavy for its own good, Keep 'Em Flying is at its best when concentrating on Abbott & Costello, who in addition to performing their patented cross-talk routines participate in a zany runaway-torpedo chase and a gratuitous but amusing episode in a spooky carnival funhouse. As a bonus, Costello gets to do a bit of "straight" acting, and he's quite good at it. Deleted scenes include a comedy magic act (later restaged in A&C's Lost in a Harem) and a wild episode at a skating rink (reworked two years later in Hit the Ice). - Hal Erickson
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 Look Who's Talking -
- Though its PG-13 rating is well earned, Look Who's Talking has some elements that might appeal to a family audience. Chief among them, of course, is the "talking baby" protagonist. The product of an extramarital affair, infant Mikey (played by several different babies, and given voice by Bruce Willis) is a cynical, sarcastic observer of his new world. Mikey's mother, Kirstie Alley, having been dumped by her married lover George Segal, searches high and low for a new father for her baby. Of course, the perfect daddy is right under her nose all the time: cab driver John Travolta, who was on the scene when she went into labor on the sidewalk. The best moments in Look Who's Talking include Ms. Alley's imaginary flights of fancy, and the misadventures of Mikey as he progresses from sperm to reluctant newborn (his violent vocal protests against being yanked from the womb are worth the admission price in themselves). Look Who's Talking has spawned two sequels, neither of which are as charming or disarming as the original. - Hal Erickson
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 Planes, Trains and Automobiles -
- Were it not for the profanity-laden opening scenes, John Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles might have been suitable family entertainment: certainly it's heaps less violent and mean-spirited than Hughes' Home Alone. En route to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with his family, easily annoyed businessman Steve Martin finds his first-class plane ticket has been demoted to coach, and he must share his flight with obnoxious salesman John Candy. A sudden snowstorm in Chicago forces the plane to land in Wichita. Unable to find a room in any of the four-star hotels, Martin is compelled to accept Candy's invitation to share his accommodations in a cheapo-sleazo motel. Driven to distraction by Candy's annoying personal habits, the ungrateful Martin lets forth with a stream of verbal abuse. That's when Candy delivers the anticipated (but always welcome) "I don't judge-why should you?"-type speech so common to John Hughes flicks. The shamefaced Martin tries to make up to Candy, but there's a bumpy time ahead as the mismatched pair make their way back to Chicago, first in a balky train, then by way of a refrigerator truck. We know from the outset that the oil-and-water Martin and Candy will be bosom companions by the end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but it's still a fun ride. Best bit: A half-asleep Candy thinking that he's got his hand tucked between two pillows-until his bedmate Martin bellows "Those AREN'T PILLOWS!" - Hal Erickson
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 Raiders of the Lost Ark -
- When the dynamic duo of late-'70s popular cinema, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, announced they were teaming to do a film, audience expectations were high. Raiders of the Lost Ark, the result of their collaboration, did not disappoint. This humorous, fast-paced update of the old Saturday morning serials catapulted STAR WARS sidekick Harrison Ford into a whole other galaxy of superstardom as Indiana "Indy" Jones, a handsome University of Chicago archaeology professor. Indy races the Nazis across the globe to find the Ark of the Covenant, a holy artifact from ancient Israel that bestows almost unlimited power on its possessor. Raiders abounds with iconic images, and the action scenes -- from the boulder chase to the saber duel -- surprise, amaze, and zoom across the screen thanks to the Academy Award-winning editing of Michael Kahn. The special-effects wizards at George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic also won an Oscar for creating Egyptian tombs and the wrath of God, among other stunning visuals. Raiders of the Lost Ark set a new standard for action films. And while other films have pushed the action envelope, RAIDERS remains film's ultimate funhouse ride. - Ben Wolf
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 The Flying Deuces -
- In their first starring feature away from the Hal Roach studios, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play a couple of fish peddlers from Des Moines on a Cook's Tour of Paris. While stopping over at quaint suburban inn, Ollie falls in love with innkeeper's daughter Georgette (Jean Parker). At Stan's prodding, Ollie pops the question to Georgette, who gently refuses because there is Someone Else. Disconsolately, Ollie decides to commit suicide by jumping into the Seine, insisting that Stan join him in his plunge to oblivion. The boys are halted from this drastic action by the timely arrival of Francois (Reginald Gardiner), an officer in the French Foreign Legion. Francois convinces Stan and Ollie that they'll forget all about Ollie's lost love if they join the Legion, and within a few days our heroes are in uniform at an outpost in French Morocco, where they are promptly assigned to laundry detail. Alas, try as he might, Ollie can't forget his beloved Georgette-until Stan suggests that he pretend to forget so that they can get back in their own clothes and head home. This Ollie does, but not before accidentally setting fire to a mountain of laundry. After leaving behind a rather nasty letter of resignation for their scowling commandant (Charles Middleton), Stan and Ollie pack their bags and head for the airport-where Ollie is reunited with Georgette, who turns out to be the wife of their commanding officer Francois! Sentenced to death for desertion, the boys tunnel their way out of their jail cell and hide out in an airplane, which Stan accidentally sends into flight. After a wild and noisy ride, the plane crashes, leading to the flm's hilarious-and somehow touching--"freak" ending. Officially a remake of Les Aviateurs, a French vehicle for Fernandel and Toto, The Flying Deuces also owes a lot to the earlier Laurel & Hardy Foreign Legion farce Beau Hunks. Highlights include Stan and Ollie's impromptu soft-shoe rendition of "Shine on Harvest Moon", and Stan's lunatic excursion into Harpo Marx territory as he plays a bed-spring "harp". Produced by Boris Morros and released by RKO Radio, Flying Deuces is unquestionably the best of Laurel & Hardy's non-Hal Roach vehicles. - Hal Erickson
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 Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines -
- Set in 1910, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines is about a large air race between London and Paris, which is sponsored by a rich British newspaper publisher. The contestants in the race come from all over the world, and the movie follows the pranks, loves, scams and rivalries of several of the pilots. - Ray
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 Wright Brothers At Kitty Hawk -
- Peanuts movie - Ray
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