Something wrong here, Top Gun greatest movie for EAA?

I would say Sprit of St. Lewis with Jimmy Steward was about the best. Blue
Max was ok and there was a movie about the Avro Arrow on DTV that was really
very good, but I don't know if it was shown in theaters. Top Gun was bad.
The Avaitor was worse, I could not even watch more than a few min. of that
awful movie.


"C J Campbell" wrote in message
news:2007050619410837709-christophercampbell@hotmailcom...
On 2007-05-06 10:50:02 -0700, Bugs66 said:

http://www.airventure.org/2007/news/070503_movie.html

Something is very wrong when the cheesy movie Top Gun wins over 12
O'clock High, Waldo Pepper, and Spirit of St. Louis. It shouldn't
even be on the list among the other great movies. I think the vote
was rigged!

In my opinion Top Gun is one of the dumbest aviation movies I have
ever seen. I remember seeing it in the theater when it opened, I was
only 17. I had just earned my pilots license and even then I thought
the movie was dumb. The only reason I went to see it was the late
great Art Scholl was killed making it and I wanted to pay my
respect.

For you guys who voted for Top Gun, maybe you should spend a rainy
afternoon watching the classics and you might learn something.

End of rant.

Top Gun. Isn't that the movie about a brittle Navy pilot who screws up and
gets his best friend killed, goes bonkers, sleeps with the psychiatrist
who is supposed to be evaluating him, single-handedly becomes an ace in
only one dogfight, then displays his anti-authority attitude by buzzing
his commander?

"You can be my wing man anytime." "No, you can be MY wing man."

Great dialog. Makes my list as one of the worst aviation movies of all
time.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

Some others on the shelf here...

Memphis Bells is fabulous.

Flight of the Intruder is a little hokey in places, but good flying.

The Battle of Britan is pretty good.

The Right Stuff.

Spy in the Sky (development and history of the U2).

Flight of the Pheonix (both of them)

("william" wrote)
The Avaitor was worse, I could not even watch more than a few min. of that
awful movie.


I enjoyed The Aviator (2004), as a movie, for its aviation sequenses, for
the story it told, for the acting, for the period sets, and for a whole
bunch of other reasons. The Aviator is a very good movie.

Try watching the entire movie next time. g

http://www.dancewithshadows.com/oscar_winners_2005.asp
11 .... Academy Award nominations
5 ...... Oscars won that night


Mont-back-lot
"For those keeping sco Three 6 Mafia: 1; Martin Scorsese: 0."

I ran this poll for EAA and am very interested in this thread... would
like to assure everyone that the voting was not rigged! Top Gun did
genuinely receive the most votes, although it was quite a close-run
thing with Twelve o' Clock High.

For your interest, I will paste below the full list of movies that
were nominated by EAA members a few months ago in an open nomination
period, with the number representing how many nominations were
received by each movie. (The top 10 on this list are the ones that
were ultimately voted on in the main poll which received 10,270
votes).

As you can see there is a wide variety of interest, and some great
movies were nominated. Perhaps this long list is a better indication
of the breadth and quality of interest among EAA's members. My
personal favourite is the excellent Czech film "Dark Blue World" which
is thoroughly recommended... there can be no more perfect combination
of British beauty and elegance than Tara Fitzgerald and a whole bunch
of Spitfires.

I have received a few grumbles about Top Gun winning the poll, but
have been reminding everyone that (a) democracy must be respected, and
(b) there are 6 other nights in the week that we'll be showing movies
at the Fly-In Theater during AirVenture 2007. The whole process has
given us some great ideas. The full program will be unveiled in a
couple of weeks, but I think some of the contributors to this thread
will be happy. We have some awesome presenters lined-up too.

We had very good feedback to the Fly-In Theater last year, look
forward to seeing some of you there in July!

Adam Smith
Museum Director
EAA


Great Waldo Pepper, The 61
Twelve O'Clock High 52
Top Gun 44
Spirit of St. Louis 39
Battle of Britain 36
Those Mag Men in Their Flying Mach 31
Blue Max 28
High and the Mighty, The 26
Flight of the Phoenix 23
Memphis Belle (1990) 24
Right Stuff, The 22
Flyboys 19
Always 18
Strategic Air Command 17
Apollo 13 16
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo 13
Airplane! 12
Bridges at Toko-Ri 12
Dawn Patrol 11
Hell's Angels 11
Tora! Tora! Tora! 11
Rocketeer, The 9
Air America 8
Dam Busters, The 8
Midway 8
High Road to China 7
Wings (1927) 7
Cloud Dancer 7
633 Squadron 6
Island in the Sky 6
One Six Right 6
Aviator, The (2004) (H. Hughes) 5
Best Years of Our Lives 5
Flying Tigers 5
God is My Co-Pilot 5
One Six Left 5
Pearl Harbor 5
Piece of Cake - BBC 5
Tuskegee Airmen 5
Airport 4
Aviator, The (1985) (plane crash) 4
Bat 21 4
Dr. Strangelove 4
Fate is the Hunter 4
Fighter Pilot - IMAX 4
Flight of the Intruder 4
Memphis Belle (1944) 6
A Guy Named Joe 3
Captains of the Clouds 3
Dark Blue World 3
Empire of the Sun 3
Final Countdown 3
Firefox (1982) 3
Fly Away Home 3
The Hunters 3
Iron Eagle 3
Midway (1976) 3
Reach for the Sky 3
Breaking the Sound Barrier 2
Flyers - IMAX 2
Flying Leathernecks 2
Men with Wings 2
War Lover, The 2
Wings of Eagles 2
Toward the Unknown 2
2001Space Odyssey 1
A Bridge Too Far 1
A Gathering of Eagles 1
Airplane 2 1
Aviator, The (no date) 1
Battle Hymn 1
Bush Pilot 1
Capricorn One 1
China Clipper 1
Christopher Strong 1
Command Decision 1
Con Air 1
Cutaway 1
Dive Bomber 1
Eagles Nest 1
Failsafe 1
Fandango 1
Fighter Squadron 1
Firebirds 1
Flight from Ashiya 1
Freefall: Flight 174 1
Gods Must Be Crazy 2, The 1
Great Santini, The 1
Gypsy Moths 1
Hail Columbia 1
Hannover Street 1
It's a Mad Mad Mad World 1
Mosquito Squadron 1
Mother Lode 1
Murphy's War 1
Only Angels Have Wings 1
Peter Pan 1
Planes, Trains and Automobiles 1
Poncha Barnes 1
Porco Rosso 1
Pushing Tin 1
Radio Flyer 1
Six Days Seven Nights 1
Sky is the Limit, THe (made for tv) 1
Skydancer 1
Skyward (made for tv) 1
Space Cowboys 1
Spin (2003) 1
Spitfire 1
Star Wars 1
Tailspin Tommy Tompkins 1
Ten Seconds That Shook the World 1
Test Pilot 1
Threshold - Blue Angels 1
Thunderbolt Squadron 1
War 1
Wild Blue Yonder 1
Young Eagle 1
Aunt Bea Learns to Fly - Andy Griffith 1
Baa Baa Black Sheep -tv 1
Sky King - tv 1
12 O'Clock High - tv 1

Montblack wrote:

("william" wrote)

The Avaitor was worse, I could not even watch more than a few min. of that
awful movie.



I enjoyed The Aviator (2004), as a movie, for its aviation sequenses, for
the story it told, for the acting, for the period sets, and for a whole
bunch of other reasons. The Aviator is a very good movie.

Try watching the entire movie next time. g

http://www.dancewithshadows.com/oscar_winners_2005.asp
11 .... Academy Award nominations
5 ...... Oscars won that night


Mont-back-lot
"For those keeping sco Three 6 Mafia: 1; Martin Scorsese: 0."



Ok, bur which "the Aviator"?

There a prior version of Ernest K Gann's story about an early air
mail pilot forced down in the mountains?

As played by Superman and Lois Lane?

Richard

Thank YOU for your comments and the listing of all the movies nominated,
of course the later movies are still fresh in peoples minds-9 ('CEPT us
old fogeys w/alzheimers) I feel certain that most of this groups members
appreciate your toiling with the figures, regardless of the outcome. THANKS



wrote:
I ran this poll for EAA and am very interested in this thread... would
like to assure everyone that the voting was not rigged! Top Gun did
genuinely receive the most votes, although it was quite a close-run
thing with Twelve o' Clock High.

For your interest, I will paste below the full list of movies that
were nominated by EAA members a few months ago in an open nomination
period, with the number representing how many nominations were
received by each movie. (The top 10 on this list are the ones that
were ultimately voted on in the main poll which received 10,270
votes).

As you can see there is a wide variety of interest, and some great
movies were nominated. Perhaps this long list is a better indication
of the breadth and quality of interest among EAA's members. My
personal favourite is the excellent Czech film "Dark Blue World" which
is thoroughly recommended... there can be no more perfect combination
of British beauty and elegance than Tara Fitzgerald and a whole bunch
of Spitfires.

I have received a few grumbles about Top Gun winning the poll, but
have been reminding everyone that (a) democracy must be respected, and
(b) there are 6 other nights in the week that we'll be showing movies
at the Fly-In Theater during AirVenture 2007. The whole process has
given us some great ideas. The full program will be unveiled in a
couple of weeks, but I think some of the contributors to this thread
will be happy. We have some awesome presenters lined-up too.

We had very good feedback to the Fly-In Theater last year, look
forward to seeing some of you there in July!

Adam Smith
Museum Director
EAA


Great Waldo Pepper, The 61
Twelve O'Clock High 52
Top Gun 44
Spirit of St. Louis 39
Battle of Britain 36
Those Mag Men in Their Flying Mach 31
Blue Max 28
High and the Mighty, The 26
Flight of the Phoenix 23
Memphis Belle (1990) 24
Right Stuff, The 22
Flyboys 19
Always 18
Strategic Air Command 17
Apollo 13 16
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo 13
Airplane! 12
Bridges at Toko-Ri 12
Dawn Patrol 11
Hell's Angels 11
Tora! Tora! Tora! 11
Rocketeer, The 9
Air America 8
Dam Busters, The 8
Midway 8
High Road to China 7
Wings (1927) 7
Cloud Dancer 7
633 Squadron 6
Island in the Sky 6
One Six Right 6
Aviator, The (2004) (H. Hughes) 5
Best Years of Our Lives 5
Flying Tigers 5
God is My Co-Pilot 5
One Six Left 5
Pearl Harbor 5
Piece of Cake - BBC 5
Tuskegee Airmen 5
Airport 4
Aviator, The (1985) (plane crash) 4
Bat 21 4
Dr. Strangelove 4
Fate is the Hunter 4
Fighter Pilot - IMAX 4
Flight of the Intruder 4
Memphis Belle (1944) 6
A Guy Named Joe 3
Captains of the Clouds 3
Dark Blue World 3
Empire of the Sun 3
Final Countdown 3
Firefox (1982) 3
Fly Away Home 3
The Hunters 3
Iron Eagle 3
Midway (1976) 3
Reach for the Sky 3
Breaking the Sound Barrier 2
Flyers - IMAX 2
Flying Leathernecks 2
Men with Wings 2
War Lover, The 2
Wings of Eagles 2
Toward the Unknown 2
2001Space Odyssey 1
A Bridge Too Far 1
A Gathering of Eagles 1
Airplane 2 1
Aviator, The (no date) 1
Battle Hymn 1
Bush Pilot 1
Capricorn One 1
China Clipper 1
Christopher Strong 1
Command Decision 1
Con Air 1
Cutaway 1
Dive Bomber 1
Eagles Nest 1
Failsafe 1
Fandango 1
Fighter Squadron 1
Firebirds 1
Flight from Ashiya 1
Freefall: Flight 174 1
Gods Must Be Crazy 2, The 1
Great Santini, The 1
Gypsy Moths 1
Hail Columbia 1
Hannover Street 1
It's a Mad Mad Mad World 1
Mosquito Squadron 1
Mother Lode 1
Murphy's War 1
Only Angels Have Wings 1
Peter Pan 1
Planes, Trains and Automobiles 1
Poncha Barnes 1
Porco Rosso 1
Pushing Tin 1
Radio Flyer 1
Six Days Seven Nights 1
Sky is the Limit, THe (made for tv) 1
Skydancer 1
Skyward (made for tv) 1
Space Cowboys 1
Spin (2003) 1
Spitfire 1
Star Wars 1
Tailspin Tommy Tompkins 1
Ten Seconds That Shook the World 1
Test Pilot 1
Threshold - Blue Angels 1
Thunderbolt Squadron 1
War 1
Wild Blue Yonder 1
Young Eagle 1
Aunt Bea Learns to Fly - Andy Griffith 1
Baa Baa Black Sheep -tv 1
Sky King - tv 1
12 O'Clock High - tv 1

Heh,

Hell's Angels was Ben Lyon, James Hall, & Jean Harlow. Excellent
special effects for 1927-30, even if the Zepplin was fake.

I still can't believe that you've missed one of the greatest, most
ground-breaking aviation movies of all time:

WINGS!

Watch Star Wars... watch Midway, watch Hell's Angels for that
matter... they all draw from the dogfight scenes in Wings. Of course
it doesn't have sound, but it does have Clara Bow!

In 10 Seconds That Changed the World on the History Channel (right?)
the Wright Flyer used in the action sequences was built by John
Reynolds. Both of us exhibited at a special event for Hartsfield-
Jackson Airport in Atlanta on 12/17/2003. John and I traded a little
"cradle-time" and I have to say that the '03 scares the hell out of
me. Forward visibility with the canards pitched is ZERO. And then
there's the proximity of your right thigh to the engine, and your feet
to the props.

Harry "HrgfgBull****gghgfh" Frey

Thanks, Adam. This is my Father's Day wish list. :-D


Adam Smith
Museum Director
EAA

Great Waldo Pepper, The 61
Twelve O'Clock High 52
Top Gun 44
Spirit of St. Louis 39
Battle of Britain 36
Those Mag Men in Their Flying Mach 31
Blue Max 28
High and the Mighty, The 26
Flight of the Phoenix 23
Memphis Belle (1990) 24
Right Stuff, The 22
Flyboys 19
Always 18
Strategic Air Command 17
Apollo 13 16
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo 13
Airplane! 12
Bridges at Toko-Ri 12
Dawn Patrol 11
Hell's Angels 11
Tora! Tora! Tora! 11
Rocketeer, The 9
Air America 8
Dam Busters, The 8
Midway 8
High Road to China 7
Wings (1927) 7
Cloud Dancer 7
633 Squadron 6
Island in the Sky 6
One Six Right 6
Aviator, The (2004) (H. Hughes) 5
Best Years of Our Lives 5
Flying Tigers 5
God is My Co-Pilot 5
One Six Left 5
Pearl Harbor 5
Piece of Cake - BBC 5
Tuskegee Airmen 5
Airport 4
Aviator, The (1985) (plane crash) 4
Bat 21 4
Dr. Strangelove 4
Fate is the Hunter 4
Fighter Pilot - IMAX 4
Flight of the Intruder 4
Memphis Belle (1944) 6
A Guy Named Joe 3
Captains of the Clouds 3
Dark Blue World 3
Empire of the Sun 3
Final Countdown 3
Firefox (1982) 3
Fly Away Home 3
The Hunters 3
Iron Eagle 3
Midway (1976) 3
Reach for the Sky 3
Breaking the Sound Barrier 2
Flyers - IMAX 2
Flying Leathernecks 2
Men with Wings 2
War Lover, The 2
Wings of Eagles 2
Toward the Unknown 2
2001Space Odyssey 1
A Bridge Too Far 1
A Gathering of Eagles 1
Airplane 2 1
Aviator, The (no date) 1
Battle Hymn 1
Bush Pilot 1
Capricorn One 1
China Clipper 1
Christopher Strong 1
Command Decision 1
Con Air 1
Cutaway 1
Dive Bomber 1
Eagles Nest 1
Failsafe 1
Fandango 1
Fighter Squadron 1
Firebirds 1
Flight from Ashiya 1
Freefall: Flight 174 1
Gods Must Be Crazy 2, The 1
Great Santini, The 1
Gypsy Moths 1
Hail Columbia 1
Hannover Street 1
It's a Mad Mad Mad World 1
Mosquito Squadron 1
Mother Lode 1
Murphy's War 1
Only Angels Have Wings 1
Peter Pan 1
Planes, Trains and Automobiles 1
Poncha Barnes 1
Porco Rosso 1
Pushing Tin 1
Radio Flyer 1
Six Days Seven Nights 1
Sky is the Limit, THe (made for tv) 1
Skydancer 1
Skyward (made for tv) 1
Space Cowboys 1
Spin (2003) 1
Spitfire 1
Star Wars 1
Tailspin Tommy Tompkins 1
Ten Seconds That Shook the World 1
Test Pilot 1
Threshold - Blue Angels 1
Thunderbolt Squadron 1
War 1
Wild Blue Yonder 1
Young Eagle 1
Aunt Bea Learns to Fly - Andy Griffith 1
Baa Baa Black Sheep -tv 1
Sky King - tv 1
12 O'Clock High - tv 1

On May 9, 1:50 am, Richard Riley wrote:
On Tue, 8 May 2007 15:08:28 -0500, "Montblack"

wrote:
("william" wrote)
The Avaitor was worse, I could not even watch more than a few min. of that
awful movie.

I enjoyed The Aviator (2004), as a movie, for its aviation sequenses, for
the story it told, for the acting, for the period sets, and for a whole
bunch of other reasons. The Aviator is a very good movie.

Try watching the entire movie next time. g

http://www.dancewithshadows.com/oscar_winners_2005.asp
11 .... Academy Award nominations
5 ...... Oscars won that night

A neighbor of mine worked for Hughes from about 44 to the late 80's.
He says DiCaprio's performance was spooky, it was so spot on.


Somewhere online I found footage of Hughes' testimony before the
Senate whatever-it-was committee. Aside from the color and
DiCaprio's face instead of Hughes' it was identical, down to
the posture and the inflection in his voice. I'm sure that and
other footage was careful studied by DiCaprio and others for
the film.

The Udvar-Hazy annex to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
has a small model of the twin radial engine amphibian biplane
flown in the movie. I don't remember what it was, but what a
beautiful plane!

--

FF

We had very good feedback to the Fly-In Theater last year, look
forward to seeing some of you there in July!

Adam Smith
Museum Director
EAA

Thanks, Adam, for the great list. I am stealing it, of course,
because I'm running out of ideas for our "Movie Night at the Inn".

(Every Tuesday night we show a free aviation movie in the theater
inside our aviation-themed hotel in Iowa City, IA, the Alexis Park Inn
& Suites. Admission, snacks and beverages are always free, as is time
on our full-sized flight simulator! :-)

I've become something of an aviation movie expert over the last year,
simply through complete immersion therapy! Here's a list of the
movies we've shown on Movie Night since March of 2006:

In 2006 we showed:

Air Force One
Airplane
Apollo 13
Aviator
Battle of Britain
Blackhawk Down
Black Sky
Bridges at Toko-ri
Con-Air
Flight of the Phoenix
Flying Tigers
Great Waldo Pepper
Hell's Angels
High & the Mighty
The Hunters
Island in the Sky
Memphis Belle (Original)
Memphis Belle (Hollywood)
Midway
One Six Right
Pearl Harbor
Prelude to War
Wright Stuff
Spirit of St Louis
30 Seconds Over Tokyo
Top Gun
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Tuskegee Airmen
Twelve O'Clock High
Wing & A Prayer

In 2007 we've showed:
Tuesday, 1/2/07 United 93
Tuesday, 1/9 Flight Plan
Tuesday, 1/16 The Blue Max
Tuesday, 1/23 Flying Leathernecks
Tuesday, 1/30 Airport
Tuesday, 2/6 Passenger 57
Tuesday, 2/13 Airport '77
Tuesday, 2/27 Flyboys
Tuesday, 3/6 Pushing Tin
Tuesday, 3/20 The War Lover
Tuesday, 3/27 Iron Eagle
Tuesday, 4/3 Jet Pilot
Tuesday, 4/10 Stealth
Tuesday, 4/24 The Dawn Patrol
Tuesday, 5/1 The Final Countdown
Tuesday, 5/8 633 Squadron

Coming up, we're going to be showing:

Tuesday, 5/15 (Tonight!) Air America
Tuesday, 5/22 Behind Enemy Lines
Tuesday, 5/30 Red Eye
Tuesday, 6/6 Always
Tuesday, 6/13 Wings in the Dark

Our lists overlap quite a bit, but I've found a couple of flicks on
yours that we don't own. (Once we buy them, they become free to
borrow for our hotel guests...)

Personally, I found Stealth and Iron Eagle to be the two worst
aviation movies of all time. Many of the John Wayne movies, although
long on great aviation footage, are almost unwatchable due to their
horrible plot, pacing, and acting.

Best? Black Sky, Apollo 13, and The Aviator are quite excellent, as
is One Six Right.

But, yes, I *do* love Top Gun. It's got some of the greatest flying
sequences ever filmed...

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"