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When it was proposed in 1985, the idea was for “Air America” was meant to be the first Vietnam War comedy. It was to star Sean Connery and Kevin Costner. Funding took so long that the two moved on (Connery to “The Hunt for Red October” and Costner to “Dances With Wolves”). The film was directed by Roger Spottiswoode (“Under Fire”). It was based on the non-fiction book by Christopher Robbins. The movie went over budget at $35 million. Although considered a bomb, it actually made over $57 million. Some of the budget was a $7 million check to Mel Gibson. Robert Downey made the movie for the pay check and because he wanted to work with Gibson. Downey did not enjoy the shooting in Thailand. The production was marred by two earthquakes and a typhoon. The movie that had a 500-member crew who moved between 44 locations in Thailand, London, and Los Angeles. 26 aircraft were rented from the Thai air force.
Air America was the name given to the CIA’s effort to intervene in the conflict between the non-communist government and communist rebels in Laos. It is set in 1969. The civilian pilots fell into two categories: those who made flights delivering supplies to villagers as part of a “hearts and minds” effort and those who ran guns and opium. Mel Gibson’s Gene Ryack is the latter and Robert Downey’s Billy Covington is the former. The movie opens with an Air America plane dropping bags of rice that plummet through the roof of huts. That same plane is shot down by a peasant firing a rifle. This “golden BB” causes the plane to crash, killing everyone on board. The movie goes from broad physical comedy to tragedy in seconds! Cut to Covington as a traffic chopper pilot. He’s crazy, which makes him perfect for Air America. He gets recruited with the promise that he will be able to do the kind of flying that just got him fired. When he arrives in Laos (“we’re not here”), he meets the cynical Ryack. Ryack has a plan to accumulate a cache of weapons and then sell them on the black market so he can retire. Air America is in bed with a corrupt Laotian Gen. Lu Soong (Burt Kwouk!). Covington is going to make his mission to take down the general, especially after his soldiers rescue the opium and not Ryack/Covington after a crash. Speaking of crashes, the movie is basically a sequence of crashes. After one of them, a rescue chopper is shot down! The movie is crash porn.
“Air America” is an uncomfortable blend of comedy and action. The comedy is not black enough and is overwhelmed by the drama which includes the deaths of several of the characters. And the action lacks suspense, even in the crashes. The movie has lots of explosions, but they are of the ridiculous gasoline variety. There are more crashes than laughs, so the movie was deceptively marketed as a comedy. It is not the first comedy about the Vietnam War. “The Boys in Company C” came out in 1978 and if you want a movie that is clearly a comedy, “Good Morning, Vietnam” was released in 1987.
The cast works hard and is not to blame. Gibson and Downey do have some chemistry and the movie tries hard to be a buddy film. In fact, it works best as one. Nancy Travis is wasted in the role of an aid worker. All of the main characters are stereotypes. Ryack is the cynical veteran who is corrupted by the system. Covington is the daring do-gooder. Lu Soong is the villainous corrupt general. The movie is rife with cliches. The Air America personnel party like journalists or mercenaries (which they basically are). Ryack gets a redemption arc that is very predictable
“Air America” is a dud, but it does have its strengths. The stunt flying is excellent and some of the stunts were so daring that they were nixed by stunt pilot. Spottiswoode was able to find some real Covingtons to do them. Another reason to watch is the soundtrack of classic rock. Now that I think about it, you might want to skip the movie and just buy the soundtrack. By the way, the movie did come under some criticism for having songs that were not around in 1969. Personally, I don’t care as long as the song fits the scene.
Surprisingly, several of the characters are based on actual people. Gen. Vang Pao led CIA-supported forces against the communist Pathet Lao. He ended up immigrating to the U.S. after Laos fell. I doubt he went to see the movie. Air America was a collection of cargo planes that the CIA clandestinely used to support non-communism from 1950-1976. It did support Gen. Vang Pao and it did get involved in drug smuggling. Or turned a blind eye to it, according to some historians. On a positive note, it did some reconnaissance work for the American army and did some search and rescue for downed pilots. Covington and Ryack are not based on real people, but did represent the two basic types of employees. The fact-finding Senator Davenport was based on Sen. Stuart Symington. Symington made a trip to Laos to check out the CIA operation and later expressed disgust at the activities Air America participated in. Major Lemond was inspired by Maj. Richard Secord who was in charge of Air America during the Secret War in Laos. If you want to learn about Air America from a feature film instead of a documentary, “Air America” will give you the gist of it. Just don’t expect to laugh it up.
GRADE = C-
I've been following your blog for quite some time and enjoy reading your reviews.
ReplyDeleteMay I recommend some additional films? (some are in the war genre, others not obviously so)
1. "Liberation (1970)" - The Soviet response to films like the "Longest Day". 5 Part series covering the Soviet victories from Kursk to the Reischtag. The battle scenes are on a Bondarchuk-esque scale, with hundreds and thousands of Soviet soldiers/extras, tanks, vehicles, etc.
For a state-funded film series, it's obviously biased (read Propaganda), but the Germans are not demonised and relatively nuanced (Hitler is the only Nazi who is really demonised). They even show things you wouldn't expect, like Mussolini's arrest and "rescue", the Allied Conferences, partisan action, and the Russian Liberation Army (ROA).
Also, the actors playing historical figures (including the Soviet and Nazi leaders, FDR, Mussolini, etc.) are all dead-ringers for their characters (IIRC, Churchill is the only notable exception).
On Mosfilm's YouTube channel (Link: https://www.youtube.com/c/Mosfilm_eng/videos) there is a subtitled 4K restoration of all 5 films.
2. "Battle for Moscow" (1985) - Made by the same director (Yuri Ozerov) as "Liberation". According to Wikipedia, Ozerov originally wanted to start off with the German invasion itself, but was rulled out. This film series (made in the 80's) deals with the invasion itself, and has many of the same values as the previous one (epic battle scenes, dead-ringer actors, and propagandised history). Also, like the Liberation series, there are several shots where what look to be real buildings are blown up.
Interesting note; Apparently Ozerov had to shoot this in Czechoslovakia, due to economic reasons. According to some sources (using Google translate), this film and several others (including "Bridge at Remagen" and the 1979 TV remake of "All Quiet") were filmed at the old town of Most, which was getting torn down to make way for a coal mine. So the buildings we see are real.
A HD version can also be found on Mosfilm's YouTube channel/
3. "Stalingrad" (1990) - Again, by Ozerov. Have not watched this one in it's entirety, but apparently economic issues in the 80's forced Ozerov to woth with Warner Bros - they insisted that a US actor had to star, so Powers Boothe was cast in a main role. I belive there is a version on YouTube.
4. "The Liberation of Prague" (1977) - Czech film about the liberation of Prague. Have not seen this one, but a brief glimpse at a few clips indicates the epic production values (read real tanks, real locations, etc.) associated with these eastern/communist bloc films
Delete5. "The Battle of Sutjeska (1973) - Like "Battle of Neretva", this is a Yugoslav partisan film. Have not seen this in it's whole, but a brief glance (on YouTube) shows quite similar production values as that film. The most notable aspect about this one is that Richard Burton stars as Tito himself. According to this NY Times article (https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/04/archives/burton-elicits-tips-from-tito-for-film.html), he was personally chosen by Tito's Govt.
6. "Triumph of the Spirit" (1989) - Not strictly war, but a Holocaust film about a Greek boxer (played by Wilhelm Dafoe) who was literally forced to fight for his life at Auschwitz. Like "War and Remembrance" (which I also think was a great series), the filmmakers were allowed to shoot at the real site in Poland.
7. "Atentat" ("The Assasination") (1965) - A Czech B/W film about Heydrich's assasination. This film was shot on the real locations (though a set was built for the final shootout), including the actual street corner where the assasination happened (before it was entirely redeveloped).
8. "Chunuk Bair" - Based on the play by Maurice Shadbolt. This provides a Kiwi (NZ) perspective (which has often been overlooked, amongst the more known Aussie narrative). Available on Youtube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9t2Vz8oOss)
As this one is based on a play, it's relatively action free and dialogue heavy (read filmed mainly on a soundstage), with only a brief glimpse of action (and location filming) at the start.
Also, some Chinese films of note.
Delete1. " Nanjing 1937" (1995) - Another film on the "Rape of Nanjing". This one has the interesting stance in that the potagonists are a mixed-nationa family. The father is a Chinese doctor from Shanghai, his wife is a Japanese, and they have a daughter and son.
2. "The Opium War" (1997) - One of the only 2 notable films I've seen so far on this subject (the other one is a 50's biopic on Lin Zexu). The film does take a bit of a nationalist stsnce (it was made in 1997, just before the Hong Kong handover), but is relatively (and surprisingly) naunced. WRT the Brits, some famous/well-known actors feature; Bob Peck (from Jurrasic Park) plays a Opium trader called Denton.
Interesting note; a large set (representing Guangzhou in the 1830's/40's) was built in Zhejiang Province, and was later expanded (with several more sets - including full scale replicas of the Forbidden city and Shi Huangdi's Qin Palace) to become Hengdian World Studios (they claim to be the largest studio in the world - certainly, they do seem to be one of the largest film studios)
Both of these films can be found on Youtube in English subs (though the quality is not so great)
3. "Decisive Engagement" (1992) - A Govt-finded epic series about 3 of the main campaigns which the Red Army waged against the KMT (and won) - the Liaoxi-Shenyang, Huhai, and Beiping-Tanjin (Beiping = Beijing) campaigns. Has many similar values as the Soviet "Liberstion" series; thousands of extras (from several PLA divisions), hundreds of tanks, vehicles, etc.
There are HD versions of all 3 films on Youtube, but unfortunately, no English subs.
Suffice to say, the history is predicably, discarded in favour of propaganda (perhaps more so than the "Liberation" series). Nevertheless, worth a watch, if only for the battle/crowd sequences (including real buildings getting blown up), and the use of dead-ringer actors who really resemble their historical counterparts (people like Mao, Chiang Zhu De, Shou Enlai, etc. really look like the real deal).is
4. Founding series - 3 films, each made to commemorate important anniversaries (forgot which ones) in the PRC/CCP regime
"The Founding of a Republic" deals with the founding of the PRC
"Founding of a Party" (literal translation of the Chinese title, though it was released in the West as "begining of the Great Revival") deals with the events leading up to the erection of the CCP itself.
"Founding of an Army" deals with the founding of the Red Army (later evolved to the current PLA).
All 3 are state-funded propaganda, and seemingly (at a glance) far more blatant than the "Decisive Engagement" films (Film 1 IIRC happens to actually reuse some footage at the end, from one of the DE films). But worth a watch for what a state-funded puff piece looks like.
One of the most notable aspects of these films is the many cameos by famous/popular actors across the Sinosphere. People like Jackie Chan, Chen Kaige, Chow Yun Fat, etc. - even John Woo - make cameos. Some of them (like Chow as Yuan Shikai) are prominient enough (in the sense of playing a well-known historical figure), but many of them are so fleeting and minor (of the "blink and you'll miss it" type), that they become pretty pointless.
For instance, If I remember correctly, Jackie Chan plays a Hong Kong journalist in a brief scene where he interviews a communist general (or leader, can't remember).
Again, both film series are available on Youtube (HD versions with subs), with a bit of searching.
Lastly, there are also 2 films in YouTube (with full english subs, though quality is not so First one is called Dacii (about the Dacians), and second one is called "Mihai Viteazul" ("michael the Brave").
Both were made as nationalist propaganda flicks under the Ceaușescu regime.
There are (as usual), epic battle scenes with thousands of Romanian soldiers as extras.
(Interestingly, Kubrick planned to use the Romanians as extras in battle scenes for his unmade "Napoleon" biopic)
Thank you so much. I will put most of these on my TBW list. This is probably the best feedback I have ever gotten on this blog.
DeleteAlso forgot to mension a couple more films
Delete"Red Bells" - a 2 part Soviet series on John Reed, with Franco Nero as Reed, and Sydney Rome as his wife. Also directed by Bondarchuk. Like the other films, the history is propagandised.
Part 1 deals with Reed's time in Mexico, while Part 2 is more or less the Soviet version of "Reds" (this one especially, was filmed in a lot of real locations and has the usual epicness), but unlike "Reds", it is very unknown.
Here (https://uloz.to/file/rp3tnLjktq4v/sergei-bondarchuk-krasnye-kolokola-ii-aka-red-bells-ii-1983-mkv#!ZGD1LmR2ZGLjZmSvMGqwZGxjBTL4L3L0pKE1E01hM0WdHmMwAj==) is a semi-legal cut of Part 2 that someone on Letterboxd made by combining the English dialogue with the longer Russian DVD. (unfortunately their post dissapeared but AFAIK the link still exists).
In addition, there is a Franco-Italo biopic - "Lafayette" - with Orson Welles and Jack Hawkins. At first glance, it has some nice medium-scale action sequences (according to IMDB, filmed in Yugoslavia).
BTW, something I forgot to mention about "Liberation" (and "Battle for "Moscow", as well as "Decisive Engagement") is that in quite a few scenes, they seem to have used live rounds - the various artillery pieces (howitzers, etc.) actually recoil.
There is also Potop (1974) - "The Deluge" (based on a novel) which concerns the Swedish invasion of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
DeleteThere are a couple of great battle scenes (of the epic non-CGI variety) including Polish winged hussars.
Also "The Day That Shook the World" ("Sarajevski atentat") which is one of the only films about the assasination of Franz Ferdinand (played by Christopher Plummer).
DeleteAlso "Sarejavski atentat" (1968) which is framed around a WW2 resistant fighter seeking shelter (from the Gestapo) in the home of an old man - he happens to be a former Young Bosnia (Mlada Bosna) member and remenisces about the events leading to the assasination.
The other notable one is "Sarajevo" (2014) which concerns the immedate aftermath.
BTW, this youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/ChickenDelivering/videos) has tons of clips from numerous war movies (many of which are quite obscure, but still seem to have decent enough production values)