Welcome to this fan-site devoted to airborne action. I have always thought these flying machines are amazing, and this has led to a lifelong
fascination with helicopters in films and TV. Apart from such practical operations like air/sea search and rescue missions, modern cinema makes
the most spectacular (if not always the best) use of a chopper's unique abilities. Not just as a platform for aerial cinematography - but on the
screen too, where a wide variety of rotorcraft (from sky-cranes to autogyros) are used to create the kind of exciting stunts I call
rotary action.
Helicopters add "production value" to all kinds of movies and shows, so if a film includes an aerial sequence you can be sure a clip
of that footage will appear in the film's trailer. By far the most popular helicopter to be seen on big or small screens is the
Bell 206 JetRanger, and yet the most frequently used helicopter - in proper 'rotary action'
pictures - is undoubtedly the Bell UH-1 Iroquois, better known as the 'Huey'.
Rotary Action exists as a useful reference section for anyone else interested in the links, both tenuous and close, between cinema and
aircraft (see Flight Logs A-Z using navigation links above ... but beware: this site includes plot spoilers!).
If you are interested in helping to compile new entries for these pages, or can supply photos, please let me know.
- TONY LEE
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"The helicopter... had become a very standard tool in the film business. But, oh, did it open up all kinds of vistas, all kinds of production
values, all kinds of expanded horizons."
- JOSEPH SARGENT
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A TOP 10 HELICOPTER ACTION MOVIES
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By something like popular demand, here's my pick of the very best rotary action films and TV shows.
As a keen fan of science fiction, this listing is clearly biased in favour of genre works...
Blue Thunder
Look no further... with its machine-as-protagonist storyline, this is simply the greatest helicopter action movie ever made!
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Airwolf
Surprisingly entertaining rotary action, even today, this mid-1980s' series was far superior to Blue Thunder's own TV spinoff.
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Apocalypse Now
The greatest war movie ever made features epic cinema's finest rotary action sequence of air supremacy.
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Wings Of The Apache (aka: Fire Birds)
The most under-rated helicopters movie, this has many impressive rotary action sequences with lots of American gunships.
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Black Hawk Down
Great acting and superb drama in Ridley Scott's movie enhances the impact of its various helicopters in combat sequences.
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Birds Of Prey
An aerial chase thriller from the 1970s, this highly original and radical TV movie remains influential even today.
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Deadly Encounter
Quite unforgettable (and the subject of many questions emailed to Rotary Action), this re-defined helicopter thrillers for the 1980s.
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Hulk
Sci-fi action with a monster as the hero, this instant classic is a showcase for Comanche stealth rotorcraft... even if they do get smashed!
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Rambo III
Whatever its technical faults (mainly those fake Hind gunships), this remains a very good movie for displays of rotary action.
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Whirlybirds
The show that started it all... this got me interested in helicopters when I first saw it on TV, almost a lifetime ago.
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Of course, the big problem with helicopter scenes in blockbuster movies, nowadays, is that so many aerial stunts are faked with CGI.
And that's one reason why I have been watching more documentary films and programmes, lately... to get a proper heli-fix of genuine
rotary action!
- Tony Lee
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"We did all kinds of things in trailers to help sell films. We had a famous exploding helicopter shot from one of those Filipino productions
that we'd cut in every time a trailer was too dull - because that was always exciting."
- JOE DANTE
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Apparently out of control or damaged, a helicopter flies over a hill, or behind a landmark. Once it's out of view, there's a huge explosion to
suggest the aircraft has crashed. Few movies have the budget to afford model effects, or write-off even a mock-up helicopter.
The escaping hero and sidekick or partner climb aboard an unattended helicopter. One asks the other "Can you fly this thing?"
"No... but hang on!" comes the reply, and then the machine performs a decidedly wobbly takeoff.
In pursuit of a road vehicle, the hero - or his stuntman, at least - jumps down from a low-flying helicopter onto or into the wildly swerving
vehicle as it races along a conveniently deserted highway.
A helicopter is forced to make an emergency landing on the roof of a building and it promptly crashes through the ceiling into a crowded room.
At night time, helicopters flying in the distance (especially military machines) are often mistaken for UFOs.
In the movies, a stolen helicopter only ever carries two minutes of aviation fuel. In such incidents, the hero has to perform a dangerous
emergency landing - a survivable technique called autorotation - while any machine piloted by a villain invariably blows up (see item number
one)... The moral of this is, of course - never get into a helicopter with an action movie bad guy!
By far the most used and/ or abused rotorcraft cliché in movies and TV is the sound effect of a helicopter passing 'overhead', without
a chopper ever being visible on-screen. In stereo, it 'travels' from one side/ speaker(s) to the other, accentuating the Doppler effect - a
particular audio trick notable in those Dolby adverts featuring a computer-animated helicopter.
- Tony Lee
A shorter version 1st published in fanzine ALTERNATIES #20, 1994
If you see any film or TV helicopter stunts, not already
listed on this site, please
contact me with details.
I'm also interested in more pictures of helicopters
from movies and TV shows, for use on this site.
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newsletter mailing list.
EXTRAS:
Search |
Gallery |
History |
Amazon UK |
Links.
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"What a cool site! ... Keep up the excellent work."
- JOHN MOORE (director, Behind Enemy Lines)
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"Only the best helicopter movie website ever!"
- ELAN HEAD (editor-in-chief, Vertical magazine)
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Thanks to ROTARY ACTION contributors -
Jenni Allen (Flying Pictures),
Bernd Biege,
Captain Jean Bizot,
Derek Blake,
Richard Bowden,
Jeremy Braben,
Jim Burlingame,
Wes Carr,
Mark Caswell,
Jamie Chalkley (Eastern Atlantic Helicopters),
Patrick Christine,
Brian Cooper,
Gary Couzens,
Steve Covington,
James D'Angina,
Nathan Decker,
Dan Demeter,
Craig Dyer (Blackstar Helicopters),
Andreas Eberhardt,
Brad Faul,
Ruth Ferguson,
Jason Firestorm,
Frame Bruce Fletcher,
Jim Fowler,
Ian Vincent Frain - BSc AMRAeS,
Javier 'Topper' Franco,
John C. Goble,
Todd Goetz,
Louis Gonzalez,
Shaun J. Greaney,
Martin Gula,
Carsten Hagen,
Jesse Hamm,
Steven Hampton,
Amy Harlib,
Greg Harrison,
J.C. Hartley,
Wesley Haworth,
Bill Hiers,
Joe Hinson,
Andrew Hughes,
Paul Jackson (Sikorsky),
JLH,
Chris Johnston,
Jonathon Lance,
Stephen Lee,
Marcos Leguizamon,
Winnie Leung,
Tony Lowry (Biggin Hill),
Kevin Lyons,
Roger Matthysen,
Jonathan McCalmont,
Brian McIntyre,
Mario Mifsud,
Geoffrey Montgomery,
John Moore,
Donald Morefield,
James Moors,
Corey Mugaas,
Joel Nelsen (CPL Rotorcraft),
René Nouta,
Mike Pepper (Enigma),
Robin Petgrave (Celebrity Helicopters),
Daryl Privette,
John Reynolds,
Sergeant Ruben 'Radar' Rodriguez (Nueces County Sheriff's Dept),
Augusto Rolim,
Trevor Rose,
José M. Rubio (Eurocopter España),
Joe Russell,
Andy and Arlene Sidaris (Malibu Bay Films),
Matthew Simmons,
Jim Snyder,
Steve Stafford (Studio Wings),
Lance Strumpf,
Dan Sweet (Columbia Helicopters),
E.B. Travis,
Justin Travis,
Costas Tsaganas,
Samuel Weeks,
Jared Whittenberg,
David Williams,
Jeroen de Wit,
Dara Yazdani,
Alex Youngs (American Eurocopter),
Alec Zubenko.
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This is a non-profit fan site, featuring publicity photos and images from various movies
- but no copyright infringement is intended.
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PIGASUS PRESS ©1999 -
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