Sundance Kid

Avation films set on the Home Front?

Hi! This is my first post on this forum, I am a young filmaker . . . and obviously film buff. When i am writing a screenplay for a short film I often find insperation from the films of the past. The one I am currently working on tells the story a naval aviator who comes home from the Vietnam war, alienated, and falls for the wife of his dead co-pilot. Well . . its getting there. So far, except for "The Quiet Man", "Vertigo" and few other films that have already inspired me, I have looked at aviation films such as "The Wings of Eagles", "Strategic Air Command" and even "A guy named joe".

My question is can any of you guys suggest other good aviation films that take place in an American setting (classic ones, preferably, as ive seen alot of the flying movies from Top Gun onwards).

Your help and discussion is really appreciated!

Steven.

Lew Crippen

Re: Avation films set on the Home Front?

Welcome to the forum Steven and good luck with your screenplay. A classic that should not be missed by any budding filmmaker is Howard Hawks’ Only Angels Have Wings. Even though it is set in a nameless South American country, the characters are all expatriate Americans, and among other themes, alienation is very much a part of the story. With Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth and Jean Arthur, this is a real treat.

A silent movie worth your time is Wings, directed by William Wellman and staring Cara Bow (also has a young Gary Cooper). You will find the plot of interest, as it has similarities with yours.

William Faulkner adapted his novel Pylon for Douglas Sirk’s The Tarnished Angels, with Rock Hudson. All of these suggestions have love triangles of various forms at their core.

And of course there are movies like Dr. Strangelove and Seven Days in May that include flying.

¡Time is not my master!

Sundance Kid

Re: Avation films set on the Home Front?

Thank you for your kind repy Lew. Wings is a film I have heard so much about but have yet to see (probably because it's a silent). I am sure their are quite a few films out their that mix Dogfights in the air with love stories on the gound - all made decades before Top Gun.