It
seemed like a simple exercise. With a masters degree in drama with
a minor in film and television and post graduate work at the New
York University institute of film and television, I thought I was
qualified for the assignment to make a list of the best and worst
aviation movies. My first thought was that there couldn’t be that
many films with aviation themes from which to choose. Some sprang
quickly to mind, triggering the memories of others. But then an
internet search on Google indicated it wasn’t going to be as easy
as I’d thought.
I found a list of movies with an aviation
theme that was compiled by Susan Nicosia at Daniel Webster
College, Nashua, New Hampshire.
The list includes some 350 movies in alphabetical order from
Above and Beyond to Zero Hour. There are some obvious classics and
there are others that, while featuring impressive air-to-air
photography and exciting aerial shots, fall apart when the
characters are on the ground. War has been the mother of invention
of aviation advances and war is a popular subject of movies with
aviation themes--and some of the best.
Even the best films often have technical
problems that mar the realism, but movies--at least for me, are
best viewed from an attitude of suspended belief. And I’m good at
that. I’m sure you’ll have different ideas of what the best
aviation movies are, but, for what it’s worth, here are my choices
(in no particular order) with the name of the director and the
major members of the casts.
