Wednesday Minute
No. 129 | June 30, 2010

Hollywood High-flier

Our theme this week
Howard Hughes and the movies

Featured this week (theme introduction)
Monday         —   Howard Hughes, Moviemaker
Tuesday         —   Melvin and Howard (1980)

The Rocketeer (1991)

The Rocketeer is a 1991 film based on a 1980s comic book series set in 1930s Los Angeles.  With a storyline mixing old Hollywood and early aviation, it’s no surprise to see an appearance by Howard Hughes.   In this film Hughes (Terry O’Quinn) is a secondary character, and he’s more of a comic book figure, as you might expect, than one drawn from real life.

The object of pursuit among various parties is a specially designed, jet-powered rocket developed at the company run by Hughes.  The rocket is stolen by gangsters, who hide it in an aircraft hangar while they get away.   Stunt pilot Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell) discovers the device and later uses it to perform a daring rescue at an air show.  With the jet pack strapped to his back and a helmet over his head, Secord flies through the air like a souped-up superhero.  The crowd is wowed and the press calls the anonymous flier the Rocketeer. 

Not only are the gangsters after Secord, so are the Nazis.  If the prototype rocket were to fall into the wrong hands, it could shift the balance of power among nations.  Or something like that.  The bad guys do kidnap Secord’s girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly), and that, of course, leads to another heroic rescue for the Rocketeer.  The rocket doesn’t survive, nor does one end of the Hollywoodland sign, but world order, thankfully, is restored.

The Rocketeer is a retro adventure story, in a way like the Indiana Jones series, though that’s not a fair comparison.  It’s a much more contrived tale, with more action than imagination, and more earnest belief in its own conceits than it rightfully earns.  Perhaps a wink and a nod along the way would have been a better approach.  It is, in any case, a good-looking film.  I have a soft spot for art deco, a motif amply employed, and the cars and the planes and the clothes of the ’30s make for some pretty pictures.

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The Rocketeer (1991)
Joe Johnson, director
Trailer

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The Rocketeer (1991)
Joe Johnson, director
Terry O’Quinn as Howard Hughes

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Quote of Note
Howard Hughes:  How did it feel, strapping that thing to your back and flying like a bat out of hell?
Cliff Secord:  Well, it’s the closest I’ll ever get to heaven.
—Howard Hughes (Terry O’Quinn), Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell), The Rocketeer (1991)

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