THE ROCKETEER RETURNS from Disney Studios 1 1

[Bosco685]

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“I enjoyed it hugely, and I loved working with Joe [Johnston]. It’s not every day that you get to do a big Hollywood studio movie. I mean, most movies are made out of Hollywood, away somewhere. And that was made in Hollywood. It was a great experience to do that and be part of it, and I thought it was a terrific film.”- Timothy Dalton – Random Roles Interview

 

THE STORY: A young pilot named Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell) finds a futuristic rocket pack, which he heroically uses in an air show, earning him the moniker, The Rocketeer. Unfortunately for Cliff, the rocket is also being sought after by a Nazi cabal, headed by a Hollywood swashbuckler named Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton) who tries to get to Cliff by seducing his girlfriend, Jenny (Jennifer Connelly).

 

THE PLAYERS: Starring: Bill Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino, and Alan Arkin. Music by James Horner. Directed by Joe Johnson.

 

THE HISTORY: In the summer of 1990, Touchstone Pictures had a sizable hit with Warren Beatty’s TRACY, based on the classic 1930’s comic. This, combined with the retro action of the Indiana Jones franchise inspired Hollywood dealmakers to look at pulp material from the era in the hopes of crafting the next big franchise. Thus, we got films like THE SHADOW and THE PHANTOM. Disney was not immune, but rather than buy actual thirties pulp, they instead bought the rights to a comic book character by Dave Stevens, which was only set in the thirties, and indeed, seemed inspired by the adventures of a certain Nazi-fighting archaeologist.

 

In a risky move, studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg opted to make this a Walt Disney Pictures release, meaning anything risqué from the comics had to be toned way down in favor of a family-friendly PG-rated movie. This was long before the era of Marvel when Disney wouldn’t think twice about releasing a PG-13. Back then, Disney meant families, and indeed this switch is likely what doomed THE ROCKETEER at the box office, with the older kid and teen audience, who should have flocked to see this, skipping it thinking it would be a “kiddie” movie. Despite great reviews, THE ROCKETEER topped out at $46 million domestically, not a bad number but far below what was needed to guarantee a franchise.

 

WHY IT’S GREAT: Count me among the kids growing up in the nineties that decided to skip THE ROCKETEER in theaters, thinking it would be a kids film. While I was only nine years old, the adventure movie I was dying to see in the summer of 1991 was ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES and my interest in THE ROCKETEER was so low that I didn’t see it until a few years later when my mother, of all people, thought it would be worth checking out on VHS. Strangely, I wasn’t interested in seeing it, despite being a James Bond maniac at the time, with Timothy Dalton arguably the biggest draw in the cast, with him playing the antagonist, Neville Sinclair.

 

Of course, when I saw it I loved it. THE ROCKETEER is an old-fashioned Hollywood adventure, very much in the vein of the Indiana Jones films, with Bill Campbell playing our square-jawed, Gary Cooper-esque hero, Cliff Secord. Campbell should have been a star but it didn’t quite work out for him, however, he would eventually go on to small screen stardom in several popular TV shows. Casting him was a risky bet as he was an unknown, as was his co-star, a twenty-year-old Jennifer Connelly, then best known for LABYRINTH. They make an appealing duo that should have spawned a series of films, but alas it was not to be.

 

Certainly, one cannot say Disney didn’t swing for the fences, with the film using some pretty state of the art CGI for the flying scenes, while the art deco Rocketeer costume is a thing of beauty. The supporting cast is top shelf, including a wigged Alan Arkin as Cliff’s ornery sidekick/mentor, while Paul Sorvino is the James Cagney-esque gangster bad guy – until a heroic reversal towards the end. They’ve also got “Tiny” Ron Taylor as the hulking Rondo Hatton style henchman, plus one of James Horner’s all-time best scores.

 

[Bosco685]

Seeing a new figure released, hopefully this catches someone's attention at Disney it is sitting on this property.

[Bosco685]

30 years ago?? Wow!

[rexinnih]

30 years, I've always liked this movie. Time for a 4K Atmos release. 

[Larryw7]

5 minutes ago, rexinnih said:

30 years, I've always liked this movie. Time for a 4K Atmos release. 

 In the meantime, the Blu-ray is pretty good.

[Bosco685]

 

[Bosco685]

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A beloved fan favorite is heading to tabletop courtesy of Funko Games' The Rocketeer: Fate of the Future, a new board game that transports players back to the golden age of Hollywood. Completely themed after Disney's 1991 favorite, The Rocketeer: Fate of the Future is a competitive 2 player game that has you attempting to keep the plans for the rocket hidden from your opponent, and you'll either take command of the Rocketeer and his allies to protect the plans and bring the revolutionary invention to the masses or Neville Sinclair and his henchmen, who aim to weaponize them and fuel a new age of war.

 

The game includes seven sculpted miniatures of Rocketeer, Sinclair, Jenny, Peevy, Lothar, and Valentine, as well as one modeled after the Luxembourg. The game retails for $24.99 and copies will be available at Gen Con for purchase. The game will hit retail in the late fall.

[Mystafo]

I really liked the Rocketeer movie from the 90s...as a kid I couldn't stop thinking about a rocket pack and ended up taping a plethora of action figures to bottle rockets...some were never seen again!