The Rocketeer (1991)

d. Joe Johnston

Starring:

Billy Campbell

Jennifer Connelly

Timothy Dalton

Alan Arkin

Paul Sorvino

This week on TMR, we flash back to the Art Deco past and get into a big fight about… well, exactly what Art Deco is. A movie about a remarkably mentally healthy Howard Hughes; angelic, heavenly creature Jennifer Connelly; an underrated James Bond turns in an underrated villain performance; and huge Nazi blimps fly over Los Angeles and NO ONE EVEN NOTICES. We watched 1991’s would-be franchise beginning “The Rocketeer.”

Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell) is a cocky stunt pilot in love with a beautiful actress, Jenny Blake (Jennifer Connelly). When he discovers a jet pack hidden in a biplane, Cliff straps on the rocket, dons a flashy helmet and becomes the high-flying hero known as The Rocketeer. But when Nazis want to use the rocket as a weapon, Cliff must use his alter ego to both protect Jenny from an evil actor (Timothy Dalton) and save the day in this period adventure based on the comic books by Dave Stevens.

Things discussed in the show:

Los Angeles

The Revenant – Leonard DiCaprio, Tom Hardy

Saving Private Ryan

Citizen Kane, The African Queen, Taxi Driver

The Leftovers – Liv Tyler

Damon Lindelof – Lost, Prometheus

Deadwood – David Milch, Timothy Olyphant

Yale

Battle Royale, Jessica Jones

Dick Tracy

The Rocketeer (comic) – Betty Paige

Howard Hughes

Rick and Morty – Back to the Future

Captain America

Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Kevin Costner, Matthew Modine, Dennis Quaid, Kurt Russell, Bill Pullman, Bill Paxton, Johnny Depp, Emilio Estevez

Men at Work

Project Greenlight

Galadriel

Darren Aronofsky – Pi, Requiem for Dream

Justified

Edward Scissorhands

Margo Martindale, Clint Howard, Terry O’Quinn, Melora Hardin (The Office), Paul Sorvino, John Polito

The Crow

Danny DeVito

Art Deco

Metropolis

Steampunk, Diesel-punk, Cyberpunk – Abraham Lincoln with a gatling gun arm

Mad Max

DragonCon

Fighter planes – the Allison engine, F-4 Corsair, P40 Tomahawk

Snoopy, Calvin and Hobbes

Home Alone

L.A. Confidential

Errol Flynn

Spartacus

The Phantom of the Opera

Nazi rocketmen propaganda film

The Hindenburg

Superman (1950s) – Lex Luther

Iron Man, The Punisher, Captain America, Hawkeye, Batman, The Joker, Bane

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Richard Donner

Next week: The Goonies