Deadly Encounter

This is a trashy (I mean really embarrassingly bad) made-for-TV movie but if you enjoy "for real" helicopter stunt flying (there's no CGI used here),then you'll like this! I don't think they'd get away with this type of flying nowadays, even in Mexico!

Aircraft:- Hughes 500 (Model 369HS) , Aerospatiale Alouette IIs, Aerospatiale Gazelle, Bell Jetranger and two Stearman, one by the legendary Art Scoll.

Sadly three people died making this film when the Hughes Model​ 500 (369HS)flown by Hagman's character ​"Sam" ​crashed when the pilot collided with a cable on 17th April 1982. ​One was Glen Miller, ​the​ real owner of Sam's Hughes 500 (who played the truck driver Pocotello Pete), Diane Doherty, and the costumer Frank Novak.

HUGHES:369HS REGISTRATION:N4EE THE AIRCRAFT WAS NUMBER TWO IN A TRAIL OF THREE HELICOPTERS FLYING UP THE Colorado RIVER AT MARBLE CANYON TO PAGE, AZ WHEN IT STRUCK AN AERIAL CABLEWAY STRETCHING ACROSS THE RIVER, 22 FT ABOVE THE WATER. WITNESSES STATED THAT AFTER THE COLLISION THE HELICOPTER DID A SOMERSALT AND FELL INTO THE WATER. Source: NTSB

Larry Kirsch, the fabulous stunt pilot, was killed in 2011 while flying in Hawaii.

OK, I'm not a pilot of any kind nor do I know anything about helicopters and airplanes. But watching this movie as a little boy made a great impression on me. About the same time as Dallas was airing on TV, Larry Hagman was already a known face to me. Seeing him in this movie at first felt a little strange, but well into the film I really got used to him as Sam Hooten, and not only as JR from Dallas.

What is so fascinating about this film? Well, first of all it really revolves around the skills of flying. The tricks and stunts made here by some of the, at the time, leading stunt pilots coordinated by Larry Kirsch (helicopters) and Art Scholl (airplanes), are something that I don't think we will ever again see in any film thanks to, or should I say due to CGI and computer rendered effects.

Second but nevertheless perhaps the most important element is the music. This film, made around 1981, of course implements analog synthesizers to build up the dramatic, romantic and very strong atmosphere that not many movies I've seen have matched to date. Fred Karlin and Michael Hoenig are the composers of the scores throughout the movie, and according to the end credits synthesizers were performed by Peter Robinson. These three guys are definitely too poorly presented and they deserve way more credit than what I've seen so far.

Scenery, and there's plenty of it. Fancy flying definitely requires large open spaces and good weather conditions. What better place to film air-stunts than in the deserts of Arizona. Rivers, canyons, big rocks, small rocks, long roads and large open plains are captured in such way that it makes you want to go there in person. Not to mention the airplane graveyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where the end 'battle' was filmed (google for it, it's very impressive!).

There are several particularly captivating sequences in this film, dramatic as well as romantic, that just melts your heart. Like when Sam flies Chris back to Guaymas (in Mexico), over the green waters of the Californian Gulf, there's a soft synthesizer-brass tune playing, sweetening the moment as Sam makes a short stop over a water-skiing girl and drops her a bottle of drink with a little ribbon tied to it. And another part at the movie beginning, as you only see the rotors of the helicopter before it starts up, you see Sam's hand exorcising the controls for a moment to lastly push a button firing up the engine. All perfectly synced together with escalating music as more of the helicopter is revealed and it finally lifts off. And there's more.

This film is for people who love tricky flying, especially helicopters, synthesizer music, and the good old American deserts and Larry Hagman. I don't know whether this film would be as good with any other actor playing Sam Hooten, but I am certain about that this film owes a great deal to Larry and his exclusive charisma.

Not only is this movie greatly underrated, it's hardly available on VHS and DVD at all. I deserves more attention than it has got. It's a piece of American history, and although perhaps slightly romanticized, it should be available at least for its aerobatics and music. I'd like to see a soundtrack CD (in stereo) of it in the stores, I'd like to see aerobatic-schools using the film as education examples to future stunt-pilots, and I'd like to see it on TV again. Deadly Encounter belongs with other titles on the DVD shelves, not tucked away in some archive to be forgotten.

I've seen this movie many many times, since I was a little boy. My dad is a helicopter pilot and he taped this movie on new year's eve, so he could see in the other day. Awesome, because I don't see any DVDs available so far. With it's storyline shifting between the US and Mexico, Sam Hooten (Larry Hagman) pilots a Hughes 500 series helicopter. He an ex-army pilot who now flies on his own. The story is pretty simple: Sam must protect an old girlfriend (Chris Butler, played by Susan Anspach) - who married a rich gangster - from other gangsters, flying her from USA to Mexico City. The great thing about this movie is the helicopter scenes; with amazing maneuvers and a lot of dogfighting. The movie gets to it's climax when Sam and Chris find themselves trapped by the gangsters and call Sam's old army buddies for help. This movie is worth watching because of the helicopters and planes. A real good classic.

And I say that because, as with the previous Graham helo flick "Birds of Prey", there is a lot of down-to-earth, analog, seat-of-the-pants, visceral stunt flying which today would have the Screen Actors' Guild, the FAA, OSHA, CPSC, the ACLU and probably the ASPCA pitching red-faced conniptions. Helos flying under bridges downtown, trying for loops around canyon arch-bridge midspans, skidding along downtown streets between the buildings, and so on. Even for '70s and '80s standards, it was, to put it mildly, gutsy; nowadays, they'd call it "crazy", "treacherous" or "illegal as hell", and much of the production budget would be lost on fines and bail. But it all made the movie, despite the slightly-cheesy '40s-style plot laced with tension between the exes who must work together to fend off the bad guy.

To that end, I doubt, if they'd've used John Wayne as "Sam", he would've used the word "horny" as the late, great Larry Hagman did...and no gal would dare slap The Duke, real-life or scripted. So, there's Lar, with a track record of playing sleazy, easy JR Ewing to pull it off. And he takes it on the chin--er, cheek. But the acting in this film pales in comparison to the flying; to "watch for the acting" would be like watching "Baywatch" to watch David Hasselhoff act. Face it. "We know where y'all live, guys, and what grabs ya", saith Hollywood. Or its rogue element which brought us this fine piece of aviation gold, as they did with David Janssen in "Birds of Prey" in 1973.

Sometimes, the good stuff flies well under the radar of the Emmy, Oscar and Golden Globe folk. This and its prequel are two major examples. True sleepers which don't put you to sleep. Enjoy.

Although I agree this is a fun movie to watch we should give credit to the movie it is a almost direct copy of "Birds of Prey" with David Jansen, which was done in 1973. The same helicopters are used, a Hughes 500 and an Alouette with basically the same story line but I feel the acting was better in BOP. That said,I really did enjoy the movie especially the scenery and the flying. I enjoyed Hagman much more in this than Dallas. Also the visit to the old Pima Air museum brought back many memories A I live in Peonix for a whle. These were the days when flying was still fun and not regulated as much as now. I still have to highly recommend this movie for any helicopter buff.

--- shalako