Air America

To what extent the different parties were involved in opium smuggling, black market guns, clandestine military operations or anything else in Laos during the Vietnam War, the public likely will never know. Or, at least, we won't know which stories to believe. The bottom line then is that one can't trust any of the claims or defenses. But, the facts about who was there and their purposes are clear, public record, and not refuted. The Internet has sources readily available about Air America. It actually started as far back as 1950. That was in the Truman Administration, so the reviewer who criticized this movie for its implication that Richard Nixon was behind it and tried to cover it up was correct in his assessment. All administrations tried to keep a lid on U.S. activities in Southeast Asia outside of Vietnam. Of course, the information and activities would eventually become known and details made available. Again, Web sites on Air America provide lots of information, some quite fascinating. .

That's enough about the background of the subject of this film. The movie itself is based on a book by Christopher Robbins. The characters are fictitious. But, the presence of the civilian pilots that flew a variety of aircraft for Air America was a fact. They did many things, as this movie shows. They flew food and made drops at remote villages. They helped the native Laotian forces against North Vietnamese incursions into their country. They did other clandestine operations ordered by the Air Force or CIA. And, they flew rescue missions for downed American pilots. The movie doesn't show this latter, but it was a very real function for the Air America pilots in Laos.

This movie is billed as an action comedy, and it does have some comedy. It's mostly light stuff, or situational scenes. It isn't laced with witty dialog. The humor serves to reduce some of the anxiety and tension there was in real life, and that we might otherwise feel in watching the film. On the other hand, this film has a great deal of action. It's loaded with good scenery shots and some fantastic scenes of flying. The plot is OK, but not particularly strong. The cast are all very good. So, the thin plot and direction and editing aside, "Air America" is a good film of action that shows a variety of aircraft. And, it does one other thing. It gives us a picture of a real event and time in history that otherwise we would not have. So, it has some added historical value as well.

The movie pokes fun at the CIA, the Air Force supervisors, and the Laotian general whose troops were the main buffer against the North Vietnamese entering Laos. The Laotians also were in the drug business. And, it shows a little of the U.S. AID operations to help refugees and the poor people of remote areas. All of that is find and good – it helps make the movie more interesting and entertaining. Unless someone has no interest in any of these things, cares nothing about aviation or flying, and wants to know nothing about that period of history, I can't imagine one rating this film fewer than five stars. I give it five just for those things, and two more for the acting, light comedy and entertainment.

... because, whilst it doesn't have anything overly outstanding about it, it manages to be very entertaining. Perhaps it's just because the pairing of Gibson and Downey, Jr. appeals to me. Whatever it is, I found the setup interesting, the comedy funny and the action nicely staged.

I'm tempted to say that its lukewarm reception was down to poor marketing, but I'm not sure that's true. Maybe I just have to accept that I quite like a movie that the majority think is bad.

I don't know what it is with Gibson and 'non-Lethal-Weapon' action comedies, but "Bird on a Wire" seems to be regarded as another commercial failure, and I enjoyed that one too. Time to take me off to the funny farm... ?

Air America is an easy, fun, not hard to watch movie. I have seen it many times and find it an easy no brain. I can watch the movie and do other stuff at the same time and still catch the jokes and the plot. I like Robert Downey Jnr always and this movie is no exception. He gels really well with Mel Gibson. I am an actor and I would have loved to be cast in this movie. Love the scene where Robert Downey Jnr is asleep, hammered from the previous nights session on the booze when Mel Gibson flying his helicopter hooks him up while still asleep on garden furniture. Fab scene !

Give it a go. It now an old movie but a good one that seemed to have slipped through so many peoples viewing when it was released.

Great music !! I am a big fan of old soul and motown and this movie has some fab tunes.

What this movie on a crappy Wednesday night when there is nothing else on and not much to do and you will have a fun time.

I actually thought this film improved with each viewing - some of the comic lines were lost first time around, with people speaking together, and rotor noise from the aircraft. Air America is probably a little too script-by-numbers, but only if you think about it too much - the key is to just enjoy the action and the comedy. I couldn't tell whether Mel Gibson's character was incredibly laid back, or if the actor just wasn't giving his all - but for me, the more interesting characters were the supporting cast anyway: David Marshall Grant as Rob Diehl and Art LaFleur as Jack Niely. There were a few too many pilots to pad all of the cast out, but the collective effort provided much of the humour. Robert Downey, Jnr. was perhaps the best out of the main cast, from cheesy 'eye in the sky' pilot ('the traffic is kinda sad, kinda bumsy-looking'), to Air America rookie, lost in a world of 'bar girls, squiggly writing on signs, and more bar girls'. Neither Gibson or Downey, Jnr. were particularly convincing as pilots, but luckily the planes (such as Pilatus Porters and Caribous) had enough character to pull off the airborne scenes. Downey, Jnr.'s character had a spectacular, if not slightly drawn out, crash-landing scene, slowly dismantling his aircraft as he slid along an old airstrip. The soundtrack was also a bonus, placing the film in time where the main characters were slightly anachronistic. Frank Sinatra's 'Come Fly With Me' saved the cliched ending with the same droll humour that was peppered throughout the rest of the movie. Overall, Air America is a film best watched with your brain switched to 'idle' - although the subject is serious, the film is best as pure entertainment.

With Gibson involved; Couldn't wait for the show to hit the screen in Houston so I could take My kids and show them a reasonable representational response to their: "What did you do in the war, Daddy?" - (I was an H-34 Driver, out of Udorn '66 - '68)... Despite Gibson's standard magnificent acting, the writing was a bummer compared to the REAL calibers of wit & humor that took place. It's a damn shame the writer didn't have tapes of the up-country aircraft comm traffic to draw from; you'd be waking-up in the middle of the night, laughing at the one-liners. In 28-years and 13,000+ flight-hours in 7-Nations on 5-Continents; that was the greatest bunch of maniacs I ever had the honor of working with.