It seemed like a simple exercise. With a masters degree in drama with a minor in film and television and post graduate work at the New York University institute of film and television, I thought I was qualified for the assignment to make a list of the best and worst aviation movies. My first thought was that there couldn’t be that many films with aviation themes from which to choose. Some sprang quickly to mind, triggering the memories of others. But then an internet search on Google indicated it wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d thought. I found a list of movies with an aviation theme that was compiled by Susan Nicosia at Daniel Webster College, Nashua, New Hampshire. The list includes some 350 movies in alphabetical order from Above and Beyond to Zero Hour. There are some obvious classics and there are others that, while featuring impressive air-to-air photography and exciting aerial shots, fall apart when the characters are on the ground. War has been the mother of invention of aviation advances and war is a popular subject of movies with aviation themes–and some of the best.
Even the best films often have technical problems that mar the realism, but movies–at least for me, are best viewed from an attitude of suspended belief. And I’m good at that. I’m sure you’ll have different ideas of what the best aviation movies are, but, for what it’s worth, here are my choices (in no particular order) with the name of the director and the major members of the casts.
