The Rocketeer (film)
The Rocketeer is a 1991 American superhero film from Walt Disney Pictures and released as a Touchstone Pictures film internationally. It was produced by Charles Gordon, Lawrence Gordon, and Lloyd Levin, directed by Joe Johnston, and stars Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino, and Tiny Ron Taylor. It is based on the character of the same name created by comic book artist and writer Dave Stevens.
Set in 1938 Los Angeles, California, The Rocketeer tells the story of stunt pilot Cliff Secord, who discovers a hidden rocket pack that he thereafter uses to fly without the need of an aircraft. His heroic deeds soon attract the attention of Howard Hughes and the FBI, who are hunting for the missing rocket pack, as well as the Nazi operatives who stole it from Hughes.
Development for The Rocketeer started as far back as 1983, when Stevens sold the film rights to the character. Steve Miner and William Dear considered directing The Rocketeer before Johnston signed on. Screenwriters Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo had creative differences with Disney, causing the film to languish in development hell. The studio also intended to change the trademark helmet design; Disney CEO Michael Eisner wanted a straight NASA-type helmet, but Johnston convinced the studio otherwise. Johnston also had to convince Disney to let him cast actor Billy Campbell in the lead role. Filming for The Rocketeer lasted from September 19, 1990, to January 22, 1991. The special effects sequences were created and designed by Industrial Light and Magic and supervised by animation director Wes Takahashi.
The film was released on June 21, 1991, and received positive reviews from critics. Plans for Rocketeer sequels were abandoned after the film underperformed at the box office, grossing only $46 million domestically on a $35 million budget. However, a television series based on the film, with Campbell reprising his role, premiered on Disney Junior in November 2019. In early 1991, Toy Biz had the rights to a massive Rocketeer toy line, including different versions of Cliff; this was akin to the Kenner Products Batman toy lines. Several prototypes were made, but the toy line was shut down; Disney pulled the license from Toy Biz leaving only Just Toys having the rights.
Plot
In 1938 Los Angeles, California, gangsters from Eddie Valentine's gang steal a prototype rocket pack from aviation magnate Howard Hughes. During their escape from the pursuing police, the getaway driver quickly stops and hides the rocket in a Curtiss JN Jenny biplane cockpit at an airfield. As the chase continues, stunt pilot Cliff Secord's yellow and black Gee Bee Z monoplane is destroyed, ending his air-racing career. Film star Neville Sinclair has hired Valentine's gang to steal the rocket, and sends his monstrous henchman Lothar to find its location. Meanwhile, Cliff and his airplane mechanic, Peevy, find the rocket and begin testing it.Cliff's girlfriend is aspiring actress Jenny Blake, who has a small part in Sinclair's latest film; recent events start driving a wedge in Cliff and Jenny's relationship. Sinclair overhears Cliff attempting to tell Jenny about the rocket, so he invites her to dinner. Afterward, at a local air show, Cliff uses the rocket to rescue his elderly friend Malcolm, who is piloting the biplane to save Cliff's job. This makes Cliff an immediate flying sensation, but also sets Sinclair and the FBI on his trail.
Sinclair sends Lothar to Cliff and Peevy's home to find the rocket. The FBI arrives soon after, but Cliff and Peevy escape while Lothar steals the latter's schematic. Later, at the airfield diner, Cliff and Peevy are trapped by several Valentine mobsters; they learn about Jenny's date with Sinclair and the actor's involvement in the hunt for the rocket. The diner patrons overpower the gangsters, but a stray fired bullet punctures the rocket's fuel tank, which Peevy temporarily patches with chewing gum. Cliff flies to the South Seas Club, where he tells Jenny about his new Rocketeer alter ego. The Valentine gang arrives, and in the ensuing melée, Sinclair kidnaps Jenny.
At Sinclair's home, he attempts to seduce Jenny, but she knocks him out and discovers he is a spy for Nazi Germany. She is quickly recaptured and forced to tell Cliff to bring the rocket to the Griffith Observatory in exchange for her life. Shortly thereafter, Cliff is arrested by the FBI and taken to Howard Hughes, who explains that his rocket is based on a prototype Nazi scientists have been unsuccessful in developing, and shows Cliff a Nazi propaganda film depicting an army of flying commandos using the perfected rocket packs to invade the United States. Hughes also mentions that the FBI are trying to locate a Nazi spy in Hollywood employing Valentine's gang, whom Cliff realizes is Sinclair. When Hughes and the FBI demand the return of the rocket, Cliff escapes, but inadvertently leaves behind a clue to where he is headed.
Cliff flies to the rendezvous, where Sinclair demands that Cliff hand over the rocket. Cliff divulges to Eddie that the actor is a Nazi spy; this infuriates the Valentine gang who, while being gangsters, are still patriots, and they turn their weapons on Sinclair. However, Sinclair summons a hidden troop of heavily armed Nazi S.A., as the German airship Luxembourg appears overhead to evacuate Sinclair and the troops. The FBI, who have secretly followed Cliff, suddenly announce their presence, and they and the mobsters join forces and battle the Nazis. Sinclair and Lothar escape, dragging Jenny aboard the airship.
Cliff flies to and boards Luxembourg, but during the ensuing showdown, Jenny accidentally starts a fire with a flare gun on the airship's bridge. Sinclair holds Jenny hostage, forcing Cliff to give him the rocket, but not before Cliff covertly removes the chewing gum patching the fuel leak. Sinclair dons the rocket and flies off, but the leaking fuel causes the rocket to catch on fire, leading him to crash into the Hollywood Hills. Crashing into the "HOLLYWOODLAND" sign, Sinclair perishes in a fiery explosion that destroys the final letters. Lothar is killed as Luxembourg explodes, but Cliff and Jenny are rescued just in time by Howard Hughes and Peevy flying a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogyro.
Hughes later presents Cliff with a brand-new Gee Bee Z air racer and a pack of Beemans gum. As Hughes leaves, Jenny returns Peevy's stolen rocket blueprint to him, which she found in Sinclair's home; Peevy decides that, with some modifications, he can build an even better one.
Cast
Production
Development
Comic book writer/artist Dave Stevens created the Rocketeer in 1982 and immediately viewed the character as an ideal protagonist for a film adaptation. Steve Miner purchased the film rights from Stevens in 1983, but he strayed too far from the original concept and the rights reverted to Stevens. In 1985, Stevens gave writers Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo a free option on The Rocketeer rights. Stevens liked that "their ideas for The Rocketeer were heartfelt and affectionate tributes to the 1930s serial films with all the right dialogue and atmosphere. Most people would approach my characters contemporarily, but Danny and Paul saw them as pre-war mugs".Stevens, Bilson, and De Meo began to consider making The Rocketeer as a low-budget film, shot in black-and-white and funded by independent investors. Their plan was to make the film a complete homage to Republic's Commando Cody rocket man serials, and use a cast largely associated with character actors. However, that same year, the trio approached William Dear to direct/co-write The Rocketeer, and they eventually dropped the low-budget idea. Bilson, De Meo, and Dear kept the comic book's basic plot intact, but fleshed it out to include a Hollywood setting and a climactic battle against a Nazi Zeppelin. They also tweaked Cliff's girlfriend to avoid comparisons to Bettie Page, changing her name from Betty to Jenny and her profession from nude model to Hollywood extra. Dear proceeded to transform the climax from a submarine into a Zeppelin setpiece.
Stevens, Bilson, De Meo, and Dear began to pitch The Rocketeer in 1986 to the major film studios but were turned down. "This was 1986, long before Batman or Dick Tracy or anything similar", Stevens explained. "In those days, no studio was interested at all in an expensive comic book movie. We got there about three years too early for our own good!" Walt Disney Studios eventually accepted The Rocketeer because they believed the film had toyetic potential and appeal for merchandising. The Rocketeer was set to be released through the studio's Touchstone Pictures label; Stevens, Bilson, De Meo, and Dear all signed a contract which would permit them to make a trilogy of Rocketeer films. However, Disney studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg switched the film to a Walt Disney Pictures release. According to Stevens, "immediately, Betty and anything else 'adult' went right out with the bathwater. They really tried to shoehorn it into a kiddie property so they could sell toys. All they really wanted at the end of the day, was the name".
Bilson and DeMeo then submitted their seven-page film treatment to Disney, but the studio put their script through an endless series of revisions. Over five years, Disney fired and rehired Bilson and DeMeo three times. DeMeo explained that "Disney felt that they needed a different approach to the script, which meant bringing in someone else. But those scripts were thrown out and we were always brought back on". They found the studio's constant tinkering with the screenplay to be a frustrating process as "executives would like previously excised dialogue three months later. Scenes that had been thrown out two years ago were put back in. What was the point"? DeMeo said. One of Bilson and De Meo's significant revisions to the script over the years was to make Cliff and Jenny's romance more believable and avoid cliché aspects that would stereotype Jenny as a damsel in distress. The numerous project delays forced Dear to drop out as director. Joe Johnston, a fan of the comic book, immediately offered his services as director when he found out Disney owned the film rights. Johnston was quickly hired and pre-production started in early 1990. After Bilson and De Meo's third major rewrite, Disney finally greenlit The Rocketeer.
The characterization of Neville Sinclair was inspired by period film star Errol Flynn. The film's Neville Sinclair is, like biographer Charles Higham's Flynn, a film star known for his work in swashbuckler roles who is secretly a Nazi spy. Because Higham's biography of Flynn was not refuted until the late 1980s, the image of Flynn as a closet Nazi remained current all through the arduous process of writing and re-writing the script. The other real-life characterization was of Howard Hughes.