The Rocketeer movie storyline. In 1938 Los Angeles, two gangsters in Eddie Valentine’s gang steal a rocket pack from Howard Hughes. During their escape, they find themselves on an airfield, where they hide the rocket pack, ending in an auto-airplane accident while escaping, with the police in hot pursuit.
Stunt pilot Cliff Secord’s Gee Bee racer is totaled during the accident; he and airplane mechanic Peevy later find the rocket pack hidden in a biplane cockpit. Movie star Neville Sinclair had hired Valentine’s gang to steal the rocket pack, and he sends his monstrous henchman Lothar to question the injured getaway driver, who tells him that the rocket pack is at the airfield.
Cliff’s girlfriend is aspiring actress Jenny Blake, who has a bit part in Sinclair’s latest film. On the set, Sinclair overhears Cliff attempting to tell Jenny about the rocket pack, so he invites her to dinner. Afterward, at a local air show, Cliff uses the rocket pack (and Peevy’s newly designed face-hiding finned helmet) to rescue his friend Malcolm, who is drunkenly piloting a biplane. The newsreel press and Valentine’s gangsters all see him in the airshow audience, whereupon “The Rocketeer” becomes a media sensation.
Sinclair sends Lothar to Cliff and Peevy’s home to find the rocket pack. The FBI arrives, but Cliff and Peevy escape, while Lothar steals its detailed schematics drawn up by Peevy. Later, at the airfield diner, Cliff and Peevy are trapped by several Valentine mobsters; they learn that Jenny had a date with Sinclair, and of the actor’s involvement in the hunt for the rocket pack.
The diner patrons overpower the gangsters, while a bullet ricochet punctures the rocket’s fuel tank, which Peevy temporarily patches with Cliff’s chewing gum.[Note 1] Cliff proceeds to the South Seas Club, where he tells Jenny about his new alter ego. The Valentine gang arrives, and Jenny is kidnapped by Sinclair in the ensuing melée.
The Rocketeer is a 1991 American period superhero comedy film from Walt Disney Pictures, produced by Charles Gordon, Lawrence Gordon, and Lloyd Levin, directed by Joe Johnston, that stars Bill Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino, and Tiny Ron Taylor.
The film is based upon 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 stumbles upon a hidden rocket powered jet 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 jet pack, as well as the Nazi operatives that stole it from Hughes.
The Rocketeer (1991)
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Starring: Billy Campbell, Alan Arkin, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Sorvino, Timothy Dalton, Terry O’Quinn, James Handy, Eddie Jones, Robert Miranda, William Sanderson
Screenplay by: Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo
Production Design by: James D. Bissell
Cinematography by: Hiro Narita
Film Editing by: Arthur Schmidt
Costume Design by: Marilyn Vance
Set Decoration by: Linda DeScenna
Art Direction by: Christopher Burian-Mohr
Music by: James Horner
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: June 21, 1991
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