Aviation movies in the 90s were bound to go along with everything else that was happening in this decade since things were getting edgier, taking on a slightly darker note at times and definitely becoming a little more fun. Again, not everything was bound to be as realistic as it could have been, but the point was to have fun with it and continue the transition within Hollywood as things were still changing and the movies were still reflecting that. Between the different time periods that are usually shown when aviation is being used as a plot point, and the actors and the situations they were put into, the 90s contained quite a bit of adrenalin and a lot of chest-pounding since there was the general feeling of pride being felt by a lot of people when watching these movies. Don’t ask why, it just happened in this manner and a lot of people embraced it since the stories and the performances were that great at times and were easy to like since they didn’t feel muted and a lot of the movies felt as though they were designed to rub one’s emotions raw in the best of ways so that people could really experience the thrill of it.
Here are some of the best aviation movies of the 90s.
5. Hot Shots!
Yes, this movie was incredibly stupid, but it was designed to be since that was the whole point. It was meant to be as stupid as possible to get people to laugh, and it worked since if you were rolling when watching this then it meant that the actors were doing their job. Seriously, the amount of spoofing that went on in this movie was beyond belief since the whole idea was that things were taken in such a direction that a person couldn’t help but laugh simply because the dramatic, action-packed movies that this one happened to rip off were great in their own right, but this movie was great since it made fun of them without being serious about it.
4. Memphis Belle
Being assigned to a bomber crew in WWII was not an easy assignment since death was almost certain on the battlefield and it was an understanding that those that went out might not be coming back. But the crew of the Memphis Belle was among the best, and the luckiest, to serve in this movie and despite the damage, their craft ended up taking they got the job done and also had the ability to return to base to the cheers of their fellow soldiers. It was a hard time back then, there’s no other way to say that won’t sound pretentious since trying to describe a war one never had to stand next to is too easy.
3. Broken Arrow
One has to think that it’s a little unnerving sometimes to have the kind of power that’s held within a nuke in the hands of just a couple of pilots, even if the codes are kept elsewhere and can possibly be switched out. But when a pilot decides to go rogue and steals two nuclear devices it’s evident that he knows what he’s doing and isn’t shy about killing anyone that gets in his way in order to get what he wants. Thankfully his fellow pilot, who he jettisons in an attempt to kill and get out of the way, is up to the task of tracking down the rogue pilot before engaging in a fistfight that ends with the other pilot’s death and the deactivation of the last nuke.
2. Con Air
Normally one wouldn’t think that loading prisoners onto a plane would be such a big deal, but of course, this movie was dealing with the worst of the worst since those being placed together were among the most violent criminals possible, and even worse is that those keeping them bound knew how intelligent they were. One might think that transporting them gagged, bagged, and unable to use their hands would be the way to go, but that might be too inhumane and we know how that story would go. Plus, it would have been a pretty boring movie had such a method been the order of the day.
1. Air Force One
When was the last time we had a president that would have gone to this length to make us believe in the strength of America? Of course, the average POTUS would have been shuttled to the escape pod with no ifs, ands, or buts about it, and the hostages would have been on their own, unfortunately. But putting Harrison Ford in there made it obvious that things were going to get rough and that before the end he’d be given a cool line to deliver to the bad guys, and it didn’t disappoint. As unrealistic as this movie was it definitely turned a lot of heads.
Aviation in the 90s definitely had a hard edge to it.
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