THE ROCKETEER(1991)*** out of **** Directed by Joe Johnston Starring William Campbell,Jennifer Connelly,Timothy Dalton,Alan Arkin,Paul Sorvino,Terry O'Quinn, Ed Lauter,Jon Polito,Tiny Ron Taylor, Rated PG 108 minutes Released by Walt Disney Home Video
With the recent theatrical release of the new CAPTAIN AMERICA:THE FIRST AVENGER(2011) film, it seem convenient to focus new light on the 1991 Rocketeer film that was also directed by Joe Johnston who did the Captain America film which both films focus on a superhero in the 1940's who battles against the Nazis.Twenty years ago,Hollywood was going thru it's second superhero movie craze started by Tim Burton's BATMAN(1989) and Warren Beatty's DICK TRACY(1990).After the success of the Dick Tracy film, Walt Disney Studios wanted to make another comic book superhero film and they acquired the film rights to Dave Stevens' 1980's cult graphic novel The Rocketeer into making it a big budget Summer blockbuster film. The studio put Johnston, a former special effects artist to make this film as a director after making his first film HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS(1989) which was a big hit for the studio.The Rocketeer film is mostly faithfull to Steven's graphic novel since Stevens was a co-screenwriter as well as co-producer for the film and is greatly entertaining in following the story in which airplane pilot Cliff Secord (William Campbell)discovers a prototype jet rocket pack created by billionaire inventor Howard Hughes but stolen by Nazi spies and uses it to fight underground Nazi spies in Hollywood 1938, led by movie star Neville Sinclair played by Timothy Dalton who is really a Nazi collaborator(modeled after the false rumor that famed 1940's real life movie star Errol Flynn was a Nazi spy during WWII) When Secord's actress girlfriend Jenny played by Jennifer Connelly, is kidnapped by Sinclair to force Secord to hand over the rocket pack, the Rocketeer joins forces with Hughes and the FBI to defeat Sinclair and rescue Jenny in a rousing sequence aboard a Nazi Zeppelin flying over the famed Hollywood sign.
Although well made, acted and written as well received by the film critics at the time of the film's release,THE ROCKETEER was a financial disappointment to Disney Studios since it underperformed in the US box office in the Summer of 1991. But the film's failure was really Disney's fault since THE ROCKETEER was supposed to be a Touchstone Studios release at that time as well as a film geared more to an adult audience rather than at kids.But Disney unfortunately decided to release this film as a Disney film with a PG rating strictly for kid audiences in order to capture the same young audience that went to see Burton's BATMAN film and it was marketed that way with a poster that really didn't demonstrate what the film wasn't about. Disney even interfered with Steven's script by making the Jenny character into an innocent struggling film actress instead of the sexy pin-up nude model based on the famous 1950's cult nude model Bettie Page who was a cult favorite of Dave Stevens, creator of the Rocketeer. Also unfortunately the VHS,Laserdisc and DVD release of this film demonstrates Disney's lack of understanding and respect for the film since the video versions of THE ROCKETEER have been released in a rather drab version with anamorphic widescreen and no special extras whatsoever not even the theatrical trailer(except for the Laserdisc).If any film deserves to be re-released on both DVD & BluRay in a bonafide Special Edition,it should be THE ROCKETEER especially since this year is it's 20th anniversary of it's release and such a release would take full advantage of Joe Johnston's successful recent CAPTAIN AMERICA film that is so similar to THE ROCKETEER in many ways.
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