The Blue Yonder | |
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Directed by | Mark Rosman |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring | Peter Coyote Huckleberry Fox Art Carney Dennis Lipscomb Joe Flood |
Cinematography | Hiro Narita |
Edited by |
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Music by | David Shire |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Walt Disney Television |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Blue Yonder is a 1985 American science fiction adventure film directed by Mark Rosman and starring Peter Coyote, Huckleberry Fox, Art Carney, Dennis Lipscomb, and Joe Flood. It was written by Mark Rosman and produced by Alan Shapiro and Annette Handley. The film is also known as Time Flyer. [1] The film's premise is about Jonathan Knicks, an 11-year-old boy who travels back in time from 1985 to 1927 via a time machine built by family friend Henry Coogan from the theoretical blueprints of Jonathan's own grandfather. There Jonathan meets his less than illustrious grandfather, Max, and must desperately find a way to prevent Max's fatal attempt at a solo trans-Atlantic flight and invariably change the course of history in the process. Max had perished trying to beat Charles Lindbergh in being the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo. [2]
Eleven-year-old Jonathan Knicks is daydreaming while playing an outfield position of a youth baseball game. He doesn't notice a flyball headed his way, and it bounces off his glove resulting in an error and a celebratory win for the opposing team.
Later, Jonathan heads to the home of Henry Coogan, a longtime family friend and once best-friend of his late grandfather Max Knickerbocker. At Henry's house, Jonathan catches a glimpse of some blueprints labeled, "Time Traveler Project" and the outline of a skeleton key used as an ignition key. Henry briefly explains the blueprint was something Jonathan's grandfather invented but never got a chance to build. Henry proceeds to gift Jonathan an unpainted toy model of a biplane, similar in style to the type his grandfather use to fly in the 1920s. That evening, while Jonathan is having dinner at his home, his father explains that his grandfather was a idealistic dreamer who died in a crazy exploit, and that Henry makes him out to be something more than he was.
One day, Jonathan is visiting Henry in his basement decorated with old pictures. Henry explains that a solo transatlantic flight was among the most daring challenges in his day, and that the person to first successfully fly solo across the Atlantic was Charles Lindbergh. Jonathan's grandfather had attempted the feat four days before Lindbergh but had perished during the trip. His grandfather had taken a northern route against his own instincts, which Henry believed is what likely led to the fatal outcome of the trip. Henry makes a vow that he will get the world to remember the name Max Knickerbocker despite the failed transatlantic flight attempt.
Sometime later, Jonathan comes to visit Henry but discovers that Henry had a heart attack and is bedridden. Henry explains to Jonathan that he built the time machine that Max once conceived on blueprints. At exactly 7:30 a.m. the following day a "window in time" would open that would allow the machine to function and take an occupant into the past to save Max. Henry also explains that this "window in time" would only be open temporarily, and the traveler would need to return to the future before it closes or they would vanish forever. Given Henry's medical condition, he is no longer able to make the trip, and discourages Jonathan from attempting the trip, saying the machine is untested and the trip would be too risky.
Jonathan wakes up the early the next day and goes through a window in Max's house to activate the time machine using a skeleton key he found hanging nearby. When a countdown timer hits zero, the machine activates with various gears and sounds and spins rapidly taking him to May 14, 1927. When he emerges, he walks into downtown while 1927-era people stare at him with his anachronistic 1985 clothing. Jonathan buys a few candy bars and a newspaper with a dollar bill from the future, but leaves before the vendor notices. The vendor flags the local police captain claiming he was passed a counterfeit bill.
With vague directions of where his grandfather might be, Jonathan travels a few miles out of town and sleeps in a barn. He awakens to the crashing sound of a gyroplane that his grandfather Max was testing and subsequently crashed into the barn. Jonathan discovers his grandfather is an eccentric inventor, but a kind man who takes in Jonathan believing he's a runaway.
Meanwhile, a bootlegger named Finch and a corrupt police captain find the time machine in Finch's house (which would become Henry's house in the future). They make the connection to a strange boy who arrived in downtown with a futuristic counterfeit bill. Finch wants to find the boy to get the key to the time machine to exploit it for gambling and financial gain.
Jonathan connects with his grandfather over breakfast and meets his grandmother who is currently pregnant with a child that will become his father. Max shows Jonathan several of his inventions, including blueprints for the Time Traveler machine. He also shows Jonathan his biplane, which he calls The Blue Yonder, that he intends to fly across the Atlantic. Max takes Jonathan on a flight in which he performs several barrel rolls and flies inverted. He also allows Jonathan to take the stick and fly.
Later that evening, Jonathan tries to convince Max not to go on his transatlantic flight. When he fails, he tells Max that he is his grandson from the future. When Max doesn't believe him, he attempts to take Max to show him the time machine, but they discover it's missing because Finch moved it to a different room. Max is skeptical of Jonathan's story, so in a last ditch effort, Jonathan tells Max the story about how an American Legion plane will crash the following morning in a nearby pond and will kill both pilots. When this even occurs as he described, Max realizes the probably of guessing such an outcome is far too remote and now believes he's from the future. While viewing the crash scene, Jonathan is spotted by Finch and the police officer, and they arrest him, but not before Jonathan secretly puts the key for the time machine into Max's pocket.
Later that evening, Max breaks Jonathan out of jail and takes him home. In the middle of the night Max decides to take an alternate route on his transatlantic flight. The next morning, Jonathan wakes up and finds a note from Max saying he's going to attempt the flight and wishes him off. Jonathan races to the airfield to stop Max but is too late. Finch and the police officer are there, and begin to chase Jonathan who heads back toward the time machine. With only seconds to spare, Jonathan activates the time machine and disappears with Finch and the police captain barely missing him. A group of police officials file into the room discovering bootlegged liquor stash, and begin to arrest Finch and the corrupt police captain.
Jonathan emerges back in 1985 saddened that he failed his mission to save his grandfather. While walking near some baseball fields, a baseball lands near an aviation memorial statue and the kids ask if Jonathan can throw the ball back. As he's picking it up, he notices the plaque has changes from before his trip. It now credits Max Knickerbocker for making the "nearest successful Atlantic crossing before Lindbergh" and that The Blue Yonder plane was found off the French coast, indicating that while Max still died, he had successfully traversed the Atlantic before Lindbergh. Inspired by this new knowledge, Jonathan picks up the ball and lobs it into the air with a renewed force he was unable to achieve in the beginning of the movie.
As part of The Disney Sunday Movie , the film was renamed Time Flyer and had footage that was cut in the VHS releases. [3]
The Blue Yonder biplane shown in the film is a Boeing Stearman with an added cowl. However, this model of Stearman wasn't constructed until the 1930s. In the film, it is said Max Knickerbocker designed and constructed the plane himself sometime before 1927.
The movie was given 3 out of 5 stars in Creature Feature by John Stanley. He praised the twist ending and the movie's handling of the time paradoxes. The Los Angeles Times also gave the movie a positive review, stating that while it lacked a big budget, "writer-director Mark Rosman effectively extracts charm from the simplicity", and praising the portrayal of the grandfather/grandson relationship. [4]
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator and military officer. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance of 3,600 miles (5,800 km), flying alone for 33.5 hours. His aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, was designed and built to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize for the first flight between the two cities. Although not the first transatlantic flight, it was the longest at the time by nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km) and the first solo transatlantic flight. It became known as one of the most consequential flights in history and ushered in a new era of air transportation between parts of the globe.
The Orteig Prize was a reward of $25,000 offered in 1919 by New York City hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first Allied aviator, or aviators, to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris or vice versa. Several famous aviators made unsuccessful attempts at the New York–Paris flight before the relatively unknown American Charles Lindbergh won the prize in 1927 in his aircraft Spirit of St. Louis.
The Spirit of St. Louis is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that Charles Lindbergh flew on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight from Long Island, New York, to Paris, France, for which Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize.
John Alcock and Arthur Brown were British aviators who, in 1919, made the first non-stop transatlantic flight. They flew a modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, County Galway, Ireland. The Secretary of State for Air, Winston Churchill, presented them with the Daily Mail prize of £10,000 for the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by aeroplane in "less than 72 consecutive hours". A small amount of mail was carried on the flight, making it the first transatlantic airmail flight. The two aviators were knighted by King George V at Windsor Castle a week later.
The NC-4 is a Curtiss NC flying boat that was the first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, albeit not non-stop. The NC designation was derived from the collaborative efforts of the Navy (N) and Curtiss (C). The NC series flying boats were designed to meet wartime needs, and after the end of World War I they were sent overseas to validate the design concept.
A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Latin America, or vice versa. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, balloons and other aircraft.
Douglas Corrigan was an American aviator, nicknamed "Wrong Way" in 1938. After a transcontinental flight in July from Long Beach, California, to New York City, he then flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn to Ireland, although his flight plan was filed to return to Long Beach.
Erik Robbins Lindbergh is an American aviator, adventurer, and artist. He is the grandson of pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh, the first person to fly non-stop and solo between New York and Paris in 1927. In 2002, Erik Lindbergh honored the 75th anniversary of his grandfather's historic flight by retracing the journey in a single-engine Lancair aircraft. The journey was documented by the History Channel, raised over one million dollars for three charities, garnered half a billion media impressions for the X PRIZE Foundation and helped to jump-start the private Spaceflight industry. The flight prompted a call from United States President George W. Bush for inspiring the country after the tragedy of September 11.
Bertrand Blanchard Acosta was a record-setting aviator and test pilot. He and Clarence D. Chamberlin set an endurance record of 51 hours, 11 minutes, and 25 seconds in the air. He later flew in the Spanish Civil War in the Yankee Squadron. He was known as the "bad boy of the air". He received numerous fines and suspensions for flying stunts such as flying under bridges or flying too close to buildings.
The Spirit of St. Louis is a 1957 aviation biography film in CinemaScope and Warnercolor from Warner Bros., directed by Billy Wilder, produced by Leland Hayward, and starring James Stewart as Charles Lindbergh. The screenplay was adapted by Charles Lederer, Wendell Mayes, and Billy Wilder from Lindbergh's 1953 autobiographical account of his historic flight, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954.
The Flying Irishman is a 1939 biographical drama film produced by RKO Pictures about Douglas Corrigan's unofficial transatlantic flight the previous year in a dilapidated Curtiss Robin light aircraft. The film was directed by Leigh Jason based on a screenplay by Ernest Pagano and Dalton Trumbo.
Calbraith Perry Rodgers was an American aviation pioneer. He made the first transcontinental airplane flight across the U.S. from September 17, 1911, to November 5, 1911, with dozens of stops, both intentional and accidental. The feat made him a national celebrity, but he was killed in a crash a few months later at an exhibition in California.
Clarence Duncan Chamberlin was an American pioneer of aviation, being the second man to pilot a fixed-wing aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to the European mainland, while carrying the first transatlantic passenger.
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca was an Italian-American aviation pioneer, airplane designer and builder, who is credited with many design firsts and whose aircraft broke many aviation records. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973. The Bellanca C.F., one of the world's first enclosed-cabin monoplanes, is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Bellanca was known mostly for his long range aircraft which led the way for the advancement of international and commercial air transportation.
Charles Albert Levine was the first passenger aboard a transatlantic flight. He was ready to cross the Atlantic to claim the Orteig prize but a court battle over who was going to be in the airplane allowed Charles Lindbergh to leave first.
Moye Wicks Stephens was an American aviator and businessman. He was a pioneer in aviation, circumnavigating the globe with adventure writer Richard Halliburton in 1931, and co-founding Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
L'Oiseau Blanc was a French Levasseur PL.8 biplane that disappeared in 1927 during an attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight between Paris and New York City to compete for the Orteig Prize. French World War I aviation heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli took off from Paris on 8 May 1927 and were last seen over Ireland. Less than two weeks later, Charles Lindbergh successfully made the New York–Paris journey and claimed the prize in the Spirit of St. Louis.
The Wright-Bellanca WB-2, was a high wing monoplane aircraft designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca, initially for Wright Aeronautical then later Columbia Aircraft Corp.
The Levasseur PL.8 was a single engine, two-seat long-distance record-breaking biplane aircraft modified from an existing Levasseur PL.4 carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft produced in France in the 1920s. Levasseur built the aircraft in 1927, specifically for pilots Charles Nungesser and François Coli for a transatlantic attempt to win the Orteig Prize. Only two examples of the type were built, with the first PL.8-01 named L'Oiseau Blanc, that gained fame as Nungesser and Coli's aircraft.
"WE" is an autobiographical account by Charles A. Lindbergh (1902–1974) about his life and the events leading up to and including his May 1927 New York to Paris solo trans-Atlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, a custom-built, single engine, single-seat Ryan monoplane. It was first published on July 27, 1927 by G.P. Putnam's Sons in New York.
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