The Sundance Flying Club 2011 Calendar for
Fred Thomas Presents

Fred Thomas Presents - Fred, a long time connoisseur of aviation photography and movies, invites you to view his all time favorite movies. Needless to say, the focus is on flying. So expect to see some awesome aviation movies!

Details

When: The third Wednesday of each Month

Where: Sundance Flying Club Briefing Room,
1901 Embarcadero, Ste 109
Palo Alto, CA

What time: Short topics and serial starting at 7pm. Main feature follows.

Cost: FREE

Light supper: donation appreciated!

Month Date Movie Details
February 16 The Flight of the Phoenix The Flight of the Phoenix is a 1965 film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich and based on a 1964 novel. It stars James Stewart as a pilot whose transport aircraft is downed in the middle of the Sahara desert, Richard Attenborough as his navigator, Hardy Krueger as an engineer who designs a new aircraft from the remains of the original, and Peter Finch, Ernest Borgnine, George Kennedy, Dan Duryea, Ronald Fraser, and Ian Bannen as other passengers on the aircraft.
March 16 The High and the Mighty The High and the Mighty is a 1954 American disaster film directed by William A. Wellman and written by Ernest K. Gann who also wrote the novel on which his screenplay was based. The film's cast was headlined by John Wayne, who was also the project's co-producer. Composer Dimitri Tiomkin won an Academy Award for his original score while his title song for the film also was nominated for an Oscar.
April 20 Memphis Belle Memphis Belle is a 1990 film directed by Michael Caton-Jones and written by Monte Merrick, starring Matthew Modine and Eric Stoltz and introducing Harry Connick Jr. in his screen debut. It is a fictionalization of the 1943 documentary Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress by director William Wyler, about the 25th and last mission of an American B-17 bomber, the Memphis Belle, which was based in England during World War II.
May 18 The Final Countdown The Final Countdown is a 1980 science fiction film about a modern aircraft carrier that travels through time to just before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It was directed by Don Taylor, and stars Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, James Farentino and Katharine Ross.
June 15 Airplane! Airplane! is a 1980 American satirical comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and released by Paramount Pictures. It stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty and features Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lorna Patterson. The film is a spoof of the disaster film genre, and a close parody of the 1957 Paramount film Zero Hour!. The film is well-noted for its use of absurdist and surrealist comedy.
July 20 Airport Airport is a 1970 American film based on the 1968 Arthur Hailey novel of the same name. This film, which earned more than $100,000,000 at a time when that was rare, focuses on an airport manager trying to keep his airport open during a snow storm, while a suicidal bomber plots to blow up a Boeing 707 airliner in flight. The story takes place at the fictional Lincoln International Airport near Chicago. The film was written for the screen and directed by George Seaton. Seaton was assisted by Henry Hathaway, and Ernest Laszlo photographed it in 70 mm Todd-AO.
August 17 High Road to China High Road to China is a 1983 adventure-comedy film, set in the 1920s, starring Tom Selleck as a hard-drinking biplane pilot hired by society heiress Eve 'Evie' Tozer (Bess Armstrong) to find her missing father (Wilford Brimley). The supporting cast includes Robert Morley and Brian Blessed.
September 21 X-15 X-15 is a 1961 movie that tells a fictionalized account of the X-15 research rocket plane, the men who flew it and the women who loved them. It starred David McLean, Charles Bronson, Mary Tyler Moore, Kenneth Tobey, and James Gregory and it was narrated by James Stewart. It's clear that director Richard Donner was given unprecedented access to the Air Force's facilities at Edwards Air Force Base/Dryden Research Center. The battle for funding with NASA was a make-or-break challenge, and the USAF clearly recognized the value of the mass media, and of providing a heroic and practical image of its X-15 program to American filmgoers. Although the film X-15 might be criticized on a number of artistic levels, it nevertheless stands as a valuable bit of early-1960's nostalgia that offers a rare glimpse into a forgotten chapter of space exploration.
October 19 Dark Blue World Dark Blue World is a 2001 film by Czech director Jan Sverak about Czechoslovak pilots who fought for the British Royal Air Force during World War II. The film proper begins in 1939, just days prior to the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. After the invasion, the Czechoslovakian military is disbanded and the Czechoslovaks have to give up their aircraft. However, Franta and the younger Karel, among others, refuse to submit to their occupiers, and flee to the United Kingdom to join the RAF.
November 16 Target for Tonight Target for Tonight is a 1941 British documentary film billed as being filmed by and acted by the Royal Air Force, all while under fire. It was directed by Harry Watt. The film revolves for the most part around one crew in a single Wellington aircraft. The film went on to win an honorary Academy Award in 1942, and 'Best Documentary' by the National Board of Review in 1941. The film begins with an observation aircraft flying over and dropping a box of undeveloped film. Bomber Command develops the film and analyzes the resulting photographs, which are presented for the audience to see. There has been a massive build-up by German forces in the subject area for the past few months. The film shows the planning of the mission, even detailing how the bomber wing chooses munitions for the task. The weather forecast is expected to be good, and the pilots are briefed.