The Rocketeer: Film Platypus

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Do you remember this one?  It had Timothy Dalton and Jennifer Connelly -you know, the guy who used to play Bond in the '80s and that girl from Labyrinth?  Disney released it in 1991 and it didn't do so well but a lot of people liked it.  So I went back and watched it...

The Rocketeer was worth seeing again.  There was so much more going on there than I realized when I was a kid.  There's all the classic pulp material: clean-cut heroes, a Commander Cody rocket pack, Nazis, mobsters, G Men, air planes (and an air ship!) along with that wonderful, un-ironic spirit that soars above so much of today's pop entertainment.  Then there's the little historical tidbits: Howard Hughes, the Spruce Goose, Carey Grant, an Erol Flynn knock-off, and W.C. Fields (not to mention the Copeland-esque soundtrack).  Above all, it's an homage to the state of California and the free-wheeling, independent spirit that made it the fifth largest economy in the world in just a half-century.  The Land is a character in and of itself from the opening airstrip right down to the sepia and orange field finish.

That's just a short blurb -nothing too detailed.  But if it peeks your interest, why not consider adding The Rocketeer to your Netflix que?  The Golden State's not doing so well these days and its good to have a reminder of everything it could still be.   

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