The Rocketeer At The Cinema!

(John Mattos)

How The Rocketeer movie didn't make enough money to convince the powers in Hollywood to make more is beyond me. It's an exquisite movie, with wonderful actors in perfect roles giving ideal performances, and a delightful period setting which evokes at once realism and romance. There's no reason this shouldn't have been a bigger hit, buy it just wasn't. 

Released in 1991 I immediately went to see it. Later I collected it on VHS and later still on DVD. I dug out my DVD and watched it again just a few days ago. I was much impressed by how well this story held up after several decades. The actors were convincing in a story which demands a lot from actors to sell parts which are at once naturalistic and extreme. Bill Campbell is ideal as Cliff Secord. His youthful face sells with conviction the love he has for Jenny and the desire he has to fly using the rocket pack. Jennifer Connelly was a perfect choice to play Jenny (not Betty), though she is a good deal less openly sexy than Betty found in the original Stevens story.  Disney wanted her a bit more demure. Alan Arkin is a great Peevy.  And a bunch of the other parts are well filled out. The standout for me though is Timothy Dalton. 

(Promotional art by Stevens)

Timothy Dalton as the Nazi agent posing as an actor in Hollywood. I'm a big Dalton fan and think his days as Bond were much better than is generally remembered. He's the actor closest to the Bond of the novels, at least as I envision him. Turning him into a baddie is delightful and he seems to enjoy. He's played many a great bad guy since. The use of Lothar from the second Rocketeer story (which also gives us the auto-gyro at the end of the movie) was a stroke of genius. 

But it's the world that the movie recreates that is the real star of The Rocketeer. I never for a moment feel I'm not in the late 1930's in Los Angeles. The period is maintained wonderfully, at least to my untrained eyes. Not only does the movie recreate the delightful settings from the Stevens comic but they also give us more. There's a nifty blend of scenes and settings coming from both Dave Stevens stories, the second on not even finished when the movie was produced. The humble Bulldog Cafe and the swanky nightclub are all well realized. 

Somewhen along the way I picked up The Rocketeer Official Movie Souvenir Magazine which is chock full of imagery from the movie while at the same time offering up a lighthearted summary of the movie's action. In those days before the internet, these kinds of artifacts held greater value. This book is from Topps which also did a card set for the movie. I also have those. 

My favorite movie-tie in item is The Rocketeer - The Official Movie Adaptation which sports an iconic Dave Stevens cover, one of his most famous Rocketeer images. The story inside was actually written by Peter David and drawn magnificently by Russ Heath. Heath's interpretation of the Rocketeer world cleaves very close to the Stevens original without being cloying or imitative. 

One of the weirder tie-ins in my collection is the 3-D adaptation of the story by Neal Adams and his Continuity Associates outfit. The 3-D is pretty good in places, but the imagery is less effective as a comic story. The characters are often off model quite a bit. This originally came with a cassette tape which followed the comics story, but I don't have that. Those were different times indeed and it's sometimes painful to remember just how long it's been. I've read off and on for decades of a potential sequel, but I'll believe it when I see it in the theaters. 

Above is a fun piece of artwork by Dave Stevens for the movie. This does appear in the movie as part of the folder with all the rocket specifications which Howard Hughes tosses into a fire when he determines the rocket is just too dangerous to continue to develop. 

And here's the infamous Nazi propaganda film from the movie showing what the deadly forces of Hitler planned to do with the rocket packs if they got their hands on the prototype again. 

And here is a delightfully scandalous image of Betty (not Jenny) reminding Cliff and all of us what they were fighting for. Why include this? Why not! 

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