As a genre, the aviation movie isn’t one overly blessed with quality. So, as ever, what follows is a very subjective list. In choosing what’s here, I’ve tried to focus on movies that took the trouble to film real pilots flying real aircraft rather than rely solely on models and CGI. Everything is open to argument, but the best is easy. Airplane! No contest.
The perfect Sunday-afternoon war film features fabulous footage of RAF Mosquitos attacking their target through a Norwegian fjord.
Played deadpan, this comedy classic spawned a glut of imitators. The original and best feels exactly like the disaster movies it so brilliantly spoofed.
It’s completely absurd in every way, but this story of oil drillers turned astronauts saving the world just sweeps you along.
A great cast features in this epic account of the RAF’s fight for Britain’s survival. Some terrific aerial footage (although quite a lot of models were used too).
Like Top Gun, this was made with the full cooperation of the US Navy, and it shows. It features fabulous footage of 1950s US Navy carrier operations and Grace Kelly. What’s not to like?
One of the very best. Great story, great flying scenes. Incomparable theme tune. There’s talk of a remake. I hope it happens. I hope it’s good. And, people, if they do change the name of the dog, it really doesn’t matter.
A nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier slips back in time to the build-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. You’ve got to love any movie that has Kirk Douglas ordering a pair of F-14 Tomcats to “Splash the Zeros.”
This effort to do for helicopters what Top Gun did for jet fighters was rightly panned as one of the worst movies ever, but it features some great flying scenes.
“It’s not a party, there is no booze,” said the trailer for no particularly good reason. James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, and Ernest Borgnine lead an all-star cast, stranded in the desert, trying to build a new aircraft out of the wreckage of their old one.
It’s clear why this Robert Redford movie is a favorite with pilots. It’s about veteran First World War fighter pilots barnstorming their way across America and includes incredible stunt-flying.
An epic film of Tom Wolfe’s classic account of the birth of the space race in America. Real care was taken to make sure the flying looked right. And Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager? Perfect.
David Lean, director of Lawrence of Arabia, turns his attention to the dawn of the jet age—a mouthwatering prospect. Beautifully made, it features great footage of early 1950s British jets.
Great fun. The brilliant Terry-Thomas leads a who’s-who of British character actors in this fabulous comedy about a pre–First World War air race involving an amazing collection of machines, some of them built specially for the movie.
With pretty much every line being quotable, this is a pop-culture classic. You know the story: Tom Cruise aims to be best of the best. Made with full US Navy cooperation, the aerial footage of dueling F-14 Tomcats won’t be bettered.
“Actually filmed in space!” was a line they couldn’t even use for Apollo 13. Narrated by James Stewart, this semi-documentary features real footage of the X-15 and stars Charles Bronson. Amazingly, it was directed by Richard Donner, who later made Lethal Weapon.
