Themes: Air Disasters, Opposites Attract, Survival in the Wilderness
Main Cast: Christopher Reeve, Rosanna Arquette, Jack Warden, Sam Wanamaker, Scott Wilson
Release Year: 1985
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
Plot
Based on a novel by Ernest Gann and set in 1928, this story starts out focusing on aviation and then flies in another direction at about three feet worth of altitude. Christopher Reeves is Edgar Anscombe, a pilot of a Stearman biplane running a mail route between the states of Washington and Nevada, when he is obliged to accept Tillie Hansen (Rosanna Arquette) as a passenger one day. Introverted at best, sullen and forbidding at worst, Edgar is struggling with his own trauma after surviving a crash that left him with an ugly scar across his face. Tillie personifies all the worse traits commonly attributed to the rich and spoiled -- and the two are set to joust from the beginning. After they take off, an accident occurs and although the dueling pair survive the crash, they are hard put to survive for long in the desolate mountains. Soon Edgar's friend Jerry (Scott Wilson) is out looking for him, and Tillie's obnoxious father is there at the base airport to put pressure on everyone to find her. Needless to say, Edgar and Tillie, in the meantime, are faced with dangers that make their previous problems seem minor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Tyne Daly - Evelyn Stiller; Marcia Strassman - Rose Stiller; Will Hare - Old Man; Jeff Harding - Carson; Glenn Neufeld - George Hansen; Robert Peirce - Student Pilot; Tim Stack - First Officer; Ron Travis - Probosky; Paul Lichtman - Customer; Larry B. Williams - Second Officer; Frano Lasic - Daniel Hansen
Credit
Dusko Jericevic - Art Director, Patricia Smith - Costume Designer, George Miller - Director, Duane Hartzell - Editor, Dominic Frontiere - Composer (Music Score), Jeanne Richmond - Makeup, Brent Swift - Production Designer, David Connell - Cinematographer, John Edwards - Cinematographer, John Oaten - Cinematographer, Thomas H. Brodek - Producer, Mace Neufeld - Producer, Keith Hein - Set Designer, John Edwards - Special Effects, John Oaten - Special Effects, William H. Orr - Special Effects, John Thomas - Special Effects, Marc Norman - Screenwriter, Ernest K. Gann - Book Author
The Aviator (1985) is an Americanadventure film directed by George T. Miller. The story of the film was adapted by Marc Norman from the book The Aviator written by Ernest K. Gann. The film stars Rosanna Arquette as the daughter of a rich man and Christopher Reeve as the title character who crash lands on a mountain. Despite being an aging and now seriously injured pilot, he starts to develop romantic feelings for his young passenger during their efforts to get back to civilization.
