The Rocketeer is a 1991 period adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and based on the character of the same name created by comic book writer/artist Dave Stevens, who also served as a co-producer. Directed by Joe Johnston, the film stars Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino and Tiny Ron Taylor. Set in 1938 Los Angeles, California, The Rocketeer tells the story of stunt pilot Cliff Secord who discovers a jet pack that enables him to fly. His heroic deeds attract the attention of Howard Hughes and the FBI, as well as sadistic Nazi operatives.
Development for The Rocketeer started as far back as 1983, when Stevens sold the film rights. Steve Miner and William Dear considered directing The Rocketeer before Johnston, a fan of the comic book, signed on. Screenwriters Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo had creative differences with Disney, which caused the film to languish in development hell. The studio also intended to change the trademark helmet design – Disney President Michael Eisner wanted a straight NASA-type helmet – but Johnston convinced the studio otherwise. Johnston also had to convince Disney to let him cast unknown actor Billy Campbell in the lead role. Filming for The Rocketeer lasted from September 19, 1990 to January 22, 1991. The visual effect sequences were created and designed by Industrial Light & Magic.
The film was released on June 21, 1991 and bombed at the box office, but received generally favorable reviews from critics. Plans for Rocketeer sequels were abandoned after the poor box office performance.
Plot
In 1938 Los Angeles, California, a rocket pack designed by Howard Hughes is stolen from his factory by a mobster duo working for crime boss Eddie Valentine. The driver of the getaway car, chased by FBI agents into a hangar, hides the rocket in an aging biplane and deceives the FBI agents with a vacuum cleaner he finds in the hangar. The driver is injured in the shoot-out, arrested and removed in an ambulance; the FBI agents find the ruined vacuum in the burned-out car. They believe the ruined device is the actual rocket and telephone Hughes, who decides its destruction is for the best, and burns its blueprints. Meanwhile, struggling stunt pilot Cliff Secord and mechanic A. "Peevy" Peabody find the mysterious rocket inside the biplane. Cliff experiments with it but Peevy persuades him to leave the rocket alone until he can understand its design and fine-tune it. Meanwhile, Valentine argues with movie star Neville Sinclair, who hired his gang to obtain the rocket from Hughes. Sinclair negotiates a new deal and dispatches the mobsters to search for the missing device. However, Sinclair secretly sends his right-hand man, the monstrous Lothar, to kill the injured mobster in police custody.
Shortly afterwards, at an airshow, Cliff uses the rocket (with Peevy's newly-designed, face-hiding helmet) to heroically rescue his elderly friend Malcolm piloting a malfunctioned aircraft. Having been seen by the audience, a media sensation ensues and Cliff, as the anonymous hero, is dubbed "the Rocketeer". However, Cliff and his aspiring actress girlfriend, Jenny Blake, begin to have relationship issues after Cliff visits her on-set of a film and inadvertently causes an accident in which a lead actor is mysteriously injured. Jenny is fired over Cliff's accident; however, Sinclair, who is portraying the lead role of the production, overhears Cliff's conversation with Jenny. After Cliff leaves, Sinclair makes up to Jenny and gets a dinner date with her at the famed South Seas Club. Sinclair then sends Lothar to search the airfield for Cliff.
That evening FBI agents find Bigelow dead, while Cliff consults with Peevy in their shared home. Lothar attacks and seizes detailed rocketpack schematics drawn up by Peabody, but is interrupted when the FBI arrives. Cliff and Peevy escape with the rocket, and Lothar also escapes as the house is destroyed by gunfire. Cliff and Peevy arrive at the local diner but are trapped by a team of mobsters who are searching for Cliff, but don't recognize him. Overhearing them consult with Valentine over the diner's phone, Cliff learns of Jenny's date with Sinclair and the latter's involvement with the crime. Cliff decides to confront Sinclair and Peabody provisionally patches the rocket's sudden leaking fuel tank with Cliff's chewing gum. Cliff infiltrates the South Seas Club but is nearly trapped by Valentine's gang, and in the ensuing melée, Jenny is kidnapped by Sinclair.
Sinclair tries to seduce Jenny at his villa, but she knocks him out and, trying to escape, finds that he is a Nazi spy. Sinclair recaptures her with Lothar's aid and leaves a message for Cliff; bring the rocketpack to the Griffith Observatory that very night or Jenny dies. Cliff hides the rocket just before he is arrested by the FBI, who take him to Hughes. Hughes reveals that the rocket was a prototype similar to one Nazi scientists were unsuccessfully developing to invade the United States. The FBI agents mention that they are tracking a Nazi spy in Hollywood, whom Cliff obviously realizes to be Sinclair. When Hughes demands the return of the rocket, Cliff explains that he needs it to rescue Jenny and, seizing a large wooden model of the "Spruce Goose" flying boat, glides out of Hughes' hangar headquarters.
The Rocketeer confronts Lothar atop the Zeppelin
Recostumed as the Rocketeer, Cliff flies to the rendezvous where Sinclair, Lothar and the Valentine gang are waiting. When Sinclair demands the rocket, Cliff divulges to the gang that the actor is a Nazi spy. Valentine is a career criminal but draws the line at treason; he turns on Sinclair. Sinclair unexpectedly summons Nazi SA commandos hidden nearby and the gang are held at gunpoint as a Nazi Zeppelin touring America in a "gesture of friendship" is shown to be secretly assisting the mission, and appears overhead. A dispute ensues between the Nazis and the arrival of FBI agents, but Sinclair and Lothar escape with Jenny aboard the zeppelin. The climax ensues with Cliff and Jenny being rescued by Howard and Peevy in an autogyro. Sinclair takes the rocket, but not before Cliff thumbs off the chewing gum patch. Sinclair is unaware of the device's oil combust, and he dies crashing down upon the last four giant letters of the "Hollywoodland" sign. Lothar is engulfed in flames as the zeppelin explodes.
Some time afterwards, Hughes presents Secord with a brand-new Gee Bee racing plane. As he drives away, Jenny presents Peabody with the rocket schematics she found in Sinclair's villa. Peabody decides that with some modifications, he can build an even better one.
Development
Comic book writer/artist Dave Stevens created the Rocketeer in 1982 and immediately viewed the character as an ideal protagonist for a film adaptation. Steve Miner purchased the film rights from Stevens in 1983[2] but he strayed too far from the original concept and the rights reverted back to Stevens. In 1985, Stevens gave writers Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo a free option over The Rocketeer rights. Stevens liked that "their ideas for The Rocketeer were heartfelt and affectionate tributes to the 1930s serials with all the right dialogue and atmosphere. Most people would approach my character contemporarily, but Danny and Paul saw them as pre-war mugs."[3]
Stevens, Bilson and De Meo began to consider making The Rocketeer as a low-budget film, shot in black-and-white and funded by independent investors. Their plan was to make the film a complete homage to the Commando Cody serial films, and use a cast largely associated with character actors. However, that same year, the trio approached William Dear to direct/co-write The Rocketeer and they eventually dropped the low-budget idea.[2] Bilson, De Meo and Dear kept the comic book’s basic plot intact but fleshed it out to include a Hollywood setting and a climactic battle against a Nazi zeppelin.[3] They also tweaked Cliff’s girlfriend to avoid comparisons/legal hassles to Bettie Page (Stevens’ original inspiration), changing her name from Betty to Jenny and her profession from nude model to Hollywood extra (a change also made to make the film more family friendly).[2] Dear proceeded to transform the climax from a zeppelin setpiece into a submarine.[3]
Stevens, Bilson, De Meo and Dear began to pitch The Rocketeer in 1986 to the major film studios but were turned down. "This was 1986, long before Batman or Dick Tracy or anything similar," Stevens explained. "In those days, no studio was interested at all in an expensive comic book movie. We got there about three years too early for our own good!"[2] The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group eventually accepted The Rocketeer because they believed the film had toyetic potential and appeal for merchandising. The Rocketeer was set to be released by Disney-owned Touchstone Pictures; Stevens, Bilson, De Meo and Dear all signed a contract which would permit them to make a trilogy of Rocketeer movies. However, Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg switched the film to a Walt Disney Pictures release. According to Stevens, "immediately, Betty and anything else 'adult' went right out with the bathwater. They really tried to shoehorn it into a kiddie property so they could sell toys. All they really wanted at the end of the day, was the name".[2]
Bilson and DeMeo then submitted their seven-page film treatment to Disney, but the studio put their script through an endless series of revisions. Over five years, Disney fired and rehired Bilson and DeMeo three times. DeMeo explained that "Disney felt that they needed a different approach to the script, which meant bringing in someone else. But those scripts were thrown out and we were always brought back on."[3] They found the studio’s constant tinkering with the screenplay to be a frustrating process as executives would like "excised dialogue three months later. Scenes that had been thrown out two years ago were put back in. What was the point?"[3] DeMeo said. One of Bilson and De Meo’s significant revisions to the script over the years was to make Cliff and Jenny’s romance more believable and avoid cliché aspects that would stereotype Jenny as a damsel in distress.[3]
The characterization of Neville Sinclair was inspired from Errol Flynn. Flynn was also a movie star known for his work in swashbuckler-like roles. Making Sinclair a fascist sympathizer and Nazi spy references Charles Higham's unauthorized and fabricated biography of Flynn.[4] The numerous project delays forced Dear drop out as director. Joe Johnston, a fan of the comic book, immediately offered his services as director when he found out Disney owned the film rights. Johnston was quickly hired and pre-production started in early-1990. Disney finally greenlighted The Rocketeer after Bilson and De Meo’s third major rewrite.[3]
Production
Casting
Casting the lead role of Cliff Secord was a struggle for the filmmakers. Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg even had one of the studio's then-staff writers, Karey Kirkpatrick, audition for the part.[5] Kevin Costner and Matthew Modine were the first actors considered for the role. When they both proved to be unavailable, Dennis Quaid, Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton and Emilio Estevez auditioned for the part. Johnny Depp was Disney’s favorite choice,[3] while Paxton commented he came "really close" to getting the lead.[6] Vincent D'Onofrio turned down the role[7] and the filmmakers were forced to continue their search.[2]
The decision to cast unknown actor Billy Campbell as Cliff Secord caused mixed emotions amongst Disney executives. Director Joe Johnson and creator Dave Stevens believed Campbell was perfect for the role, but Disney wanted an A-list actor. Johnson eventually convinced Disney otherwise.[2] Campbell was not familiar with the comic book when he got the part but quickly read it in addition to books on aviation and listened to 1940s period music. The actor had a fear of flying but overcame it with the help of the film’s aerial coordinator, Craig Hosking. To ensure his safety, Campbell was doubled for almost all of the flying sequences.[3]
For the female lead of Cliff's girlfriend Jenny, Sherilyn Fenn, Kelly Preston, Diane Lane and Elizabeth McGovern were considered before Jennifer Connelly was eventually cast.[8] Campbell and Connelly's working relationship eventually led to a romantic coupling, which Johnston found to be a technique for method acting that helped with their on-screen chemistry.[3] For Secord’s sidekick, Peevy, Dave Stevens hoped that Lloyd Bridges would play the part, but Bridges turned it down and Alan Arkin was cast. The part of Neville Sinclair was offered to Jeremy Irons and Charles Dance before Timothy Dalton accepted the role. Lastly, the part of Eddie Valentine was written with Joe Pesci in mind, but he too, turned down the part, which went to Paul Sorvino.[8]
Remaining cast members included Tiny Ron Taylor as Lothar, Terry O'Quinn as Howard Hughes, Jon Polito as Otis Bigelow, Ed Lauter as Agent Fitch, Eddie Jones as Malcolm the Mechanic and Robert Miranda as Spanish Johnny.
Filming
Principal photography for The Rocketeer lasted from September 19, 1990 to January 22, 1991.[1] Filming at the Griffith Observatory took place in November 1990.[1] The film ended up going 50 days over schedule due to weather and mechanical problems.[3] Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens allied himself with director Joe Johnston and production manager Ian Bryce in an effort to be as heavily involved in the production process as possible and to try and secure as much artistic control as he could from Disney. Disney, in particular, was not enthusiastic with Stevens' involvement. "I was on the set day and night," Stevens reflected, "from pre-production till post-production! And initially, I had to fight to prove that I was there for the benefit of the film, and not for my own ego."[2]
The original production budget was set at $25 million, but rose to $40 million. This happened after Disney became impressed with the dailies; "they realized this was a bigger movie than they were anticipating," Johnson explained, "and they approved overages. It never got completely out of control."[1] An abandoned World War II runway in Santa Maria, California housed the Chaplin Air Field with additional scenes at Bakersfield. For the Air Circus scene, 700 extras and 25 vintage planes were employed. Aerial coordinator Craig Hosking remarked in an interview, "What makes The Rocketeer so unique was having several one-of-a-kind planes that hadn’t flown in years,"[3] including a 1916 Standard biplane and a Gee Bee Model R racer with a radial engine and stubby wings.[3] The sequence where Cliff rescues Malcolm was adapted shot-for-shot from Stevens' comic book.[2]
Design
Stevens gave the film's production designer Jim Bissell and his two art directors his entire reference library pertaining to the Rocketeer at that time period, including blueprints for hangers and bleachers, schematics for building the autogyro, photos and drawings of the Bulldog Café, field uniforms for the air circus staff, and contacts for the vintage planes that were to be used. Stevens remembers that they "literally just took the reference and built the sets".[2] Disney originally intended to change the Rocketeer's trademark helmet design completely. President Michael Eisner wanted a straight NASA-type helmet but director Johnston threatened to quit production on The Rocketeer. Disney relented, but only after creating a number of prototype designs that were ultimately rejected by the filmmakers. Stevens asked Johnston for one week to produce a good helmet design. He proceeded to work with a sculptor he knew, made a cast of the film's main stuntman's head and brainstormed ideas with the help of his sketches. They produced a helmet that the filmmakers agreed looked appropriate from all angles.[2]
Rick Baker designed the Rondo Hatton-inspired prosthetic makeup designs for the Lothar character, portrayed by Tiny Ron Taylor.[9]
Visual effects
The visual effects were designed and created by George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) with Ken Ralston (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Sony Pictures Imageworks founder) serving as the VFX supervisor. Rocketeer director Joe Johnston previously worked as an art director/model maker at ILM before his film directing career took off. At ILM, Johnston worked on films such as the original Star Wars trilogy and Raiders of the Lost Ark.[1] The Rocketeer’s attack on the Nazi zeppelin was filmed near Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park in Valencia, California over four months through pick-ups.[3] Remaining visual effects footage took place at ILM's headquarters in San Rafael and Hamilton Air Force Base. There, they constructed a 12-foot scale model for the zeppelin, which was photographed against matte paintings that resembled 1938 Los Angeles for intercutting purposes. The zeppelin explosion special effect alone cost $400,000.[1]
Release
Marketing
To promote The Rocketeer, Disney made tie-in endorsements with Pizza Hut and M&M's/Mars candies.[10] The studio also spent a further $19 million on TV advertising alone.[11] A television special documentary, titled The Rocketeer: Excitement in the Air, was broadcast on the Disney Channel in June 1991.[10] That same month, a novelization written by Peter David was published by Bantam Books.[12] The Rocketeer had its premiere at the 1,100 seat El Capitan Theatre on June 19, 1991. This was the first premiere to take place at the El Capitan in over two years, due to an Art Deco-like restoration project Disney had been working on.[13]
Box office
The Rocketeer was released in the United States on June 21, 1991, earning $9.6 million in its opening weekend in 1,616 theaters.[14] The film opened #4 behind Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, City Slickers and Dying Young. Rocketeer eventually grossed $46.6 million in US box office totals,[15] though the film did slightly recover its budget, it was declared to be a box office bomb because Disney was disappointed with the final figures.[2] Outside the US and Canada, the film was released through Touchstone Pictures rather than Disney in an attempt to attract a teenage audiences it did not reach in North America."[16]
The Disney tag also was seen to have turned off people who assumed that the film was for children. In addition, Rocketeer's original Art Deco poster was changed because it failed to draw attention to the cast, including then-current James Bond, Timothy Dalton. A new poster was designed to feature Dalton, Billy Campbell and Jennifer Connelly prominently.[16] However, the film performed disappointingly in Britain, grossing just over £1 million in its first two weeks at just under 250 screens. The new ad campaign was being designed while the British promotional campaign for the film was already under way and some theaters still had the stylized U.S. movie poster.[16]
Critical analysis
Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens acknowledged he was "satisfied with 70% of the film"[2] and highly praised Joe Johnson's direction. "The overall spirit and sweetness of the series is still there, intact," Stevens remembers. "We lost some good character stuff in editing for time, but the tone of it is still what I was trying to project in the comic pages. I also thought Joe's casting choices were excellent. To his credit, Joe did not fill out the cast with a bunch of 90210 Barbie and Ken-type kids."[2] Stevens found Billy Campbell to be "a good-looking guy but he also happens to be Cliff! I would never have cast him based on good looks alone, but he came into the audition and just nailed it shut. He was made for it. The part was his."[2]
The film was able to receive generally favorable reviews from critics. Based on 49 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 63% of the critics enjoyed The Rocketeer with an average score of 5.9/10.[17] Roger Ebert enjoyed the film, noting its homages to the film serials of the 1930-50s. Although Ebert cited the visual effects as being state of the art, he described them "as charmingly direct as those rockets in the Flash Gordon serials - the ones with sparklers hidden inside of them, which were pulled on wires in front of papier-mâché mountains."[18] Leonard Maltin wrote that the "film captures the look of the '30s, as well as the gee-whiz innocence of Saturday matinée serials, but it's talky—and takes too much time to get where it's going. Dalton has fun as a villain patterned after Errol Flynn."[9] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine also gave a positive review. "The Rocketeer is more than one of the best films of the summer; it's the kind of movie magic that we don't see much anymore," he continued, "the kind that charms us, rather than bullying us, into suspending disbelief."[19] The Nostalgia Critic placed the film as #9 on his list of The Top 11 Underrated Nostalgia Classics.[20]
Internet reviewer James Berardinelli commented that "The Rocketeer may not be perfect, but it's an excellent example of how to adapt a comic book to the screen."[21] However, Janet Maslin from The New York Times gave a mixed review. She called The Rocketeer "a benign adventure saga that has attractive stars, elaborate gimmicks and nice production values - everything it needs except a personality of its own." Maslin believed that by setting the story in 1938, the filmmakers were more interested in the Art Deco production design and visual effects instead of telling a coherent storyline.[22] Hal Hinson, writing in The Washington Post, felt the film advocated too much concerns with family-friendliness.[23] Jonathan Rosenbaum of Chicago Reader believed both the editing and the storyline were not well balanced and felt The Rocketeer ripped-off elements of Indiana Jones and Back to the Future. Rosenbaum also cited the casting decision of character actors as being too practical. "The whole thing is good-natured enough," he explained, "but increasingly mechanical."[24]
Awards/Home video
The Rocketeer was nominated for both the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film, but lost both categories to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.[25] Costume designer Marilyn Vance won the Saturn Award for Best Costumes, while Jennifer Connelly (Best Supporting Actress) and VFX supervisor Ken Ralston (Best Special Effects) also received nominations.[25][26]
When released on the home video market in 1991, The Rocketeer made an additional $23.18 million in rentals.[15] The film was released on Region 1 DVD by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment in August 1999. No special features were included.[27]
Sequel(s)
From the beginning of the process of making The Rocketeer, creator Dave Stevens and screenwriters Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo envisioned it as the first entry of a trilogy.[2] Disney, in particular, hoped the film would carry a vein similar to the Indiana Jones franchise.[3] Both Campbell and Connelly were contracted for sequels; Campbell for two more and Connelly for only one.[28] However, with the film's dismal box office performance, plans for a sequel were halted in July 1991.[29] "[Unfortunately] the movie didn’t make as much money as Disney had hoped," Campbell reflected in a January 2008 interview with MTV News. "And that coupled with the acrimonious relationship that the director [Joe Johnston] and the studio had contributed to them not even considering it."[30]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Staff (1991-07-12). "Blast off!". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,314826,00.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p John B. Cooke. "An Interview with Dave Stevens". Comic Book Artist. http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/15stevens.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Daniel Schweiger (August 1991). "Rocketeer: Comic Book Origins". Cinefantastique.
- ^ Andrea Sachs (1991-08-05). "Critics' Voices". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973528-1,00.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ Karey Kirkpatrick (1991-07-12). "I Coulda Been a Rocketeer". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,314768,00.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ Jess Cagle (1991-07-19). "Bill Paxton". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,314880,00.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ Liane Bonin (2000-09-08). "Way of the Hunk". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,85529,00.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ a b Staff (August 1991). "Rocketeer To The Rescue!". Prevue.
- ^ a b Leonard Maltin; Cathleen Anderson; Luke Sader (October 2003). Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. New York City: Plume. pp. 1178-1179. ISBN 0451209400.
- ^ a b Staff (1991-05-31). "Tie Me in, Buy Me Up". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,314510,00.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-02.
- ^ Marcy Magiera (1991-02-11). "Disney adds to tie-ins". Advertising Age.
- ^ "The Rocketeer (Mass Market Paperback)". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Rocketeer-Peter-David/dp/0553293222. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ Tom Green (1991-06-19). "Rocketeer launches a restored theater". USA Today.
- ^ "The Rocketeer". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=rocketeer.htm. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ a b "The Rocketeer". The Numbers. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1991/0RCKT.php. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ a b c Staff (1991-08-21). "Disney rebrands Rocketeer to reach wider audience". Screen Finance.
- ^ "The Rocketeer". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rocketeer/. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ Roger Ebert (1991-06-21). "The Rocketeer". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19910621/REVIEWS/106210304/1023. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ Peter Travers (1991-07-11). "The Rocketeer". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5948941/review/5948942/the_rocketeer. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/2384-top-11-underated-nostalgic-classics
- ^ James Berardinelli. "The Rocketeer". ReelViews. http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=283. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ Janet Maslin (1991-06-21). "'Rocketeer': Wings vs. Soul". The New York Times.
- ^ Hal Hinston (1991-06-21). "The Rocketeer". The Washington Post.
- ^ Jonathan Rosenbaum. "The Rocketeer". Chicago Reader. http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/7850_ROCKETEER. Retrieved on 2009-02-20.
- ^ a b "Past Saturn Awards". Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-30.
- ^ "1992 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. http://www.thehugoawards.org/?page_id=28. Retrieved on 2009-01-30.
- ^ "The Rocketeer (1991)". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305428514. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ Rob Salem (1991-06-16). "Rocketing romance". Toronto Star.
- ^ James B. Stewart (2005). DisneyWar. New York City: Simon & Schuster. pp. 115, 142. ISBN 0-684-80993-1.
- ^ Shawn Adler (2008-01-09). "High-Flying Hero Billy Campbell Wants Return Of Rocketeer". MTV News. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/01/09/high-flying-hero-billy-campbell-wants-return-of-rocketeer/. Retrieved on 2009-02-04.
Further reading
External links
