FILM · 1990
Air America
49 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (49)
- #001
The scene in which Robert Downey Jr. is seen hanging from a rope in the sky above Thailand, including over a Buddhist temple, was performed for real by Downey himself after director Roger Spottiswoode refused to use alternative techniques such as blue screen or rear projection.
- #002
According to Wikipedia, "PepsiCo asked the filmmakers to use a fictional soda instead of showing opium being refined in their abandoned factories. The producers therefore added a line in which a character wonders whether Pepsi knows what is going on."
- #003
The "Making of" documentary on the Special Edition DVD discusses how much of Air America's plot is true and how much is false. Some of the real-life pilots interviewed claim that Air America smuggled weapons and drugs for the CIA, while others deny this, saying the service shipped only food, medicine and supplies. A historian featured in the documentary, however, argues that only certain pilots were involved in illegal activities. The characters of Gene and Billy are a perfect example of this: Gene, who is somewhat wild, cynical and shady, has no problem taking part in illegal smuggling, so he and pilots like him would have been used for real-life illegal smuggling, whereas Billy, who is young, honest and idealistic, would have been used only for direct supply runs and would not have been trusted with such illegal activities.
- #004
Robert Downey Jr. made the film for two reasons: to earn a large salary and because he wanted to work with Mel Gibson, whom he had seen the previous year in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989).
- #005
Robert Downey Jr. disparaged his experience of making this film in Bangkok, Thailand, and vowed never to return to the country for as long as he lived.
- #006
The "golden BB" mentioned by Jack Neely is a slang term referring to a single rifle shot placed well enough to bring down an aircraft or another plane. Such a shot is shown at the opening of the film.
- #007
Some of the stunt pilots refused to perform some of the more difficult and dangerous flight demonstrations.
- #008
This film is dedicated to assistant director Mike Katzin. It was his last film.
- #009
Veteran stunt pilots in their sixties performed some of the more difficult and dangerous flight demonstrations seen in the film.
- #010
The tagline for "Air America" was: "Anything. Anywhere. Anytime."
- #011
The production of this film had to deal with three major disasters involving two kinds of natural disaster: a typhoon and two earthquakes.
- #012
This film was shot in three countries, at forty-nine locations including the United States, England and Thailand.
- #013
The film was pulled from more than a hundred cinemas in Germany when the Gulf War began in January 1991.
- #014
This film was released eleven years after the publication of Christopher Robbins's source book. The book was published ten years after the events it describes. It was one of several published works by the author on the film's subject.
- #015
When the helicopter's engine fails, Gene autorotates the helicopter in the hope of landing safely. This works because when the rotor speed is higher than the engine speed, a disengagement allows the rotor to spin freely; by adjusting the collective angle of the blades and balancing this against the available forward momentum, the air passing through the blades keeps them turning. Depending on the helicopter model and the pilot's skill, it is possible to limit the descent rate to little faster than a parachute. Billy panics at the speed of the falling aircraft. Every helicopter model has a minimum airspeed requirement for autorotation to work, and the Huey they are in has reached that minimum speed. The record for the highest successful autorotation was set in 1972 by French aviator Jean Boulet at an altitude of 40,814 ft with a flameout.
- #016
The production rented twenty-six aircraft from the Thai army for use in the film.
- #017
The long, slender aircraft used by both Air America and General Soong is the Pilatus PC-6 Porter. A Swiss design, the PC-6 is notable for its rugged construction and its ability to take off and land in very short distances. Its minimum takeoff distance is only 640 feet, and it can land in a distance of only 427 feet while carrying a load of 2,646 lbs. The world record for the highest landing by a fixed-wing aircraft belongs to a PC-6 that landed on and took off from a glacier in Nepal at an altitude of 18,865 feet. Gene says the aircraft is illegal in the United States. This would not always be the case, since production licenses for the aircraft would eventually be granted to manufacturers in many countries, including the United States.
- #018
Air America is referenced in the first Lethal Weapon film through the character Michael Hunsaker.
- #019
The film was first developed around 1985 with Richard Rush set to direct. It was planned to be the first comedy about Vietnam, but Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) beat it to the screen. Moreover, the Australian war film about Vietnam, The Odd Angry Shot (1979), was a comedy.
- #020
The character Major Donald Lemond, played by Ken Jenkins, was based on Richard Secord, a high-ranking US Air Force officer who oversaw the CIA's secret war in Laos, including supervising the operations of the real Air America, the Raven Forward Air Controllers and the Royal Lao Air Force. After his service in Southeast Asia, Secord returned to the Air Force and commanded the 603rd Special Operations Squadron. Secord retired from the Air Force as a major general in 1983 and went into business, and, like the character Major Lemond in the film's epilogue, he became involved in the Iran-Contra affair.
- #021
Tom Cruise, Bill Murray, Jim Belushi and Kevin Costner were considered for the role of Billy Covington.
- #022
Sir Sean Connery was initially cast to play the character Gene Ryack.
- #023
The character of General Lu Soong (Burt Kwouk) is said to have been based on Royal Lao General Vang Pao.
- #024
The film ranked third at the US box office and grossed about 31 million dollars domestically.
- #025
Nancy Travis replaced Ally Sheedy in the role of Corinne Landroaux.
- #026
Writer/director Richard Rush nearly turned down the film because of a dispute with Andrew Vajna. The reasons Rush cited were that Vajna reneged on the deal and that he allowed Rush to cast Sean Connery and Kevin Costner. Vajna soon hired a pair of writers to completely rework Rush's script and brought in both Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. as the film's stars.
- #027
The film is set in 1969. It was the second film set that year in which Robert Downey Jr. appeared; the first was 1969 (1988).
- #028
It is the first of two films starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. together; the second is The Singing Detective (2003).
- #029
Despite the film's Laos setting, part of it was shot on the backlot and in the sound stages of Pinewood Studios in England.
- #030
Mel Gibson's salary for the film was reportedly 7 million dollars.
- #031
According to writer/director Richard Rush, after adapting Christopher Robbins's book he made a deal with Carolco Pictures to direct the film himself and to have it shot there. Andrew Vajna then took the film away from Rush and hired his own team to rework the story.
- #032
Composer Jerry Goldsmith was initially assigned to score the film but had to leave because of scheduling conflicts. Seven years before this film, Goldsmith had scored director Spottiswoode's war film Under Fire.
- #033
The film's director focused on the attitude of the music rather than on historical accuracy. The original Dr. John song "Right Place, Wrong Time" premiered in 1974, four years after the film's 1969 setting. The version heard in the film was with Bonnie Raitt and B. B. King and was first released in 1991, 22 years after the shoot.
- #034
The film was shot between October 1989 and February 1990.
- #035
The film is set during the Vietnam War. In Lethal Weapon (1987), Mel Gibson played a police officer who was a Vietnam War veteran. He would later appear in another Vietnam film, We Were Soldiers (2002).
- #036
Tim Thomerson also played an Air America pilot in Volunteers (1985).
- #037
Some scenes were shot at Pinewood Studios in England in order to take advantage of tax breaks in the United Kingdom.
- #038
Air America is the first of two films starring Nancy Travis and Robert Downey Jr. together; the second is Chaplin (1992).
- #039
Roger Spottiswoode replaced Bob Rafelson as director.
- #040
One day, while Mel Gibson was on location, he rode a motorcycle, disappeared, and crossed the border into Myanmar.
- #041
Jason Blum, the future CEO of the major horror company Blumhouse Productions, began working as a P.A. on this film for director Roger Spottiswoode.
- #042
The film is set in 1969. When Billy receives notice that his pilot's license has been revoked, a poster of an astronaut on the moon appears in the background. This poster could not have existed before July 1969, when the first moon landing took place. The film therefore had to be set in the last five months of 1969.
- #043
The film included story elements involving drugs, to which Downey Jr. in real life had an addiction.
- #044
Director Joel Coen reportedly contacted Roger Spottiswoode during post-production to learn about his working relationship with cinematographer Roger Deakins. Spottiswoode is said to have thought little of the cinematographer and to have issued a list of Deakins's worst traits; specifically, "… he liked to operate the camera himself, was not a fan of second units, did not like shooting with multiple cameras or zoom lenses, and preferred to do a scene's shots before the day's shooting began." Joel thanked Spottiswoode for his time and immediately contacted Deakins's representatives, because he was exactly what Joel and Ethan were looking for to shoot their next feature film, Barton Fink (1991).
- #045
Film critic Leonard Maltin stated that this film has no connection whatsoever to the 1998 television series of the same name.
- #046
Among the cast are two Oscar winners: Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr.
- #047
The film's opening title card read: "Laos, Southeast Asia, 1969".
- #048
Principal photography lasted from October 1989 to February 1990.
- #049
A C-123 that had been used in 1970 but was still flyable cost about $150,000 at the time. Adjusted for inflation, that figure comes to roughly $1.3 million in 2025, which amounts to a fair retirement for Gene and his family, especially in parts of Asia such as Malaysia, where the dollar had four times the purchasing power.
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