Air America (1990) on Netflix
After his pilot's license is suspended, Billy Covington takes a flying job in Laos with Air America, a front for CIA operations. Gene Ryack takes him under his wing.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb5.8/1032,768 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes13%
Trailer
Plot summary
Billy Covington is a helicopter pilot whose license is suspended for breaking safety regulations. A government agent notices his skill and his disregard for the law, and offers him work in Laos with Air America, described as a strictly civilian company. The airline is a front for CIA operations. In Laos, Billy meets its unorthodox pilots and aircraft and flies alongside Gene Ryack, who uses official trips to buy black market weapons for a cache of his own. Senator Davenport comes to look into reports that the airline moves drugs for Laotian forces.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Air America (1990)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sean Connery was attached to play the older pilot, Gene Ryack, and the younger flier Billy Covington was at different times to be played by Bill Murray, James Belushi and Kevin Costner. The project was sold to producer Daniel Melnick after Connery and Costner became too expensive.
- The production was plagued by two earthquakes and a typhoon. The producers rented 26 aircraft from the Thai military, and when some of the stunt flyers refused to perform certain stunts, 60-year-old veterans were drafted for the more demanding turns.
- PepsiCo wanted the filmmakers to use a fictional soda rather than show opium being refined at their abandoned factory, so the producers added a line about wondering if Pepsi knew what was going on.
- Mel Gibson was cast for a reported $7 million in the role of Ryack, Robert Downey Jr. took on the role of Covington, and Nancy Travis was cast as Corinne Landroaux, replacing Ally Sheedy.
- After the Persian Gulf War began on January 15, 1991, the film was withdrawn from distribution in over 100 cinemas throughout Germany.
