Race For The Yankee Zephyr

Have very fond memories of this production.The story begins in 1944. World War II is at its apex.A US Army-Air Force transport plane is hopscotching its way across the Pacific. Starting in California with stopovers in Hawaii and Midway, it's on the New Guinea to New Zealand leg of the journey. On board are Christmas presents, various supplies & staples, and the entire payroll for American forces stationed in Australia. Piloted by a pair of heroes personally awarded the DFC by President Roosevelt, this should've been a milk run.The Yankee Zephyr is never heard from again.In the midst of global carnage, two brave aviators are sadly chalked up as missing in action.Forty years pass; the world moved on.Present day. Barney and Gibby run an airborne freight service. They make a meager living moving cargo and people across the rugged island nation where there are few roads and fewer people. It's not a particularly viable operation; often flying by the seat of their pants - duct tape and spit keeping their helicopter in the air.During one of many sketchy operations, Ol' Gibby gets caught up in a harness meant for a deer. And with him thrashing about, the dodgy helo is losing the fight to stay aloft. Barney doesn't have a choice. He dumps his buddy into one of the many anonymous Kiwi lakes. Swimming to shore, the grubby goat discovers the remains of a crashed transport. Cold and tired, he begins exploring the rusting hulk and uncovers a literal ton of boxed cargo. One of which instantly catches an alcoholic's attention - Old Crow Whiskey - an entire crate of it. Lucky day!While sucking down the prime aged hooch, he digs about for more goodies. Knowing that they have some value, he gleefully cheers when he hits a stash of old military medals. Grabbing a handful, the old timer doesn't do any further searching, so he fails to notice that the majority of unsearched cargo bears the seal of The United States Treasury Department.Carrying his liquor and medals, he manages to make his way to an old logging road and hitches a ride back to town. Gibby never mentions his discovery; the alcohol-soaked elder isn't about to share. And once back in civilization, heads straight to an antiques shop to cut a deal for the wartime memorabilia. Now he has spending cash to go along with his booze. Happy days deux.But the dealer isn't a fool. Like most brokers, the proprietor is a historian at heart. He knows that during the war a large cache of US military medals was lost somewhere in the mountains. And he knows something else. Along with the meritorious awards was $15 million in gold bullion. In today's market that amount is worth $620 Million Dollars.More than half-a-billion dollars in gold just sitting there waiting for someone to pick it up.And that someone has been alerted.Suddenly, the bumbling pair, along with Gibby's high-strung daughter, are racing against a devilish collector and his team of mercenaries to retrieve the vast treasure.Overall, a very enjoyable B-movie with solid performances by leads Ken Wahl, Donald Pleasance, and Leslie Ann Warren. Personally notable for having some of the most intense live-action helicopter stunts I've ever seen in a film. Sincerely doubt a movie like this could be made today; too many restrictions - too much fear.Movie Notes:- Found it very amusing to hear the barely concealed theme from "The Great Escape" as Gibby parades the bad guys around in an attempt to dissuade them from the hunt. Personally don't consider this copyright infringement as Donald Pleasance was indeed a veteran of the wartime classic. <g>- Was the very first time I had heard the term "Bully Beef". And it took more than a decade before I found out what it meant.- To this day, and after so many action/thrillers, I've never forgotten the helicopter scenes in this budget flick. Balanced somewhere between amazing and terrifying, you really have to see it to believe it. Sincerely wouldn't be surprised to learn that someone or several someones were injured or killed during filming. Considering this was all done for real, no such thing as CGI back then, all the flying sequences were done by living people, which in my mind, makes this movie completely flipping insane. But oh so very fun!- Not sure if lead bad guy George Peppard did it intentionally or not, but his performance was a hilarious spot-on impersonation of late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.- Interestingly, in the mid-1980s, I purchased this movie on a VHS tape for for 89.99! Yup, there was a time when home entertainment meant you'd have to drop trow for such freedom.