The Final Countdown... Making the F14 Tomcat a star long before Tom Cruise

[sirhrmechanic]

Ok... first... going to say I love this movie. It's sort of a cult classic. Campy... over-acted. Time Travel. Whatever. I still love this movie!

It had military history, fake Zero's (AT-6 Texans) and Tomcats, mixing it up in a chance to revise Pearl Harbor. Even some star actors. And a collie.

“Splash the Zeros!” F-14 pilot who flew in The Final Countdown shares his personal notes on the movie that introduced the Tomcat to Hollywood - The Aviation Geek Club

“Splash the Zeros!” F-14 pilot who flew in The Final Countdown shares his personal notes on the movie that introduced the Tomcat to Hollywood

theaviationgeekclub.com

Friend just sent me this really cool story from one of the Tomcat pilots who kept notes on the filming and how they did the aviation scenes. No CGI... not even any video cameras for instant looks.

Totally cool article on a movie that, if it's on TV... always gets the nod. Just for the sheer "Hoo Rah" of the air combat scenes.

Ok... I'll go back to my geek sci-fi movies now... Carry on.

Sirhr

 

[Chaotic Good]

I really like that movie. Everything you say about it, I agree with. Don't care. Cool fun movie.

There are some stories around making the Final Countdown here:

 

[sirhrmechanic]

If this isn't fun to watch... I don't know what is!



Sirhr

PS. The 'menacing' Tomcat coming out of the cloud that is mentioned in the flight notes... is such a great moment. It's reminiscent of Jaws coming up from the deep for the first time... Totally cool shot and no way were they getting that with a helicopter. That they used a WW2 B25 to get the shots... awesome!

 

[RUTGERS95]

great movie, one of my favorites

 

[JoshPutman]

I agree, great flick! I just watched the first half of it a few weeks ago, before I had to go to work. I need to finish it.

Thanks for the reminder!

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

I still love that movie. Came out when I was 17.

 

[FWoo45]

If this isn't fun to watch... I don't know what is!



Sirhr

PS. The 'menacing' Tomcat coming out of the cloud that is mentioned in the flight notes... is such a great moment. It's reminiscent of Jaws coming up from the deep for the first time... Totally cool shot and no way were they getting that with a helicopter. That they used a WW2 B25 to get the shots... awesome!

Never heard of this flick before, thanks for the recommendation. When the second zero got smoked it made me chuckle.

 

[MrSmith]

Still have it on VHS.

Thank you,
MrSmith

 

[Docsherm]

Well shit..... I thought this was going to be about the Europe song......


LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

[Cardboard55]

Had to go find it on YouTube and watch it again. Katherine Ross was such a good looking woman. The F14's of course stole the show.

 

[WaltHer]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Loved that show.

 

[ssc45]

It is in my top 5 favorite movies. I just watched it again last week.

Cheers, Steve

 

[LawnMM]

That's the one where Chappie dies right?

 

[Navy Gunner]

Great movie. I was 15 when that came out. Fast forward to ’87-‘88.
Standing on the port bridge wing in the Indian Ocean when two Tomcats did a supersonic, low level flyby down the port side of our FFG. It was freaking amazing!

 

[sirhrmechanic]

That's the one where Chappie dies right?

Spoiler alert!!!!!

Ah hahhahaha!

Yes.

 

[memyselfi]

https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-final-countdown

list of streaming services

 

[308pirate]

@sirhrmechanic I know every loves the Zero vs Tomcats stuff but this is my favorite scene. Because it's mostly real, except for the Marines running fwd in the fo'csle (there is nowhere to go past the anchors LOL), and because it was part of my routine during the nearly 2 years I served on USS Nimitz.

At 00:25 you can see one of the wardrooms (can't tell which one of the two it is) with a bunch of officers running out to their stations, and a little later the line of dudes grabbing OBAs out of a locker to report to their GQ station (most likely a repair locker). Legit AF.

 

[BCP]

Ok... first... going to say I love this movie. It's sort of a cult classic. Campy... over-acted. Time Travel. Whatever. I still love this movie!

It had military history, fake Zero's (AT-6 Texans) and Tomcats, mixing it up in a chance to revise Pearl Harbor. Even some star actors. And a collie.

“Splash the Zeros!” F-14 pilot who flew in The Final Countdown shares his personal notes on the movie that introduced the Tomcat to Hollywood - The Aviation Geek Club

“Splash the Zeros!” F-14 pilot who flew in The Final Countdown shares his personal notes on the movie that introduced the Tomcat to Hollywood

theaviationgeekclub.com

Friend just sent me this really cool story from one of the Tomcat pilots who kept notes on the filming and how they did the aviation scenes. No CGI... not even any video cameras for instant looks.

Totally cool article on a movie that, if it's on TV... always gets the nod. Just for the sheer "Hoo Rah" of the air combat scenes.

Ok... I'll go back to my geek sci-fi movies now... Carry on.

Sirhr

It's the ultimate War Nerd movie, "what if a modern carrier was back in time during a pivotal moment in history" sort of thing.

A friend of my dads was former navy on the USS Nimitz and he would watch that movie every night.

 

[fdkay]

donning OBA's without a FFE?
The helmsman is a slick sleeve, so, typically, no facial hair.
You were allowed to have beards, but you had to be a petty officer (at least in my unit).
I did like the movie though.
A also liked the scene in Star Trek Voyage Home where they are chasing Checkov through the Enterprise.

 

[308pirate]

donning OBA's without a FFE?

The movie was filmed in the late 70s. Fire fighting ensembles were about 20 years later. Even when I hit the fleet in 1990, FFEs were few onboard mostly reserved for the engineering repair locker. Everyone else buttoned up their working khakis or dungarees, tucked the pant legs, and donned flash gloves and hood to man the hose.

 

[fdkay]

The movie was filmed in the late 70s. Fire fighting ensembles were about 20 years later. Even when I hit the fleet in 1990, FFEs were few onboard mostly reserved for the engineering repair locker. Everyone else buttoned up their working khakis or dungarees, tucked the pant legs, and donned flash gloves and hood to man the hose.

I wasn't privy to firefightinig on a ship back then, my job neccesitated running like hell if a fire broke out.
Once I eventually hit the fleet, during GQ, we all did the flash hoods, tucking the pants etc..., but all of those on the firefighting team had FFE's.
Of course, you can assume those in the engineering spaces that weren't on the hose teams, likely donned OBA's as well, since they still had to man the spaces. I hadn't considered that during my initial response. And yes, I'm old eneough that many Petty Officers were sporting beards.
I could never get an OBA to last longer than 15 minutes. I've got pretty significant lung capacity.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Great movie, made me want be a pilot. Couldn't qualify for flight status, 20/20 uncorrected back then. Still enlisted for 20.

 

[pmclaine]

The F14 that almost crashes for real......pilot got a little too into his acting.

Member over at Culver's Shooting Page claimed he was in the RIO seat.

I had no reason to doubt him. Had pics/stories of training Iranians to fly F4s early in his career.

Funny guy. He died 7-8 years ago. His online name was Goo which I assume was his given aviator name.