History Film / FlightOfTheIntruder

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Grafton and Tiger Cole fly into restricted airspace and bomb a missile stockpile in downtown Hanoi, against standing orders. After a brief court martial, the judging officers learn that President UsefulNotes/RichardNixon has just authorized Operation Linebacker II, the unlimited aerial bombing of all enemy targets in North Vietnam, they are told not to tell anybody and returned to duty to avoid the embarrassment of punishing a bomber crew doing precisely that.]]

* EveryHelicopterIsAHuey: Averted. The one time a helicopter is featured in the film, it is an HH-3 "Jolly Green Giant" rescue chopper, easily recognized for being designed with a boat-hull for a lower body, being designed for amphibious operations.

->[[ArmorPiercingQuestion ''Sir, my bombardier and 58,000 other Americans are dead. And can anyone tell me why?]]''

* CoolPlane: Half of the point of the movie is that the Grumman A-6 Intruder could be considered an [[AvertedTrope aversion]]. Limited to subsonic speeds, carrying no guns or air-to-air weapons, and resembling nothing so much as a giant tadpole with wings, the Intruder is as uncool as it gets, but is remarkably good at what it does, which is low-level attack, often at night.
** That said, part of the film does feature a variant of the Intruder designed to go after anti-aircraft radar sites, [[BatmanGambit intentionally exposing itself to enemy fire in order to get the bad guy to reveal himself.]]

-->'''[[spoiler: Grafton]]''': Well, this is the end of Devil Five- O - Five. Say goodbye, asshole!
-->'''[[spoiler: Cole]]''': [[ExactWords Goodbye Asshole!]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Grafton]]''': EjectEjectEject

-->'''Grafton''' ''(facetiously): Hey, are you really a fighter pilot?''
-->'''Fighter Jock''''': Never ask someone if he's a fighter pilot. If he is, he'll tell ya. If he's not, you'll just embarrass him!''

* UsefulNotes/PlaneSpotting: Where to start? Obviously, there is the A-6 Intruder and its A-6B "Iron Hand" SAM-hunting variant. We also see A-1 Skyraiders, an HH-3 Super Jolly Green Giant helicopter, and a variety of other planes.

* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler: Tiger Cole]] is wounded and surrounded by NVA, who are using him as bait. After telling the A-1 Skyraiders to bomb his position, he adds, "Alpha Mike Foxtrot," NATO phonetic for "Adios, motherfuckers."

** That said, part of the film does feature a variant of the Intruder designed to go after anti-aircraft radar sites, [[CrazyAwesome intentionally exposing itself to enemy fire in order to get the bad guy to reveal himself.]]

* ComingInHot: In the beginning of the film. There isn't anything particularly wrong with their plane, but Grafton's Bombadier-Navigator has been mortally wounded, and Jake is frantically trying to help control the bleeding with one hand while trying to land the plane with the other. [[RealityEnsues They almost crash upon landing and Morg dies from blood loss]].

* BarBrawl: One that involves a crocodile.

* MemeticBadass: Commander "Dooke" Camparelli, in-universe. ScaryBlackMan, ''Third Generation Mafia'', '''he was built with the ship''', '''''he is a weapons system''''', and '''''THERE WAS A COST OVERRUN!!!'''''

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Grafton and Tiger Cole fly into restricted airspace and bomb a missile stockpile in downtown Hanoi, against standing orders. After a brief court martial, the judging officers learn that President UsefulNotes/RichardNixon has just authorized Operation Linebacker II, the unlimited aerial bombing of all enemy targets in North Vietnam, they are told not to tell anybody and returned to duty to avoid the embarrassment of punishing pilots doing precisely that.]]

* UsefulNotes/WildWeasel: In the latter half of the movie, much of the focus shifts to dealing with the NVA's AntiAir systems, with tactics ranging from the use of sophisticated homing weapons like the Shrike anti-radiation missile, to daylight bombing raids against [[MoreDakka anti-aircraft guns]]. The climactic battle demonstrates the danger of this mission as two of the Intruders are shot down as they work to carve out a clear path for the Air Force's heavy bombers.

A [[TheNineties 1991]] [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie]] based on a novel of the [[Literature/FlightOfTheIntruder same name]] by *Creator/StephenCoonts , taking place during the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar. It follows the exploits of Lieutenant Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton following the death of his Bombadier-Navigator during a pointless air strike.

A [[TheNineties 1991]] [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie]] based on a novel of the [[Literature/FlightOfTheIntruder same name]] by Stephen Coonts, taking place during the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar. It follows the exploits of Lieutenant Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton following the death of his Bombadier-Navigator during a pointless air strike.

* MemeticBadass: Commander "Dookie" Camparelli, in-universe. ScaryBlackMan, ''Third Generation Mafia'', '''he was built with the ship''', '''''he is a weapons system''''', and '''''THERE WAS A COST OVERRUN!!!'''''

* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The ending is tightened up a bit [[spoiler:by the removal of the Air Force Major, and thus his entire mini-arc, from the end of the book. His HeroicSacrifice instead goes to Tiger Cole, calling in an airstrike on himself because the NVA are using him as bait. A lot more of the supporting characters are otherwise directly involved, however, with Grafton saving Dookie Camparelli rather than Tiger Cole.]]

%% * WhatTheHellHero

* RevisedEnding: [[spoiler: The ending is tightened up a bit by the removal of the Air Force Major, and thus his entire mini-arc, from the end of the book. His HeroicSacrifice instead goes to Tiger Cole, calling in an airstrike on himself because the NVA are using him as bait. A lot more of the supporting characters are otherwise directly involved, however, with Grafton saving Dookie Camparelli rather than Tiger Cole.]]

** The Douglas A-1 ''Skyraider'', call sign "Sandy", is a cool plane just because it's a prop-driven attack plane in a war that's two decades into the jet age. It was also [[GoodIsOldFashioned exceptionally good at its role, even in 1972]].

* ShoutOut: The film scheduled for movie night is ''Film/TheyShootHorsesDontThey'', starring JaneFonda.[[note]]It gets cancelled due to a lack of nudity, as Naval aviators flying dangerous combat missions in Vietnam [[TakeThat see no other reason why "Hanoi Jane" would be worth watching]].[[/note]]

* WildWeasel: One mission flown in the movie has them in a variant of the Intruder designed for "Iron Hand" missions ("Wild Weasel" being ''Air Force'' terminology), hunting down enemy AntiAir radar sites. A key weapon in this mission is the [=AGM-45=] Shrike antiradiation missile, which can follow the enemy's radar signal to the target. The climactic battle at the end of the film has the Intruders flying a daylight mission to suppress enemy air defenses and clear a safe path for the Air Force bombers.

* IronicNickname: Razor, decided upon as a better nickname than [[NewMeat New Guy]], for a pilot who doesn't look old enough to start shaving yet. When he turns out to be ''very'' bloodthirsty when it comes to defending downed fellow pilots, Camparelli decides that his new callsign is "[[NamesToRunAwayFrom/Weapons Straight Razor]]".

* WildWeasel: One mission flown in the movie has them in a variant of the Intruder designed for "Iron Hand" missions, hunting down enemy AntiAir radar sites. A key weapon in this mission is the Shrike, which can follow the enemy's radar signal to the target. The climactic battle at the end of the film has the Intruders flying a daylight mission to suppress enemy air defenses and clear a safe path for the Air Force bombers.

* ShoutOut: The film scheduled for movie night is ''Film/TheyShootHorsesDontThey'', starring JaneFonda.[[note]]It gets cancelled due to a lack of nudity.[[/note]]

!!Contains examples of the following:

* PlaneSpotting: Where to start? Obviously, there is the A-6 Intruder and its A-6B "Iron Hand" SAM-hunting variant. We also see A-1 Skyraiders, an HH-3 Super Jolly Green Giant helicopter, and a variety of other planes.

* FamousLastWords: Cole is wounded and surrounded by NVA, who are using him as bait. After telling the A-1 Skyraiders to bomb his position, he adds, "Alpha Mike Foxtrot," NATO phonetic for "Adios, motherfuckers."

* IronicNickname: Razor, decided upon as a better nickname than [[NewMeat New Guy]], for a pilot who doesn't look old enough to start shaving yet. When he turns out to be ''very'' bloodthirsty when it comes to defending downed fellow pilots, Camparelli decides that his new callsign is "Straight Razor".