History Film / FlightOfTheIntruder

The film stars Creator/DannyGlover, Creator/WillemDafoe and Brad Johnson as Grafton.

* 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 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.]]

[[caption-width-right:220:Starring Wilem Dafoe's mustache!]]

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.

* BillingDisplacement: Fourth-billed Creator/RosannaArquette hardly appears.

** 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 [[OldIsGood exceptionally good at its role, even in 1972]].

** 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.

* 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 trying to help control the bleeding while trying to land the plane.

* ChekhovsGunman: The Phantom Shitter

* NewMeat: A new pilot has the bad timing to arrive very soon after the death of a beloved comrade. Everybody is too emotionally drained to come up with a nickname for him, they briefly consider calling him "New Guy", but decide on Razor instead.

* HighSpeedMissileDodge: The pilots find themselves having to dive towards incoming missiles more than once in order to force them to overshoot. One pilot fails to do this, and is killed by the SplashDamage when the missile detonates near his plane.

* FatalFamilyPhoto: [[spoiler: The Boxman]] dies soon after receiving a letter from a girlfriend saying they're having a baby.

* NomDeGuerre: Being a movie about combat pilots, there are quite a few. Cool Hand, Razor, The Boxman, Morgue, Tiger, etc.

* MurphysBullet: After Grafton and Morg use sophisticated electronic countermeasures to throw off radar-guided anti-aircraft guns, [[SnipingTheCockpit Morg is hit]] when a man on the ground blindly fires a single shot into the night sky at the soudn of a jet.

* BackedByThePentagon: How else do you think the producers would have been able to scrounge up an aircraft carrier for the movie?

* StarDerailingRole: This film ended Brad Johnson's career in Hollywood movies and reduced him to roles in straight-to-video features.

* TheOtherMarty: Originally, Ed O'Neill, star of ''MarriedWithChildren'' played the prosecuting attorney in the court martial scene. The moment he appeared at a test screening, people laughed at the sight of [[MarriedWithChildren Al Bundy]] in an army uniform. The scene had to be reshot with Fred Thompson in the role.

* WhatTheHellHero

* BillingDisplacement: Fourth-billed RosannaArquette hardly appears.

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

* ShownTheirWork: Which is appropriate, as Stephen Coonts was an Intruder pilot during the VietnamWar.

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

* 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, they are told not to tell anybody and returned to duty.]]

* SnipingTheCockpit

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[{{Friends}} Ross]] never said he served in the Navy during Vietnam!
** Fred Thompson playing [[TypeCasting pretty much the only character he ever plays]], a gruff, no-nonsense senior military officer.[[note]] You probably saw him in ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' as the [[TheCommodore Rear Admiral on the Enterprise[[/note]].

* GuyInBack: Due to the way their plane is designed, he's actually a Guy On The Right. The Bombadier-Navigators. [[hottip:*:The senseless death of Grafton's first GIB, Morg, is what sets the plot in motion.]]

** Fred Thompson playing [[TypeCasting pretty much the only character he ever plays]], a gruff, no-nonsense senior military officer.[[hottip:*: You probably saw him in ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' as the [[TheCommodore Rear Admiral on the Enterprise]].

* AirstrikeImpossible: [[spoiler:The one-plane Sam City bombing mission.]]

** Fred Thompson playing [[TypeCasting pretty much the only character he ever plays]], a gruff, no-nonsense senior military officer.[[hottip:*: You probably saw him in ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' as the [[TheCommodore Rear Amdmiral on the Enterprise]].

* SoundtrackDissonance: ''Downtown'', being sung by Grafton and Cole as [[spoiler: Sam City is blown to pieces]].

* 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 supress enemy air defenses and clear a safe path for the Air Force bombers.

** Fred Thompson playing [[TypeCasting pretty much the only character he ever plays]], a gruff, no-nonsense senior military officer.[[hottip:*: You probably saw him in HuntForRedOctober as the [[TheCommodore Rear Amdmiral on the Enterprise]].

** There is a scene in a bar featuring a game where someone rides a chair down a rail towards a mud pit. They have to pull the lever dropping a hook just in time to catch the wire to stop them. Pull the lever too soon or too late, and they get launched into the mud pit. A [[TheAce fighter pilot]] tries and fails, then Jake tries it and succeeds.

* TheAce:
-->'''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!''

** They call the anti-aircraft missiles "Sam": '''[[FunWithAcronyms S]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms urface to]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms A]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms ir]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms M]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms issile]]