The Rocketeer - Caravan of Garbage

Before Captain America: The First Avengers director Joe Johnston brought us The Rocketeer. Second in our series of pulpy/throwback comic back adaptations (that failed) this adaptation takes us back to the 1930s, an era with rocket powered heros, thin moustachioed villians and swashbuckling action. Intended to kick off a new Indiana Jones styled adventure series it fell short of Disney's expectations and is largely forgotten despite being quite a fun ride. Thanks for watching our Caravan Of Garbage review!

[dsillsevans]

I went to a preview screening of this in NYC and it was one of my favorite nights at the movies ever. The audience was flat out in awe of this film and everyone was sure it was going to be a huge hit. They applauded for a more than a minute after the first flying sequence, that’s how innocent we were. Afterwards, everyone got a huge bag of Rocketeer swag and the entire audience was put in busses and taken to a small carnival with rides that was set up on the West Side River. I was 16 at the time and I’m still chasing that preview screening high.

[nickfield]

The answer to the eternal conundrum 'Why did The Rocketeer flop at the box office?' is that it came out during the second weekend of megahit "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves". So, in short, it's all Kevin Costner's fault

[tim]

The fact that Disney hasn't yet made an animated feature teaming up the Rocketeer and pre-iced Captain America is a damn tragedy.

[ChaosMechanica]

Can't wait for this caravan on Rocketman, the movie where Elton John becomes a superhero rockstar who saves the world with a microphone and jetpack

[JKenjiLopezAlt]

You guys are like if Red Letter Media was run by a couple of well-adjusted adults. I love both channels and glad I found you a while back. Keep it up!

[tylerv]

If the theme is "you know it when you see it retro homage" I think Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow is in the genre

[Dohsoda]

One of the greatest Disney movies ever made. Just old fashioned perfection. My favorite Timothy Dalton performance. When I found out he was James Bond, I was like wait, Neville Sinclair?! A great movie all around.

[craigh]

I'm glad you mentioned Horner's score because man oh man the main theme from this movie is incredible. Sweeping and earnest and heroic, it's a perfect fit for the film in every way.

[ZacV]

I love this movie so much. It’s for sure a comfort movie for me. Same feeling I get when watching the Indiana Jones movies. Nice throwback style movie harkening back to the serial era of filmmaking. They definitely made the right call hiring this guy to direct Captain America: The First Avenger.

[Pedro_The_Neco]

This channel has to be the one with the funniest editing ever!

[JohnStratman]

Sky Captain and the world of Tomorrow deserves to be part of this series. I know it when I see it

[magnumcornetto]

Just a quick note: Dave Stevens' girlfriend was not Bettie Page. The comic character look was inspired on the real-life Bettie Page, and his girlfriend/wife kinda, sorta looked like Bettie Page, so he used her as a model for the art. The real-life Bettie Page would've been close to 30 years Stevens' senior.

[wstine]

The gangster henchman Lothar was actually based on a real Hollywood horror actor named Rondo Hatton. He was in films in the 1930s and 40s such as House of Horrors. His face looked like that due to a birth defect.

[americanpaisareturns]

“It wasn’t lies Jenny. It was acting.”
- Neville Sinclair

[medalion]

This is honestly one of my favorite movies and I think a large part of that is down to James Horner’s wonderful score. And not just the main theme either, but things like that scene at the Blue Lagoon club where Jenny and Neville Sinclair start dancing while the band isn’t playing so we get these really sinister tones intercut with shots of Cliff arriving, before finally the music segues into the actual jazz band starting up.

Another moment I love is that fun little hoedown motif that he briefly adds as Cliff loses control of the jetpack and suddenly flies through the field where the two farmers are harvesting their crops. Fun fact, on the soundtrack the score for these two scenes are actually listed as “Blue” and “Harvest” respectively… which was coincidentally also the working title for the 1977 film Star Wars.

[hussd]

Oh my god this is one of my favorite movies from my childhood. It still holds up even today. The score from James Horner is my favorite from him, Timothy Dalton was so good as the villain, Jennifer Connelly was stunning, the whole movie stands the test of time

[angbald]

To whoever was sick that caused the delay of this video I really hope you are feeling better. Be it Ben, Raw dog, Matt, James, or that tram driver fella (Jason? Mako? Jake-o) I genuinely want nothing but good things for you. ❤

[BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

One of the funniest moments in the history of this channel is in The Amazing Spider-Man where they show the crane operator and James says he goes "I was in the movie Soul Man. Don't look it up! Don't look it up."

[skepticalbadger]

We can thank The Rocketeer for the Simon Skinner character in Hot Fuzz.

[james.b.mcgill]

Just before the trivia, there's footage of an actor in blackface, from the movie Soul Man.

In order to tie that reference back into comic book movies with my own bit of trivia, the actor in blackface is also in The Amazing Spider-Man as the crane operator that helps Peter at the end of the film.