CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

MovieBuffMarine The super vehicle genre was in full swing when Airwolf flew into the air on CBS in early 1984. Inspired by the 1983 movie, "Blue Thunder," Airwolf was a faster helo and more heavily armed made to fight the Cold War while the former was built to fight urban crime. Action movie star Jan-Michael Vincent (Stringfellow Hawke) led a great cast with Ernest Borgnine (Dominic Santini) and Alex Cord (Archangel Briggs). Deborah Pratt did an excellent recurring role as Marella throughout seasons one and two.Season one of Airwolf portrayed well how this super helicopter fought its foreign enemies whether in Libya or Russia (among others). There were attempts by foreign baddies to steal the "Lady" (as she was affectionately known by her crew), plus domestic government types who wanted her back.Season two introduced a new character: Caitlin O'Shanessy wonderfully played by Jean Bruce Scott. However years later, I read an unconfirmed account that Deborah Pratt was originally going to be the female lead in season two making her character Marella a regular role. CBS network interference is said to have prevented Pratt from having her shot at a regular role on the show. Not cool.Anyways, season two continued the Lady's battles. While she still fought foreign enemies whether overseas or in the USA, many stories were evident where the direction of the show was going: less foreign enemy conflicts and more domestic problem stories. Apparently, network executives stepped in thinking they knew what was best for the show. While some of these domestic problem stories were not bad, you had to watch and wonder why a helicopter built for war was dispatched to problems better suited for Blue Thunder.When season three came along, original series creator and producer Donald Bellesario was no longer on board. The quality of the stories were evident that DB was no longer there. All the stories do not have Airwolf fighting any foreign enemies; they all take place on U.S. soil. While there were stories that had to do with National Defense and Security, they did not involve foreign enemies with their air forces.Network interference of how the show "should" go was ultimately what shot down Airwolf. Jan Michael Vincent had problems with drugs, alcohol, showing up late for a shoot, or showing up drunk, high or hungover. That was ammo for CBS to ground Airwolf permanently.(Airwolf was revived for another season on the USA network. The budget was shoestring as was the quality. The original characters were not on-board for that iteration, but even if they were, they would still have the poor writing to contend with.)Fans of Airwolf like to bash season 4 on how terrible it was and rightly so. But what they don't realize is how the final season of the original broadcast was nothing to write home about either. Sure, JMV's problems were the nail in coffin of the original, but even without his problems, the show would still have been canceled because of the poor stories that resulted in poor ratings.Airwolf was one of the few series that was inspired by a movie that was able to get renewed for a second season; most shows inspired by or based on movies never go past the first season (like the the Blue Thunder TV series inspired by its movie!). The writers dazzled both the network and the viewers. At the end of season one, we were ready for more and got our wish.Unfortunately, network involvement in what they thought the show should be and who should/should-not be in it led to its demise. If CBS let Don Bellesario and the writers do their jobs instead of them trying to put their noses where it didn't need to be, then they would have gotten more out of Airwolf in money, ratings and seasons.

drew_atreides ...if i had to pick one show that defined my youth, it would have to be AIRWOLF.It defined the very essence of awesome, from the memorable score to the tremendously cool performance by Jan-Michael Vincent as Stringfellow Hawke. He was the ultimate hero, for me, and Ernest Borgnine's Dominic has always been my definition of what a true friend should be. When my son gets old enough, I plan on showing him the DVDs. He'll probably find it incredibly lame at the time, but dammit I need to share this with him! That's how important it was to my development growing up.

phelpsmarc I just watched the pilot of this series on DVD yesterday. Good action, decent acting and an interesting premise. JM Vincent was a good fit as the brooding, tough Stringfellow Hawke. Also, I think the production value is pretty good. It doesn't seem cheesy, even now over 25 years later. I thought it would appear hokey and cheesy, but was pleasantly surprised. The scenery around Hawke's cabin is very nice. This must have been shot in northern California or Oregon, Maybe Washington state. Also, It's interesting to be reminded that Lybian leader General Quadafi was a thorn in the side of the U.S. even more so in 1984 then he is today. Sure, some of the situations depicted are implausible, but as long as you can suspend disbelief, and go with the flow, you'll enjoy this pilot. Haven't seen the rest of the episodes yet but plan on viewing the entire DVD set for some fun 1980's nostalgia

Ben J Airwolf would have to have been one of my favourite shows from the late 80's. It had everything I was into as a late teen, helicopters, electronics, guns, rockets, all that sorta macho stuff. One of the better sequences was seen in the first series of a full startup of airwolf. It began with the camera zoomed in on an iguana sleeping peacefully on the nose gear wheel of the super-helicopter. Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine), and String-Fellow Hawke walked up to the aircraft, and boarded, this sequence was complete with the sounds of escaping air from the (presumably) constantly pressurized cabin. The Airwolf helmets and uniforms were unique, especially the helmets that (imaginationally) had a heads up display that the wearer could see. This was pronounced by a [ ] on the helmets outside when the visor was dropped and the pilot was locking onto a target. Continuing the scene, Dominic reaches up and presses the "Start 1" button. Following a sequence of beeping from the on-board computers, the aircrafts twin turbines would begin to spool up. The scene was further dramatized by the slowest ever startup of a turbine helicopters rotors, with the whoop whoop of the blades as they began to pick up speed, and different angles of the rotor blades, different views inside the cockpit of the different guages including : Weather Radar, Interstage Turbine Tempurature, Gas Generator RPM, Oil pressure, Exhaust gas temperature, Main Rotor rpm, Whacky(TM) compass thing, Electrical diagnostics panel, radar or gps map, fuel guages and a few others that flashed by so quick I don't recall. Following this, String raised the collective now that the rotors were at 100% rpm governor locked, and you see Airwolf get light on its heels, then lift off. Thanks to the magic of gravity, the end of the scene sees poor Mr Iguana suddenly find himself upside down, and drop to the ground (landing like a cat on all fours!), and Airwolf climbing, turning tail, igniting turbos (two rocket engines either side of the right and left wheel/chain-gun nacelles), and flying off into the distance.Then the opening credits start! Other cool sequences from the series include Dom and String dropping airwolf out of a C130 Hercules (a bell222 b is too wide by several inches to fit inside a C130!), airwolf taking out fighter jets with their OWN rockets (she was demilitarized for some reason), and the best episode of all, was the first, with the big desert chase sequence, with hawke chasing down moffat, after he killed his girl by cooking her in the desert heat.The show had many twists and turns, and lots of action to keep it watchable, and the theme is unmistakable, played by Sylvester Levy, had that 80's "synthesizer" sound, yet was upbeat enough to tap your foot along to when the action sequences, or titles came on.All in all, still my favorite show, its why I have the boxed set and the episodes on my hard drive :)