The Rocketeer (1991) From Back Page to Big Screen

Today we're gonna see how a character created to

fill a couple of pages in the back of a comic book

became a multi-million dollar Disney film.

We're talking about The Rocketeer, today on Garage Movie Reviews.

Hello, I'm Levi the Garage Movie Guy.

If you're new here, I'd appreciate it if you'd subscribe down below.

What I do is talk about all the movies in my collection,

and at the rate that I go, releasing these videos

it'll take me about 20 or 30 years. So let's get right to it.

The 1990s was an interesting time for comic book films.

Prior to 1989, it could be argued that the only successful comic book films

in the modern age had been the Superman films.

But with the release and subsequent success of

Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film,

the world opened up to adaptations of all kinds.

The decade kicked off with the release of Warren

Beatty's lovingly amazing take on Dick Tracy,

the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle film,

as well as the original Captain America movie.

And this trend of hits and misses continued throughout the decade.

Among those adaptations that graced the big screen were:

The Crow,

Tank Girl,

Spawn,

The Mask

and Judge Dredd.

One of those movies that hit right in my sweet spot was The Rocketeer.

I was kind of conditioned to like movies that were set in the 1930s

because of the Indiana Jones films and seeing Dick Tracy just the year before.

And this movie had it all. It had a high-flying hero,

it had his beautiful girl,

and it was imbued with the spirit of the aviation era,

and it also shares the spirit of pulp heroes

like the Shadow and Doc Savage.

And the character has a lot more in common with Indiana Jones

and not just their taste in leather jackets and iconic head wear.

Both characters were inspired by the Saturday

afternoon serials of the early 20th century.

These were episodic adventures that were shown in the theater and every week,

they would have a new adventure that usually ended on a cliffhanger.

The Rocketeer stars Billy Campbell as Cliff Secord,

a barnstorming stunt pilot who's interested in flying and his girl Jenny.

When Cliff and his friend Peavy discover a rocket pack of dubious origin,

they find themselves surrounded by G-men, gangsters, and Nazis.

Secord has to learn to pilot the rocket pack and become

the Rocketeer in order to save his girl and possibly the world.

In 1982 artist Dave Stevens joined Pacific Comics and was asked to create a story

for the back pages of their new series, Starslayer.

Stevens was born in Southern California and had an

affinity for Los Angeles and the aesthetics of the 1930s.

He also enjoyed filling in the detailed lines of cars and airplanes.

He developed a character called The Rocketeer,

which was based on serials from the 1940s and 50s.

Specifically he had based the character on Commando Cody, who appeared in

1950s Republic serials like, Radar Men from the Moon, and

Commando Cody, Sky Marshall of the Universe.

Out of necessity, Stevens used his own image for the

pilot who would become the Rocketeer, Cliff Secord.

His stalwart friend Peavy was based on someone

that Stebens had worked with at Hanna-Barbera,

Doug Wildey, who is probably best known for his creation of Johnny Quest in 1964.

Cliff's girlfriend Betty was based on her namesake Bettie Page.

Stevens had a fascination for Page and liked to draw what is known as

"good girl" pin-up art.

This art style includes depictions of women,

usually in skimpy clothes, on the covers of

pulp magazines and comics.

Because he enjoyed drawing this art style,

he made Betty's occupation a model.

In the 1970s, Stevens had worked as a storyboard

artist on television commercials and at Hanna-Barbera,

both on Super Friends and the Godzilla Power Hour.

In 1979, he was one of the first artists hired by

Steven Spielberg to work on Raiders of the Lost Ark.

And after seeing his portfolio,

Michael Jackson chose him to do the storyboards

for his theatrical music video, Thriller.

Stevens might never have revisited his character

of The Rocketeer after that initial run,

but Pacific comics immediately began receiving

fan mail directed toward The Rocketeer.

With his character gaining popularity and a lifelong love of movies,

it's no wonder that Stevens soon wanted The Rocketeer to make the jump to film.

In 1983, he optioned the film to Steve Miner,

who had just finished directing the first two Friday the 13th sequels.

Unfortunately, Miner's vision did not align with Steven's.

Miner wanted to make the character more contemporary,

but Stevens felt that the period setting was an important part of the story.

In 1985, Stevens saw a low-budget film called Zone Troopers

and gave the creators, Danny Bilson and

Paul De Meo, a free option on The Rocketeer.

This writing duo made a habit of bringing comic book characters to the screen.

Later in 1990, a year before The Rocketeer would be released in theatres,

the duo created the live-action TV series, The Flash.

'It's not guns that kill people...

...it's these little HARD things!'

Fortunately for Stevens, these men shared an affection

for the serial origins of The Rocketeer and

had a love for the 1930s setting of the story.

In the beginning, the trio set out to make a low-budget black-and-white film that was

sort of an homage to the Commando Cody serials that inspired the character.

A little later, writer and director William Dear

became interested in the project and because

he shared the same vision as the other men,

he joined the team.

Currently, Dear had been working on his own project,

Harry and the Hendersons,

which is one of my childhood favorites as well.

Dear contributed a lot to the script,

suggesting that the setting should be adjusted

to 1930s Hollywood and taking the finale

from a submarine to a Zeppelin.

Now that the group had Dear on their side as a director and co-writer,

they decided to shop out a higher quality product.

In fact, when they went to studios, they found that anything

they brought them that was budgeted for less than five million,

they just didn't look at.

And in general they had trouble selling this

idea of a comic book film because remember,

this is the mid 1980s.

This was before Batman. This was before Dick Tracy.

So really comic book properties hadn't proved to be a success.

And it Stevens' own words:

"We got there about three years too early for our own good."

The last studio they spoke to was Disney

and Disney immediately saw dollar signs in the form of merchandising.

The men signed a three movie deal with Touchstone Pictures,

which is a division of Disney that deals with more adult material.

As soon as Disney had the property, Disney

chairman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, moved the project

from Touchstone Pictures to Walt Disney Studios.

He felt that Walt Disney Studios needed a live-action family-friendly product.

According to Stevens,

this is the moment where the more adult portions

of The Rocketeer story were stripped away.

Cliff's girlfriend went from being a nude model to an aspiring Hollywood actress

and her likeness was shifted from that of Bettie Page.

The Disney executives also felt that the

story would fare better in a modern setting,

but the writers pointed to the success of Indiana Jones

to say that people would watch an action movie that was set in the 1930s.

This marked the beginning of a lengthy and arduous scripting process.

Through five years of rewrites, Bilson and De Meo were fired and hired

three separate times.

Often pieces of dialogue and entire scenes would be removed from the script

only to be added months or even years later.

During this time William Dear left the project.

He retains a writing credit on the film.

Fortunately for the project, Joe Johnston

stepped in to fill Dear's shoes as director.

Johnson had a pedigree in visual effects and art direction.

For ten years he had worked at Industrial Light & Magic,

having some hand in either the art or visual effects in all three Star Wars films

and the first two Indiana Jones movies.

In fact, he was even a part of the team that won the Oscar

for Best Visual Effects on Raiders of the Lost Ark,

and he had just finished directing his first film,

another Disney movie that was a BIG part of my childhood,

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

A fan of the comic, Johnston became an advocate for Stevens

and allowed him to become a part of the entire production process.

Another major change that Disney wanted to make

specifically, then President Michael Eisner,

was to create a more streamlined look for the Rocketeer,

smoothing out the tail fin on his helmet.

'He's got to be kidding."

Johnston flat-out refused and said if this was done

the project would no longer be The Rocketeer and he'd be gone.

Disney worked on numerous prototype designs all of which Johnston rejected.

Eventually Disney relented,

but they were a week from shooting and they didn't have a viable helmet to shoot with.

Dave Stevens went to work, recruiting his friend,

Kent Milton, who had earlier created a bronze sculpture of The Rocketeer

He also got a cast of the stunt man's head and, just before filming,

he presented Johnston with a viable prototype

that could be filmed from every angle.

Stevens also contributed greatly to the set design of the film.

He had detailed notes of period buildings and vehicles,

blueprints, schematics. He handed all this

over to Jim Bissell, the production designer.

He even had information on whom to contact

to secure the vintage aircraft for production.

The clash between filmmakers and studio continued through the casting process.

Disney wanted a big name in the role of Cliff Secord.

Some of the names thrown about were Kevin Costner

Matthew Modine

Kurt Russell and Emilio Estevez

Bill Paxton claimed that he was very close to getting the part

and Vincent D'Onofrio has said that he is glad he turned down the part.

Disney's ultimate choice was Johnny Depp.

But then came Billy Campbell, a television actor who had

previously had recurring roles on Dynasty and Crime Story.

Disney was still unsure of having a lesser-known actor in the title role

but the filmmakers fought for Campbell and eventually won out.

Cliff's girlfriend, now named Jenny in the

script, was played by a young Jennifer Connelly.

She was only 19 when she got the part.

Alan Arkin took on the part of Peavy,

bringing a much-needed lightness and sarcasm to the character.

'We ain't got a house, Clifford, we got a gazebo.'