Friday, July 29, 2011

The Rocketeer: 20th Anniversary

The Rocketeer turns 20 this year. The film is a 1991 period superhero adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is based on the character of the same name created by comic book writer/artist Dave Stevens. 

Vintage- Faux Rocketeer movie trailer created by ManticoreEscapee/Uncanny Antman 2008 
The film clips are from the 1991 movie


 Directed by Joe Johnston, the film stars Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino and Tiny Ron Taylor. Set in 1938 Los Angeles, California. 



The Rocketeer tells the story of stunt pilot Cliff Secord who discovers a jet pack that enables him to fly. His heroic deeds attract the attention of Howard Hughes and the FBI, as well as sadistic Nazi operatives.
 
 
The Rocketeer [comic book] makes a great number of references to pop culture from the 1930s to the 1950s. 
 
 
The first storyline, "The Rocketeer" features characters from the Doc Savage pulp series, though Stevens takes care not to refer to any of the characters — including Doc Savage himself — by name, so as not to violate copyright and have to pay a licensing fee for use of the characters. 
 
 
"Cliff's New York Adventure" similarly features unnamed characters from The Shadow pulp series, including the Shadow's famous alter-ego, Lamont Cranston.
 
 
Besides pulp characters, actors of the 40s and 50s have also visually inspired two characters: Lothar, the villain in "Cliff's New York Adventure", is based on the likeness of acromegalic horror movie star Rondo Hatton; and Cliff Secord's girl-friend Betty is modeled after "Queen of Pinups" Bettie Page.

A similar "Rocket Man" character with a near-identical rocket backpack and costume appeared in four Republic Pictures movie serials from 1949 through 1953. The fourth serial, originally conceived of as a Republic TV series, was first released for contractual reasons as a theatrical serial. Two years later, it was finally syndicated on TV as twelve 25-minute episodes. The serials were: King of the Rocket Men (1949), Radar Men from the Moon (1952), Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952), and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe [serial 1953, TV series 1955].




About Digital Banana Studios:
Digital Banana Freelancing is a Freelancers studio set in 2005 by John & Elton Banana.
Due to its increasing success the studio turned into Digital Banana Studio, a Paris based company offering its clients a more solid structure to handle bigger projects.

 
About John Banana:
John Banana : owner. After 10 years in the digital industry, John Banana starts Digital Banana Studio, the first studio in the world with a taste of banana. In 2006 John Banana co-created the raving rabbids characters and directed the very popular crazy campaign that lead to the success of the franchise.

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