Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Cortechba Overrated

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

gerdeen-1 I've seen "Birds of Prey" only once, decades ago, but I remember it as great fun. It's also a piece of cultural history. It first aired on TV in January 1973, as the U.S. war in Vietnam was officially rushing to an end, and it's a cops-and-robbers adventure about helicopters, the chariots of choice of that conflict.The setting is a big city in the American West. The villains are robbers -- Vietnam vets, perhaps? -- who make their getaway by chopper. The squabbling heroes are two middle-aged men who served together in World War II. One of them (played by Ralph Meeker) is now a successful bureaucrat, serving as the city's police chief. The other (played by David Janssen) is somewhere between a free spirit and a ne'er-do-well, a man who flies a traffic helicopter to earn a living but has never left behind the memories of the air war of his youth. When the robbers take to the skies, the battle of the generations is on.They didn't call such men such as Meeker's and Janssen's characters "the greatest generation" in 1973. They called them "the establishment." This movie is nostalgia for the simplicities of World War II before such nostalgia was fashionable.If the DVD version does indeed feature modern rock instead of the original movie's 1940s sound track, it's a shame. But maybe it's inevitable. Now that the World War II veterans have grown old and the Vietnam veterans have taken their place in the middle-aged zone, few viewers would recognize the great big band standards. Alas, time flies. Like a bird.

nexusstudio I'll add to the many comments here on this movie. It came at the tail-end of the "t.v. movie" phenomenon of the late 60's and early 70's which along with several other films from this period, elevated television from the droll tired formulas of the past to exciting "theatrical quality" (at least by early 70's standards!) films which featured intelligent scripting and veteran actors who were mostly underrated even when they weren't 'veteran'. David Janssen never escaped his "fugitive" typecasting but "Birds of Prey" was the finest film he made. To my buddy and I from those days this was the most incredible and exciting film on a small screen with the sudden interest in Heli's or "choppers" as they came to be called was directly the result of films like this one. Everybody was watching all those 'bitchin' assault helicopters from the Vietnam war era on the 6 o'clock news and this movie came at the end of the Vietnam conflict and is a period piece for that with a 'bad guy' who is an ex-Vietnam chopper pilot assisting in a robbery with a spectacular escape (for those days).As someone mentioned the score was 'replaced' from the swing-era big band stuff Harry listens to which is like the music running through his mind as he pursues these guys r e l e n t l e s s l y. It is integral to the story and somebody should have tried to get the music cleared for re-use in this classic movie. This happens all to often nowadays with these types of films from this era.The remake of this film is crap---it does not capture the flavor of the original. If this story intrigues you, check out this one which had incredible chopper stunts for those days and even today in some scenes.My buddy and I would watch this movie anytime they showed it--day or night. Then it sadly disappeared from syndication about 15 years ago.To all the 'youngins' out there it might seem like a bit of a yawn in light of all those Hollywood spectaculars but this movie is widely studied by budding film students for it's pacing and stunt work. It makes an old doddering grey-beard like myself forget his physical infirmities and remember the excitement of the post-nam era.This movie is a nostalgia trip for me but my wife is non-plussed. It's not a "chick-flick" then or now! Phil

Patrick E. Abe I'm not 100% sure if I saw this TV movie when it first appeared on ABC because this was before my family had a VCR. However, I must have, since I recall "Three Little Fishies" and "I'll Get By" playing during the course of the movie. Some years later, I saw it listed on TBS and fired up the non-HiFi Betamax to capture this "aerial cops-and-robbers" movie. (Alas, none of the surviving Betamaxes can play the tape, so it's all a matter of unreliable memory. No, I didn't get a VHS unit until the VCR wars were over.) At first glance, it looked like a routine movie about a helicopter pilot going about an ordinary day, with a traffic jam and sunbathing beauties to liven up his day. The opening sequence referring to his days as a Flying Tiger and the testy relationship with his ex-buddy-turned police captain should have been a tipoff that things were going to get interesting. Then there was the break in at the military weapons depot by fur-faced, sunglass wearing perpetrators who were OK within killing anyone who stood in their way. Unlike the technowizardry found in "Blue Thunder," Harry walker has only the tools at hand to face down a set of not-ready-for-peacetime military veterans. As the only game in town once an ordinary bank heist turned into an aerial pursuit, this movie shows why Tom Brokaw would call such folk "The Greatest Generation." Considering what kinds of special efx were available at that time, this movie shows what a difference between the real thing vs. the green screen DFX-safe world of today. (As with screenplays, Real trumps Imagination or even "Reimagining".) A chance search on Amazon.com for a butchered VHS version yielded an "On Order" notation. Release of "Birds of Prey" is set for July 12, 2005, and I'll be there to fly the spacious skies of Utah once again, even if "Three Little Fishies" or "I'll Get By" aren't in the soundtrack.

brinner This was one of my favorite movies as a kid. I just loved the flying-scene and the cool hardened look of Jansen. I think it´s too little helicopters in movies now a days. Helicopters are probably the coolest and most impressive vehicle ever invented. Maybe, the morrow-accident recalls too much bad memories to the directors? Nevermind this is a good film (especially because it´s TV-film from the 70´s) recommended especially for teenagers and war-veterans..