Movie Classics – The Rocketeer (1991)

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“How do I look?”

“Like a hood ornament.”

When racing pilot Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell) stumbles upon an experimental rocket pack, he takes to the skies as 1930s crime-fighting hero The Rocketeer. But his exploits attract the attention of others who are after the rocket pack – the gangsters who stole it, Nazi agents who want to use it to create an army of rocket-men, and the device’s inventor, Howard Hughes himself (played by Lost’s Terry O’Quinn).

Pulp fiction

The best superhero film you’ve never heard of, The Rocketeer was based on a retro-styled comic book by Dave Stevens. Like the comic book, the film’s a joyous homage to the glory days of the pulp adventure, with square-jawed heroes, damsels in distress and a scheming villain.

The ridiculously-chiseled Billy Campbell is perfectly cast as Cliff Secord, playing an earnest All-American hero who’s going steady with his best gal and subsists on a diet of cherry pie and coffee down the local diner. Like fellow pulp-homage hero Indiana Jones, Secord gets by more on luck than smarts – and he needs all the luck he can get.

Former James Bond Timothy Dalton is clearly having the time of his life chewing up the screen as villainous actor-turned-fifth-columnist Neville Sinclair. Modelled on Errol Flynn, he cuts a rakish dash as he woos Secord’s girlfriend Jenny while plotting the downfall of the free world.

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Film buff, gadget geek and winner of Stuff's coveted "Most likely to be Barry Norman's lovechild," award, Stephen divides his affections equally between iOS and Android.