This movie is based on a novel written by Susan Butler and Mary S. Lovell. Amelia Earhart is a Kansas girl and she discovers the thrill of aviation at age 23. Within 12 years she has progressed to winning the Distinguished Flying Cross. This award is for being the first woman to pilot a plane solo across the Atlantic Ocean. At age 39, she sets out on an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. This adventure catapults her into aviation myth.
The movie shows Amelia Earhart finishing third in the first Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women's Air Derby in 1929 but doesn't explain why. Earhart and her friend Ruth Nichols were tied for first at the last stop before the final leg. Nichols took off right before Earhart but her plane clipped a tractor on the runway and flipped over. Instead of taking off, Earhart ran to Nichols's plane to drag her to safety. After Earhart was sure that Nichols was not seriously hurt, she took off for Cleveland and finished third. Women in the Wind (1939) is based on the same air race and it features a plot loosely inspired by this incident.
This biopic about iconic female pilot Amelia Earhart (played by Oscar winner Hilary Swank) has a strong female role model for preteen girls and older. The film addresses Earhart's tumultuous personal life (including issues related to fidelity and fame) it also offers empowering messages throughout the film. Earhart is portrayed as a true champion of a woman's right to take flight and “be free.” Expect some kissing and underwear-clad cuddling, an affair, a fair bit of smoking (accurate for era), some social drinking and a little salty language.
111 min Adventure directed by Mira Nair and written by Ronald Bass and Anna Hamilton with Hilary Seank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston, Joe Anderson, Cherry Jones, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Abrams, Dylan Roberts, Scott Yaphe, Tomm Fairfoot, Ryann Shane, William Cuddy, Sarah Kitz.
Note: Imdb 5.*8 out of 10* with 12,165 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 20% with 166 critic reviews 31% with 50,000 audience scores, Metacritic 37 out of 100 with 34 critic reviews 5.4 out of 10 with 36 user scores, Roger Ebert 3*, Common Sense Media S. Jhoanna Robledo 3* out of 5*, age 11+, 1* violence, 2* sex & language, 3* role models, positive messages and drinking, drugs & smoking. 4* (I really liked this movie)
Special Note: The 1927 Packard 7 Passenger used in the movie was actually Charles Lindbergh's car. It was given to him by the mayor of New York, Jimmie Walker, after his direct non-stop flight from New York to Paris. The chauffeur in the movie is the owner of the car from RM Classic Cars of Blenheim. Gene Vidal (played by Ewan McGregor) was widely assumed to have had a romantic relationship with Amelia as depicted in this movie. They had one child, Gore Vidal (played by William Cuddy). Gore eventually grew up to become quite a celebrity himself as a controversial but successful author, screenwriter and political activist.
Mistakes: Close ups of Amelia Earhart’s watch show it is a Quartz movement with second hand increments once each second. This is a technology not available until around 1970. George Palmer Putnam and Amelia Earhart are listening to Moonglow on the radio in 1928. This song was recorded in 1934. In the ticker-tape scene, the cameramen are using blue-tinted flashbulbs? These are more recent and intended for color films. When Earhart is signing the Lucky Strike endorsement, George hands her what appears to be either a ball point pen or a mechanical pencil? Ball point pens were not in common use until the late 1930's. If this was a pencil, contracts would never be signed in pencil?
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