Deadly Encounter

Although I agree this is a fun movie to watch we should give credit to the movie it is a almost direct copy of "Birds of Prey" with David Jansen, which was done in 1973. The same helicopters are used, a Hughes 500 and an Alouette with basically the same story line but I feel the acting was better in BOP. That said,I really did enjoy the movie especially the scenery and the flying. I enjoyed Hagman much more in this than Dallas. Also the visit to the old Pima Air museum brought back many memories A I live in Peonix for a whle. These were the days when flying was still fun and not regulated as much as now. I still have to highly recommend this movie for any helicopter buff.

--- shalako

And I say that because, as with the previous Graham helo flick "Birds of Prey", there is a lot of down-to-earth, analog, seat-of-the-pants, visceral stunt flying which today would have the Screen Actors' Guild, the FAA, OSHA, CPSC, the ACLU and probably the ASPCA pitching red-faced conniptions. Helos flying under bridges downtown, trying for loops around canyon arch-bridge midspans, skidding along downtown streets between the buildings, and so on. Even for '70s and '80s standards, it was, to put it mildly, gutsy; nowadays, they'd call it "crazy", "treacherous" or "illegal as hell", and much of the production budget would be lost on fines and bail. But it all made the movie, despite the slightly-cheesy '40s-style plot laced with tension between the exes who must work together to fend off the bad guy.

To that end, I doubt, if they'd've used John Wayne as "Sam", he would've used the word "horny" as the late, great Larry Hagman did...and no gal would dare slap The Duke, real-life or scripted. So, there's Lar, with a track record of playing sleazy, easy JR Ewing to pull it off. And he takes it on the chin--er, cheek. But the acting in this film pales in comparison to the flying; to "watch for the acting" would be like watching "Baywatch" to watch David Hasselhoff act. Face it. "We know where y'all live, guys, and what grabs ya", saith Hollywood. Or its rogue element which brought us this fine piece of aviation gold, as they did with David Janssen in "Birds of Prey" in 1973.

Sometimes, the good stuff flies well under the radar of the Emmy, Oscar and Golden Globe folk. This and its prequel are two major examples. True sleepers which don't put you to sleep. Enjoy.

This is a trashy (I mean really embarrassingly bad) made-for-TV movie but if you enjoy "for real" helicopter stunt flying (there's no CGI used here),then you'll like this! I don't think they'd get away with this type of flying nowadays, even in Mexico!

Aircraft:- Hughes 500 (Model 369HS) , Aerospatiale Alouette IIs, Aerospatiale Gazelle, Bell Jetranger and two Stearman, one by the legendary Art Scoll.

Sadly three people died making this film when the Hughes Model​ 500 (369HS)flown by Hagman's character ​"Sam" ​crashed when the pilot collided with a cable on 17th April 1982. ​One was Glen Miller, ​the​ real owner of Sam's Hughes 500 (who played the truck driver Pocotello Pete), Diane Doherty, and the costumer Frank Novak.

HUGHES:369HS REGISTRATION:N4EE THE AIRCRAFT WAS NUMBER TWO IN A TRAIL OF THREE HELICOPTERS FLYING UP THE Colorado RIVER AT MARBLE CANYON TO PAGE, AZ WHEN IT STRUCK AN AERIAL CABLEWAY STRETCHING ACROSS THE RIVER, 22 FT ABOVE THE WATER. WITNESSES STATED THAT AFTER THE COLLISION THE HELICOPTER DID A SOMERSALT AND FELL INTO THE WATER. Source: NTSB

Larry Kirsch, the fabulous stunt pilot, was killed in 2011 while flying in Hawaii.

I've seen this movie many many times, since I was a little boy. My dad is a helicopter pilot and he taped this movie on new year's eve, so he could see in the other day. Awesome, because I don't see any DVDs available so far. With it's storyline shifting between the US and Mexico, Sam Hooten (Larry Hagman) pilots a Hughes 500 series helicopter. He an ex-army pilot who now flies on his own. The story is pretty simple: Sam must protect an old girlfriend (Chris Butler, played by Susan Anspach) - who married a rich gangster - from other gangsters, flying her from USA to Mexico City. The great thing about this movie is the helicopter scenes; with amazing maneuvers and a lot of dogfighting. The movie gets to it's climax when Sam and Chris find themselves trapped by the gangsters and call Sam's old army buddies for help. This movie is worth watching because of the helicopters and planes. A real good classic.

If you know the TV industry from the seventies, you will notice that movie is very similar to another one also directed by Bill Graham, a film called BIRDS OF PREY, from 1973, starring David Janssen, as a vet pilot who chased bank robbers also chopper pilots. This is a very same topic, with also exciting helicopter chase sequences; But Robert Boris ALSO wrote the 1973 movie, maybe this explains that...I will prefer of course the DJ movie, from the seventies, far darker and more gloomy than this one, made during the Ronnie Reagan's post Vietnam era, when American values had to be optimistic with Wall Street reign and also the producers one too. But this one remains a very effective, action packed TV feature.