The Rocketeer

Back in the early 1990’s a comic book character would make his debut as a backup story of a now defunct comic book publisher’s title. The artist and writer, Dave Stevens, of the series paid homage to the great radio and movie serials of the 1930s and 1940s.

The series, The Rocketeer, combined images and cameos of then famous radio and movie personalities, in tightly woven and fast paced adventures. The hero, Cliff Secord, played by Bill Campbell, discovers a top-secret rocket backpack and through a series of events dons the pack and becomes the high-flying hero, The Rocketeer.

Jennifer Connelly plays his beautiful girlfriend. Originally in the comic book series Betty Page, the famous pin-up girl from decades past was his love interest. But Disney opted using her name and likeness to avoid copyright entanglements and introduced a new character.


Timothy Dalton played the Hollywood star who is in fact a spy and Alan Arkin plays Cliff’s gruff mentor. The movie was directed by Captain America director Joe Johnston.


The film has become a much loved cult classic and Disney has a released a special 20th Anniversary Blu-ray Edition which unfortunately contains no extras such as featurettes, deleted scenes, etc. Too bad, the film deserves it.


The film successfully captures the look and feel of the era it is placed in. Special effects are top-notch (especially the flying scenes with The Rocketeer), the villain particularly nasty, the girl beautiful, the supporting characters perfectly cast and the production value overall first-rate.


It’s a pity the film was not that successful when first released and that sequels were not created. The Rocketeer is a great character and with a little love and persistence would have made a fine film series.