Welcome to episode 108. Today, we talk about The Final Countdown!
A modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Join Scott, Randy, Brian and Ibbott as they can’t stand the sound that time travel makes!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
- Direct MP3 Download
- iTunes Link
- RSS Feed
Special thanks to Audible.com this week for sponsoring the show. As usual, a HUGE thanks to Scott Fletcher, the official announcer of Film Sack Central. Hey! Why not leave us a nice review on iTunes if you like the show?
Up next week? Dragnet!
I really believe I might perfer the time travel sound over most of the music in this movie.
Been looking forward to this one. Loved this movie when I was a kid….it really made the rounds on TV in the 80′s. Although now as an adult I notice how goofy Kirk Douglas acts throughout (sorry if this has already been pointed out…just starting to listen to the podcast now). Footage from this was used in an early Magnum, P.I. episode in a flashback scene about the Peal Harbor attack.
I will pay cash money if you get Fletcher to record this line from Dragnet next week.
“Oh think god, v*** repair”
-”Thirteen Days” is the Cuban Missle Crisis movie starring Bruce Greenwood and Kevin Costner
-No stock footage b/c I think the US Navy underwrote the budget for this movie. I suppose they saw it as a recruitment film?
-This was on ALL THE TIME on the old Movie Channel in the early 80s, but I always only managed to catch the most exciting part of the movie when the ’79 US aviators shoot down the ’41 zeros.
-”The Hudsucker Proxy” is classic Coen Bros. I agree w/ Dunaway: “Top Gun” stinks. I feel the need, the need to avoid that recruitment commerical of a movie. The Stallone driving movie is “Driven” but it can’t hold a candle to “Days of Thunder” (the Good Tom Cruise/Tony Scott joint)
-I bet the other blind guy used as a butt of bad jokes in movies is José Feliciano.
Aren’t “Top Gun” and “Days Of Thunder” pretty much the same movie?
“Top Gun” doesn’t have Robert Duvall, that’s all the difference I need. It also doesn’t have a war, which is kinda embarrassing for a war movie. “Top Gun” does have a scene where a bunch of guys all dressed in white singing badly which is something I cannot abide. But yeah, they’re pretty much the same
I think Dead Calm with Billy Zane may be the flare gun to the mouth movie. Podcast is not over, so I don’t know if you figure it out.
When I was in the Navy aboard the USS Detroit, this film had a lot of play. It had a big resurgence when Top Gun was released. We had civilian observers on board the Detroit all the time.
Because civilians often get the “officer treatment”, there is some resentment by enlisted crew. It is not a trope, the limited personal space. Space and privacy are a premium on board ship.
As for the USSR, we used to have stand-offs with them, just north of Russia in international waters.
Air Boss and Mini Boss are real jobs on an aircraft carrier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_boss#Air_Officer
PS: Non Gunship helicopters are pretty venerable to internal explosions. We lost a CH-46 due to a small electrical explosion. Thankfully there was no loss of crew.
The “Navy Whistle” is called a “Boatswain’s Pipe.” Yes there are different songs (pipes) for different activities and announcements. Also the Captain’s arrival and departure on the bridge or quarter-deck is always announced. It is at the captain’s discretion to use or not use piping.
Yes Scott, we still use signal flags and lights on Navy ships.
PS: Tang was really used by astronauts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boatswain%27s_Pipe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_(drink)
just finished listening to the final countdown show. another fine job gents. in an ernest attempt to let my geek flag fly, i want to point out that james farentino was not the father in wonder years. the father in that show was played by dan lauria. farentino did play roy scheider’s part from blue thunder in the tv series of the same name. also, charles durning did not pay baron harkonnen in dune. that part was played by kevin mcmillen. just sayin. keep up the good work fellas!
cheers!
I thought that was not right. But I was too lazy to argue it. #letmylazyflagflapinthewind
Also the guy who did the film score was John Scott. I like this score very much.
So…much…footage of airplanes landing and taking off.
Hey Guys, great pod cast as always! I did get super excited however, because I mixed up The Final Countdown with The Philadelphia Experiment, which was also about a time traveling naval ship (except in TPE two crew members are pushed into the future from 1943, and supposedly it’s based on a true event that happened during WWII), and was a little let down by my mixup. BUT, I still enjoyed the show though!
about the slow start of the movies of that era. at that time a lot of people walked in late to the movies so they padded the start. that way late comers didn’t lose anything interesting
Excellent work again, gentlemen, both on choosing a movie that I so fell in love with, and with a very good breakdown of the film. I was totally resonating with Mr. Jordan on this one – I kept thinking about Michael Bay throughout the film, with all the military porn. And since “Pearl Harbor” is the only Michael Bay movie that I dislike, I’m so glad to find a movie that I can treat as a working substitute for it!
This film and it’s Sacking actually inspired me to go out and watch an anime, Zipang, which has a similar plot but with a flipped cast: a Japan Self Defense Force cruiser is the one that ends up back in time in Midway, 1942. That cartoon actually explores themes that Mr. Johnson brought up on this show about generational attitudes. The SDF guys are very peaceful and understanding of the enemy while the Imperial Japanese officer they meet is quite ruthless.
I apologize if this seems irreverent. But looking down from that bright white bridge erected across the almost-entirely-but-not-quite-submerged USS Arizona, all I can think of (aside from the clearly visible oil leak, which nobody will fix because it’s considered messing with the historical site) is that there are a bunch of dead people underwater…..right underneath you.
Speaking of timetravel movies please say that Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (1982) is on your list.
Fred Ward as a champion off road racer that travels back to the old west.
Perfect Film Sack Movie
I agree…
never heard of this. Will see what I can do. It is on streaming. and I love Fred Ward…so..moop.
First let me tell you that I love the show. The Final Countdown is one of my favorite movies. I recently retired after 23 years from the Navy and just wanted to comment on the movie. One of the reason this is such a good movie is how right they got the Navy part. Some of the acting parts are bad and the special effects are truly horrible, but the realistic portrayal of the Navy is great. The “Air Boss” and “Mini Boss” are the two people on the ship coordinate all air operations including Launch, recovery, and movement on the flight deck. The props and way of speaking are dead right. They do announce when the Captain or CO comes on off the bridge and the whistle is used to announce different events during the day such as dinner, lights out, revile, etc. it heralds back to the days of sailing ships when no announcing systems were available.
Thanks for the great show.
Wonderful points altogether, you just received a brand new reader. What might you suggest in regards to your post that you just made some days in the past? Any certain?
I arrived on board the USS Nimitza few months after the filming of the Final Countdown. I became friends with a guy by the name of Kevin Duckworth who appeared in the movies in various scenes on the bridge. I have been searching for him for over 30 years. If there is anyone out there who can shed some light on how I can find my friend, please let me know by sending me an e mail. Thanks…KELVIN JACKSON
What’s the name of the theme music of the podcast?
There is a trilogy by Australian author John Birmingham that takes this story concept and does allow for modern firepower to be used against the Axis Powers. It is obviously called ‘The Axis of Time’ trilogy.
wasn’t this film just an advertisement for the news ship?