Absolutely phenomenal helicopter flying in this movie! I am a helicopter pilot and I take my hat off to the pilots performing the sequences in this movie. A must for all aviation enthusiasts and other flying nuts. Mediocre storie line - but worth getting.
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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.
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I've been looking for this movie for a long time and the couple I have found were $100.00 plus for some odd reason. The price was great here and the picture quality was excellent for an older VHS movie. Even though it was VHS, I just transfered it to DVD so I won't have to worry when there are no more VHS players. I'm a helicopter nut and this was a real fix for me. Thanks.
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The first gymnast to ever score a perfect 10 at the Olympics was Nadia Comaneci. From a small town in Romania, Nadia (Leslie Weiner, in her only feature film role) rose to international stardom. Under the coaching guidance of Bela Karoli, she pushed herself with the will of a champion. This movie does a wonderful job of showing how hard gymnasts must work as well as showing how much they must give up in their personal lives in order to achieve success. After winning three gold medals at the 1976 Olympics, her life spins out of control when Bela is removed as her coach. For the first time in her life she is on her own, she is the object of jealousy from her teammates, and her weight is out of control. She seeks out her former coach and asks for his help. Together they put Nadia back on the winning track. A family film with a lot to offer, Nadia shows in a credible way the highs and lows of celebrity. The gymnastics portions are terrific. A must if there's a budding gymnast or gymnastic enthusiast in your home. Made in 1984 for television. (Ages 5 to adult)--Peggy Maltby-Etra
44 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Nadia: The Beinnings of an Olympic Champion, April 1, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Nadia [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I loved this movie when I was a little girl, and have been trying to track it down since the neighbor who owned it moved away when I was 10 years old. This movie traces Nadia's career in gymnastics, starting from the moment she was discovered in the schoolyard by Bela Caroli when she was only 5 or 6 years old. We learn of the difficulties Nadia encounters, as her life is slowly taken over by the sport in many ways. However, we also witness all of her victories, starting with the competition where she was chosen to represent her country and first stole the spotlight from the other young gymnasts. The movie follows Nadia's life up to the Olympics, and the gymnastics scenes are all intercut with scenes from Nadia's real performances.I believe that anybody who loves gymnastics will really enjoy this movie. I really hope that it will be rereleased on VHS because I can't wait to buy a copy of my own!
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I bought this VHS for my daughter, who is starting gymnastics lessons on the fall. While it was a good introduction to gymnastics for her, I can't help but feel really cheated. There is a LOT missing from this VHS version! There are scenes that abruptly cut off without explanation. There is a nice scene in the beginning where Nadia meets another little gymnast, they do an impromptu gymnastics routine together and lie on the mat and talk. That entire scene was cut out, so you're left not even knowing that they are friends. The was a lot more missing - more towards the end, that I realized after the film was over. I'm not sure why they didn't just release the film in its entirety, but it left the viewer with a feeling that character development was rather shallow, and it was more like a quick after-school special than a "bio", which is what the original version was. I would suggest waiting for this to eventually reappear on cable, rather than buying this version if you... Read more
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This was my favorite movie when I was a little girl - my sister and I used to pretend we were Nadia and Teodoro and we would act out all the scenes... we knew all the words by heart, from "Do you think it's possible for a little girl to fly?" to "You ARE fat!" We were devastated when our house got broken in to and our VCR was stolen, along with this video, which was inside it.
I can still remember the gymnastics routines. All of them.
Great movie. I recommend it for anyone who had childhood dreams.
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For 40 years, John and Faith Hubley have expanded our appreciation of the universe with animated films of insight and wit using the musical talents of the finest jazz artists of all-time, including Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Dudley Moore and Benny Carter. Featured in this four hour volume: the feature-length "The Cosmic Eye"--three musicians from outer space bring a message of peace to our planet; Academy Award nominees "Voyage to Next"--Mother Earth and Father Time observe the state of life on our planet--and "Of Men and Demons"--the gods of rain, wind and fire team up to ruin a simple farmer's tranquil life; and Oscar-winner "The Hole"--two construction workers debate the fate of the world from under the streets of New York. Also includes: The Tender Game, Eggs, Urbanissimo, Harlem Wednesday, Adventures of an *, The Hat, Dig, Of Stars and Men.
Amazon.com
Beginning in the mid-'50s, the husband-and-wife team of John and Faith Hubley broke new ground in animation with their explorations of complex ideas, cutting-edge graphics, and jazz soundtracks. When jazz was still largely marginalized as an art form in America, the Hubleys worked with Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, and Lionel Hampton. For visual inspiration, they looked to the paintings of Picasso, Matisse, Miro, Klee, and Modigliani. Their short films are very different from Hollywood cartoons. The translucent, semi-abstract figures who embrace in The Tender Game suggest the emotions of two young lovers, rather than their physical motions. In Adventures of an *, a child and his father shift between stylized humans forms and patterns of lines as they explore their evolving relationship. The Academy Award-winning The Hole, a debate between two construction workers on the folly of the nuclear arms race, features improvised dialogue by Dizzie Gillespie and George Mathews. Faith Hubley's The Cosmic Eye is a feature-length compilation of earlier material, linked with new animation. The Hubley films are adult in the best sense of the word: not sexually explicit or gruesomely violent, but thoughtful, imaginative reflections on serious themes. --Charles Solomon
This review is from: Art & Jazz in Animation (DVD)
A quick primer for those unfamiliar with Faith and John Hubley: In the early 1950s, John Hubley was prospering animator with the upstart UPA studio (a creative group that essentially redefined animation and character design, breaking from the flowing realist look of Disney and allowing for sharper angles and greater stylization). Yet, at the height of his achievements, Hubley was singled out by the House Committee on Un-American Activities as a Communist. Although Hubley himself adamantly denied the charges, he refused to point the finger to someone else, and so was ousted from the studio and blacklisted.
This is actually the beginnings of a wonderful story, and from this point in his career, Hubley began to work with his wife Faith to create independent animations that spoke from, and to, the heart. Several of these films became Academy Award nominees, and Academy Award winners as well.
Which brings us to this DVD, a fairly comprehensive anthology of the... Read more
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The music and some of the vocal performances on this piece are what led me to buy the VHS, the former can be found in better quality on the "Journey To Next" CD, but the latter are only available here. As for the animation, it's expressive and free-flowing and intentionally disjointed, some great imagery based on "naive" arts, but not really my cup-of-tea. It's a mash-up of various Faith Hubley animations loosely strung together on the theme of our evolution as a species and as individuals - from a cosmic perpective. Wide, man, real wide.
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Astounding Helicopter Flying Sequences, 
![Nadia [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uu5N_SV2MX8JXT3xfaZFvRzUrmI5hok9ZujRX_JDqdMdLCmN5149xKoSfX2M8SyjKKGXjr8YQNQkgWZvvz36vnVZTNtlE7-2gCF1pcS2dvM9ENcdwzCPo=s0-d)
