Air America is a 1990 film starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. as Air America pilots, during the Vietnam War, flying missions in Laos. The protagonists discover their planes are used by other government agents to smuggle heroin; and then, they must avoid being made patsies in a frame-up. The plot is adapted from Christopher Robbins' 1979 non-fiction book, chronicling the CIA financed airline during the Vietnam War to transport weapons and s...
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Air America is a 1990 film starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. as Air America pilots, during the Vietnam War, flying missions in Laos. The protagonists discover their planes are used by other government agents to smuggle heroin; and then, they must avoid being made patsies in a frame-up. The plot is adapted from Christopher Robbins' 1979 non-fiction book, chronicling the CIA financed airline during the Vietnam War to transport weapons and supplies within Laos and other areas of Indochina subsequent to the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos. The Hollywood screenplay differs greatly with its anti-war political spin, focus on the opium trade, and a pejorative portrayal (played by actor Burt Kwouk as "General Lu Soong") of Royal Laotian General Vang Pao.
Director Richard Rush tried to develop the film in 1985, as the first comedy about Vietnam. Carolco Pictures bought the project as Rush wrote a script and found locations. Sean Connery was attached to play the older pilot, Gene Ryack...
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