The flying scene from Out of Africa...

[PADDY]

Just thought that some of you fellow vintage romantics out there might enjoy this clip when Finch Hatton (Redford) takes Karen (Streep) up for a flight over the Serengetti (he only learned to fly the day before!!)...magical moments...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHjwq3e7lHw

 

[scotrace]

Funny, I just re-watched this film four days ago! The whole thing is really really wonderful.

 

[jake_fink]

Lame process shots and you-tube quality aside, that is still pure cinema. I love it all the more because it's all REAL, no cgi falls or mountains or flamingoes. The world and everything on it used to be a fascinating place - now it's just the tech and toys that matter.

I blame Gladiator.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I also...

...just watched this film again on Friday, so it is fresh in my mind.

I love this scene. I also love when he points out a plane to Tania and says, "Do you know what they're made of?"
She says no.
And he replies, "Cloth."

It's also interesting to contrast this scene with the similar scene in "The English Patient," though that scene is much darker in tone.

 

[Mojave Jack]

A great film and a great scene. While I love the movie, I just finished the Finch Hatton biography, Too Close to the Sun, and learned that much of Out of Africa is fiction. Finch Hatton actually learned to fly in Egypt while serving during WWI. After a ten-year hiatus he returned to England in 1929 to re-learn to fly.

Karen Blixen apparently took libery with a great number of events, conflating some, exaggerating others, and inventing still more. Not that it detracts from her writing style, which is excellent.

Nonetheless, the movie is a fantastic piece of cinematography.

 

[Mark G]

The flying scene is great (as is the rest of the movie). If anyone cares it was actually shot all over Kenya: The opening was of the Mara river in the Masai Mara, followed by a shot of the Karuru Falls in the Aberdere Mountains. Then they fly over one of the Rift Valley lakes (probably Nakuru or Bogoria, the crater could be the Menengai caldera nearby), and finally a view from Mount Kenya.

My wife and I have a friend who knows the pilot that doubled for Redford. The pilot said that Redford couldn't fly worth a damn, to which my friend replied, "If you looked like Robert Redford you wouldn't have to fly."

 

[jake_fink]

The flying scene is great (as is the rest of the movie). If anyone cares it was actually shot all over Kenya: The opening was of the Mara river in the Masai Mara, fallowed by a shot of the Karuru Falls in the Aberdere Mountains. Then they fly over one of the Rift Valley lakes (probably Nakuru or Bogoria, the crater could be the Menengai caldera nearby), and finally a view from Mount Kenya.

I do care. That's what makes it exciting to me - and Lawrence of Arabia was shot on location, so was Raiders of the Lost Ark. There is still something really exciting about looking at images you know to be REAL, even if the locations are dressed for a film. Film has moved from being a photographic medium to a painterly medium (pace George Lucas), and it has lost something really valuable in doing so. Something as simple as this flying scene is tremendously effective, and it just can't be recreated in a parking lot in New Zealand.

 

[Feraud]

Other films like Serpico or The Naked City are richer for having been shot (all or mostly) on interesting locations.

 

[jake_fink]

Other films like Serpico or The Naked City are richer for having been shot (all or mostly) on interesting locations.

Yep. Part of the appeal of film noir is all the old wet-street location footage - the roof scene in Killler's Kiss, the street scenes in Asphalt Jungle the crazy I-got-poison-in-me run through San Francisco in DOA. Maybe film is like retail - location location location.

Anyway, Out of Africa did look great. Passage to India from around the same time was another looker.

Passage to India trailer on youtube

 

[Mark G]

Let us not forget John Barry's great score. I used to have a joke about pointing a camera at Tsavo with Barry's music in the background and of course you're going to win an Oscar.

Mojave, I had mentioned it in another thread, but you should read "The Man Who Loved Women, The Life of Bror Blixen." It's a great read and anyone who liked the movie would love it.

 

[Mojave Jack]

Let us not forget John Barry's great score. I used to have a joke about pointing a camera at Tsavo with Barry's music in the background and of course you're going to win an Oscar.

Mojave, I had mentioned it in another thread, but you should read "The Man Who Loved Women, The Life of Bror Blixen." It's a great read and anyone who liked the movie would love it.

After reading Finch Hatton's biography, I think I would enjoy that quite a bit. Wheeler presents a completely different picture of Bror than does Out of Africa. In fact, Denys continued to associate with Bror long after Bror and Karen had split, and hired Bror as a hunter on several safaris, including the safaris Denys led for Prince Edward. Thanks for the recommendation, Mark! I think I'll have to add that to my reading list.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

The thread on the Denys Finch Hatton Biography is here. For those interested.

 

[Mark G]

Yeah, I've read "Too Close to the Sun" as well and Blixen's book says the same thing, that they were good friends. Blixen also had a grand sense of humor; upon arriving at a neighboring house after safari he was asked by the lady of the house "are you thirsty?" and when she brought him a glass of water he replied "I said I was thirsty, not dirty."

 

[vintage68]

Funny, I JUST re-watched this film again after many years. It's held up wonderfully. Then of course I had to put in an order for some new khakis!

 

[Mike K.]

I too love that scene. I've always dreamed of flying down on the deck over the Mara, or even at home here over the vast Everglades. As Karen Blixen noted, it truly is a glimpse of the world through God's eyes. The only part that is a bit unsettling is that one low pass over the water...just one flamingo is all it would take to turn Finch Hatton's "Locust" into a submarine. Even so, I'd still love to do it!

 

[vintage68]

P.S. Hemingway, I also put in an order with Amazon for the bio of Hatton. Looks like a good read.

 

[vintage68]

The thread on the Denys Finch Hatton Biography is here. For those interested.

Hemingway, regarding your earlier post about the title of the bio, I'm wondering if you're versed in mythology...ICARUS flew too close to the sun, and his wings melted and he fell to earth. The analogy with Finch-Hatton makes mythological sense.

 

[cookie]

Just thought that some of you fellow vintage romantics out there might enjoy this clip when Finch Hatton (Redford) takes Karen (Streep) up for a flight over the Serengetti (he only learned to fly the day before!!)...magical moments...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHjwq3e7lHw[/QUOTE

At Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe years ago on old military pilot had the "Flight of the Angels" over the Falls and up the Zambezi with similar effect and wonderment.