Product Details

• Actors: Nicolas Cage, Tommy Lee Jones, Sean Young, Bryan Kestner, Illana Diamant
• Directors: David Green
• Writers: Dale Dye, John K. Swensson, Nick Thiel, Paul F. Edwards, Step Tyner
• Producers: Arnold Kopelson, Bettina Gilois
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Touchstone / Disney
• VHS Release Date: April 21, 1994
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301785983
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,352 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

The U.S. Government is willing to assist any country that requires help in ridding themselves of drugs with support from the Army. Unfortunately, the drug cartels have countered that offer by hiring one of the best air-combat mercenaries and have armed him with a Scorpion attack helicopter. The army decides to send in it's best people from the Apache Air Combat school. But first they have to be taught how to fly air-to-air combat missions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Passable entertainment, won't "hurt your brain.", October 12, 2005

By 

D. Ninness (New Hampshire, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fire Birds (DVD)

I caught "Firebirds" in the theater during my first annual training with the National Guard after a 3 year Active Duty hitch. We were at Corpus Christi Army Depot doing what? Working on helicopters, natch. About 6 of us piled into a taxi and rode downtown to the el-cheapo theater for 90 minutes of cheesy salutes, whacky dialog, goofy actors and some pretty darn good Apache flying.

Is it accurate? No. Ask any Navy F-14 pilot how he felt in 1986 about Tom Cruise's adaptation of reality and he'll say the same thing that a lot of the Army Aviation folks have already said about Firebirds. That's because in Hollywood, in general, if "accuracy" or "correctness" gets in the way of "story," story generally wins out. (The obvious mold-breaker here being "Band of Brothers", but that had more to do with the original story being highly accurate) Heck, Top Gun's technical advisor says he stil has a hard time showing his face at F-14 reunions. But he learned quickly that while some of the things they show in a movie might not be accurate to the people who do it day in and day out, its still a movie and they have to make it look stylish or whatever. How exciting would watching an Apache crew go over their 10-20 minute long startup procedure really be? No, they hop in the aircraft, flip a couple switches, throw their brain buckets on, suddenly the rotor blades are at flight RPM and off they go. I know that's not reality, but I'm not watching this movie for reality.

With Firebirds, sometimes you just have to put your brain in neutral and enjoy Sean Young in a flight suit that is 3 sizes too small, Tommy Lee Jones going "full-tilt boogie for freedom and justice," and Nicholas Cage laying out droll one-liners for a paycheck.

At the very least, in the Spring of 1990, six guys from a National Guard unit in Michigan had a great time in a cheap theater in Texas hollering at the screen, hooting at Sean Young, and cheering when the bad guys go down in flames. What more can you ask for?

Time to go buy the DVD for my "cheesy Saturday afternoon movies" collection.

(Funny side note: When Tommy Lee Jones is doing his early-morning run on the flight line and all of his trainees come running past him, that's the Apache Training Brigade's flight line at Ft. Hood Army Airfield. During the Gulf War, in January 1991, I was there for an Apache course, and our smoke-break area was on the exterior stairs of the hangar pictured in the background at the very start of that scene. Kinda funny how that works!)

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fire Birds is an Apache Top Gun!, December 3, 1999

By 

C. Smiley (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fire Birds [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Yes it's corny but it is really a great movie! From Tommy Lee Jones' portrayal of a John Wayne character to Nicholas Cage's corny hero, finally coupled with the sexiest role I've seen Sean Young in..its a fun movie. Don't expect an artistically significant movie, have fun instead. I love it!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you thought Top Gun was great...., July 18, 2003

By 

Dr. A. Ghaffar "dr_gekko" (West Midlands, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fire Birds (DVD)

I loved this movie when it was aired on TV in the UK as "Wings of the Apache". I watched it "by accident" and thought hey, this looks cool... Nicholas Cage & Tommy Lee Jones make a great screnn partnership and there's no pretence or over-the-top Hollywood feel to this like movies such as Top Gun- simple story, amusing scenes, good action... a great recipe for an entertaining 2 hours if you just want to relax and not hurt your brain. I think if you've enjoyed the likes of Airwolf & Blue Thunder then you'll find this a charming surprise. And at this price, you can't go wrong! Come on October!!!