DTVTEMP This movie was released in 1973 primarily for TV, not a theatrical release. With respect to acting, cast and production quality it was done on a very limited budget, so it is really not fair to compare it to bigger budget Hollywood pictures. One of the ways that the defunct Tomorrow Entertainment chose to save production money was to only license the 1940s music used in the film for a very short number of years (I believe 10 years). The cost savings move by shorter music licensing was hailed by the entertainment industry back in 1973 as an example of thinking outside of the box, but since the music in this movie was so very much a part of the tone and theme of the movie, this means that the impact of the VHS, Beta and DVD versions is disappointing, because the original soundtrack is not there. You have to remember that home video systems like Beta, BetaMax, VHS and DVD really did not exist until years afterwards. What did exist was expensive and not for the average consumer in 1972-1973. Video systems were bulky, reel-to-reel and required a vidicon tube camera to record. Color recording was damn expensive. It is not surprising that the executive producer had no thoughts at the time of a home release product. Home video recording and playback technology was still years away and would not be affordable or mass marketable for years. By the time it was affordable and mass marketable, the permission (license) to use the original music had expired.The movie has some terrific flying scenes. I've flown both helicopters and fix wing aircraft and helped develop military flight simulators in the 1980s, and my hats are off in respect for the stunt pilots on this movie. This particular movie actually inspired me to work in the aerospace industry in the 1980s.It is a decent movie with a decent plot and acceptable acting and interesting characters. Janssen and Meeker play well off of each other. Although the music is dramatically different than what was originally used, I still have this in my DVD collection. I do wish that I could find out who sang "I'll Get By" in the original soundtrack. She was a superb singer who was better than the others I have heard singing that same song.

kgowen-1 I put this in my Netflix queue based on the strong comments I read here. Boy, was I disappointed. The idea, a chase involving not cars but helicopters, has good potential, but it was executed poorly. This is a low-budget movie and it shows. The soundtrack was jarring and incongruous and sometimes Walker is seen in the helicopter moving his mouth in all sorts of strange contortions, but I guess this is because when this movie was originally shown, the music in the soundtrack was different.The dialog was clunky and the relationship between Walker and the young girl was poorly thought-out and developed. The acting ranged from poor to fair; David Janssen never was all that good of an actor, but here he is adequate in a role that doesn't require much.There's also a major continuity error when he stops to commandeer a fuel truck. Walker parks the helicopter on the highway, but then after he fuels up, the helicopter is clearly seen taking off from an open field, with the highway nowhere in sight.I don't think this movie was good even by 1973 standards, and 35 years later, it is almost laughable.

Patrick E. Abe I'm not 100% sure if I saw this TV movie when it first appeared on ABC because this was before my family had a VCR. However, I must have, since I recall "Three Little Fishies" and "I'll Get By" playing during the course of the movie. Some years later, I saw it listed on TBS and fired up the non-HiFi Betamax to capture this "aerial cops-and-robbers" movie. (Alas, none of the surviving Betamaxes can play the tape, so it's all a matter of unreliable memory. No, I didn't get a VHS unit until the VCR wars were over.) At first glance, it looked like a routine movie about a helicopter pilot going about an ordinary day, with a traffic jam and sunbathing beauties to liven up his day. The opening sequence referring to his days as a Flying Tiger and the testy relationship with his ex-buddy-turned police captain should have been a tipoff that things were going to get interesting. Then there was the break in at the military weapons depot by fur-faced, sunglass wearing perpetrators who were OK within killing anyone who stood in their way. Unlike the technowizardry found in "Blue Thunder," Harry walker has only the tools at hand to face down a set of not-ready-for-peacetime military veterans. As the only game in town once an ordinary bank heist turned into an aerial pursuit, this movie shows why Tom Brokaw would call such folk "The Greatest Generation." Considering what kinds of special efx were available at that time, this movie shows what a difference between the real thing vs. the green screen DFX-safe world of today. (As with screenplays, Real trumps Imagination or even "Reimagining".) A chance search on Amazon.com for a butchered VHS version yielded an "On Order" notation. Release of "Birds of Prey" is set for July 12, 2005, and I'll be there to fly the spacious skies of Utah once again, even if "Three Little Fishies" or "I'll Get By" aren't in the soundtrack.

dean.s.espitallier This film was part of the edge-of-your-seat action/chase genre made popular in the '70s. Films like Vanishing Point, and Smokey and the Bandit, where nothing more than a car chase sequence with a little cohesive drama or comedy thrown in.The makers of Birds of Prey obviously had the same thing in mind, but they added an interesting twist; helicopters instead of cars.David Janssen plays Harry Walker, an ex-WWII fighter pilot longing for the glory days of dog fights and heroic aerobatics. He is a now twice divorced, lonely, and somewhat bitter, Salt Lake City helicopter traffic reporter. Ralph Meeker plays Jim "Mac" McAndrew, a former war buddy of Walker's who prefers to stay on the ground, forget flying, war planes, and the past, to focus on the his career as a Salt Lake City cop.On a routine day Walker witnesses a bank robbery from the air. He calls it into Mac who thinks he's pulling a gag. The robbers kill a bank guard and take a hostage then get away in a stolen car. The chase begins. The police join the chase as car and chopper scream through urban Salt Lake City.This was a pretty good film for a made-for-TV movie. The flying sequences are well done and well coordinated. The flying stunts, including diving under overpasses, flying into and out of buildings, tumbling (auto-rotating), and flying between sky scrapers, are all done with real helicopters. No toys on strings or models with goofy trick photography were used. The acting and drama aren't bad, but that's not what this movie's about. Like Top Gun, this movie's about flying.