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The Aviation Cocktail
USA 2012
produced by Bobby Deline, David R. Higgins, Mike Burge, (executive) Kyle Arganbright (executive) for The Pilot's Lounge
directed by David R. Higgins
starring Michael Haskins, Brandon Eaton, Beau Kiger, Leah Lockhart, Connor L. Boyle, Katie Bevard, Mark Hanson, Lara Ann, Cade Adamson, Mekallyn Darae Bancroft, Morris C. Benson, Nakita Crothers, Zachary Dean, Chris DeLaGarza, Renee Marie Fisbeck, John Hanzlicek, David R. Higgins, Jack Liddy, James Liddy, Holden Mundorf, Julie Swanson, Daniel Ward
written by David R. Higgins, music by Wilson Helmericks, Reverend Deadeye, special effects by Stig Plantell, special makeup effects by Cat Bernier
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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Somewhere in the heart of nowhere, rural USA, the late 1940s/early 50s:
Geoff Hadley (Mark Hanson) has kidnapped a girl (Lara Ann), but a posse
has tracked him down to a hut. They offer to let him go in exchange for
the girl ... but alas, he has already killed the girl - which doesn't go
unnoticed, and thus, without awaiting command from the sheriff Henry (Beau
Kiger), door-to-door salesman and expert marksman Bob (Brandon Eaton)
fires the first shot - upon which everybody fires, but shots fired in
anger only rarely hit their mark, and thus Geoff survives the ordeal badly
wounded. The sheriff's brother and local pilot Jack (Michael Haskins)
offers to fly injured Geoff to the hospital, and both Henry and Bob
accompany him ... and on the plane, in plain sight of Henry and Jack, Bob
chokes Geoff to death. Nobody loses a word about this though, as the three
of them are war buddies, and thus won't snitch on one another - and in a
very archaic way, justice seems to be served, even, right? Plus, nobody
would shed a tear for the killer of a young girl ... So everything can
go back to normal ... only it doesn't, the three "war heroes"
are all broken men, sheriff Henry's a drunkard whose marriage to his wife
(Leah Lockhart) has long gone to hell, and only he doesn't want to admit
it, Bob fools around with Henry's wife, shagging her almost under his
nose, even though he's his best friend, and Jack always tries to do the
right thing and serve everyone best ... which has turned him into a
yes-man who screws up half of the time. But eventually, things between
Henry, his wife and everyone else come to a head, and then there's also
the dead girl's brother (Connor L. Boyle), who's a bit of a religious
fanatic, and something about the death of his sister's killer on the war
buddies' airplane scrubs him wrong - and he's got a gun ... Aviation
Cocktail is pretty much rural drama, tight thriller and PTSD, all
rolled into one, and it works rather splendidly thanks to a good narrative
buildup that reveals more and more facts only gradually, doesn't try to
explain too much away, and ultimately creates a puzzle that looks almost
certainly a whole lot different from what you might have expected. And add
to that a very solid directorial effort, a very competent ensemble cast,
and of course some wonderfully authentic sets and props, and you've got
yourself a pretty good movie!
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