Ronald Reagan

Stoo

Well-known member
Ronald Reagan as Indiana Jones

James Byrne said:
Fans of Indiana Jones should absolutely try and get a copy of this flick. Your mouths will drop to the floor when you first see Ronald Reagan.
Boy, you weren't kidding, James. Thank you ever so much.:hat: Ronald Reagan IS Indiana Jones!:gun:

HongKong_01.jpg


More screengrabs coming soon...
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Stoo said:
Boy, you weren't kidding, James. Thank you ever so much.:hat: Ronald Reagan IS Indiana Jones!:gun:

HongKong_01.jpg


More screengrabs coming soon...

Hong Kong Phooey! That is Indy!

"He's got style, a groovy style"

Hong Kong, 1952, predating Secret of the Incas by two years. And I thought Indy was with Ike, not Reagan.

Someone's review from the imdb.com page:

If you're wondering where Indiana Jones came from, here it is. The picture starts off with an American adventurer on a cargo plane in China, a husky, middle-aged Irish-American brunette. He's wearing a brown leather pilot's jacket and a matching fedora, and finds a young Chinese boy stowing away behind some cargo. Except for the extravagant action shots, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom follows the Reagan plot more or less perfectly for the first twenty minutes. I wonder if it was a deliberate rip-off on the part of Spielberg, or a subconscious "homage"?

After that, it's a reasonably pleasant 1950's spy thriller, with the good guy holding off the insidious red menace until the next time, saving both the foxy damsel in distress and the cute little Chinese boy.

A fun watch in and of itself, typical of the times and genre, and interesting as a bit of history, a probably unwitting building block for one of Hollywood's best known series.
 

James Byrne

New member
Redheads In Exotic Places And Darkest Jungles

Deborah Kerr sure started something in KING SOLOMONS MINES with Stewart Granger. Every leading lady seemed to have red hair in adventure movies after Debs started the trend. Eleanor Parker looked great opposite Robert Taylor in VALLEY OF THE KINGS and Chuck in THE NAKED JUNGLE, and Nicole Maurey was gorgeous in SECRET OF THE INCAS. Rhonda Fleming worked well with Reagan in HONG KONG and some other adventure movies. The only exception was MOGAMBO, which had blonde Grace Kelly and brunette Ava Gardner, but they both looked stunning in the bush.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Montana Smith said:
Hong Kong Phooey!
Hong Kong Phooey!(y)

Hong Kong Phooey, he's a #1 super guy
Hong Kong Phooey, quicker than the human eye
Bom chicky bom diddly dong BOW WOW WOW!
someone at IMDB said:
The picture starts off with an American adventurer on a cargo plane in China,...

...and finds a young Chinese boy stowing away behind some cargo. Except for the extravagant action shots, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom follows the Reagan plot more or less perfectly for the first twenty minutes...

After that, it's a reasonably pleasant 1950's spy thriller, with the good guy holding off the insidious red menace until the next time,...
This person must have been smoking crack.:eek: It doesn't start on a cargo plane and Reagan finds the kid before even getting on it. He's not a stow-away. The film isn't a spy thriller and Reagan isn't 'holding off the insidious red menace'.:rolleyes: The 1st twenty minutes of "Doom" perfectly follows the plot of "Hong Kong"?!? What movie were they watching?:confused:

@JuniorJones: Great images! I like the poster.(y)

@James Byrne: Never noticed the red hair connection but you're right.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Stoo said:
Hong Kong Phooey!(y)

Hong Kong Phooey, he's a #1 super guy
Hong Kong Phooey, quicker than the human eye
Bom chicky bom diddly dong BOW WOW WOW!

(y)

Stoo said:
This person must have been smoking crack.:eek: It doesn't start on a cargo plane and Reagan finds the kid before even getting on it. He's not a stow-away. The film isn't a spy thriller and Reagan isn't 'holding off the insidious red menace'.:rolleyes: The 1st twenty minutes of "Doom" perfectly follows the plot of "Hong Kong"?!? What movie were they watching?:confused:

rotfl1.gif


That's why I prefer to read balanced reviews from members here! A lot of guff blows in the wind over at imdb!
 
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James Byrne

New member
The guy that wrote the review of HONG KONG on the IMDb has a better imagination than Hans Christian Anderson!

Spielberg should employ him to write the script for the next Indy movie.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Indy, Marion, Short Round and a certain Golden Idol.

And it's also a Paramount Picture.

This one has certainly passed under the radar, virtually eclipsed by Secret of the Incas as an inspiration for our favourite fedora-wearer.
 

James Byrne

New member
Secret Reagan

Ronald Reagan is the image of Indiana Jones in the 1952 film HONG KONG and was involved in Indy-like histrionics a decade earlier in DESPERATE JOURNEY. There is another association between Indiana Jones and Ronald Reagan, although very slight, which many of the younger Indy fans may not be familiar with. Indy was based on several movies and serials, and one of those old heroes of the Saturday morning serials was Brass Bancroft, played by Ronald Reagan, a commercial pilot who longs to be in the Secret Service, and who gets up to all sorts of Indy-like derring do. Reagan made four Brass Bancroft actioners between 1939 and 1940 for Warner Bros. In one still I have seen from SECRET SERVICE OF THE AIR Reagan is the double for Heston in SECRET OF THE INCAS, complete with leather jacket and white scarf.
There is an amazing story about Reagan as Brass Bancroft. The movies were very popular with the kids of the day and the series had a fan base, the "Junior Secret Service Club" which could be joined. One of those kids was called Jerry Parr who loved the second movie in the series, CODE OF THE SECRET SERVICE, and made his dad take him to see it on numerous occassions. That movie inspired Parr to become a real Secret Service agent and he went to to save Ronald Reagan's life during an assassination attempt on his life on 30 March 1981.
Afterwards Parr told Reagan about his boyhood idolatry of Brass Bancroft, and how much he loved CODE OF THE SECRET SERVICE. "Why that was the worst movie I ever made!" retorted Reagan. Parr explained, "Well, Mr. President, for a kid like me, that movie made the life of an agent seem exciting and worthwhile. You know, when you made that movie you determined your own destiny".
I love stories like that, and it kind of proves the power of movies on the general public. Its ironic that it was a movie called TAXI DRIVER that shockingly inspired John Hinckley to shoot Reagan, and marvellous that it was one of his own movies which inspired a guy to join the Secret Service and save his life.
 
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Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
The Brass Bancroft film Murder in the Air involves the Inertia Projector, a ray gun from a sci fi serial, which some joked was an inspiration for Star Wars (the Strategic Defense Initiative).
 

Indy's brother

New member
James Byrne said:
There is an amazing story about Reagan as Brass Bancroft. The movies were very popular with the kids of the day and the series had a fan base, the "Junior Secret Service Club" which could be joined. One of those kids was called Jerry Parr who loved the second movie in the series, CODE OF THE SECRET SERVICE, and made his dad take him to see it on numerous occassions. That movie inspired Parr to become a real Secret Service agent and he went to to save Ronald Reagan's life during an assassination attempt on his life on 30 March 1981.
Afterwards Parr told Reagan about his boyhood idolatry of Brass Bancroft, and how much he loved CODE OF THE SECRET SERVICE. "Why that was the worst movie I ever made!" retorted Reagan. Parr explained, "Well, Mr. President, for a kid like me, that movie made the life of an agent seem exciting and worthwhile. You know, when you made that movie you determined your own destiny".

That's an incredible story, and one that I was unaware of. Thank you for sharing that!
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Why was Ronnie billed as 'Regan' in that Hong Kong poster? I looked quickly at imdb.com but didn't see a reference to him going under another spelling of his surname.
 
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