History Main / EveryHelicopterIsAHuey

* ''Film/RamboFirstBloodPartII'' a 212 is operated by the Russians. While it could be claimed as being on loan from Vietnamese forces inherited from the ARVN, it (and the M60E3 machine gun) is a model introduced after the Fall of Saigon in 1975, and a civilian 212, not a military UH-1.
* The high-tech helicopter gunships that attack Bruce Banner in the Ang Lee ''Film/Hulk Hulk'' movie are ''not'' Hueys... but General Ross is co-ordinating the operation from one. This is rather like seeing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-35_Lightning_II F-35 Lightning IIs]] being led into battle by a prop-engined [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC-47_Spooky AC-47]].

* ''Film/RamboFirstBloodPartII'' features two Hueys, one operated by the PrivateMilitaryContractors in the bogus extraction, and one (inexplicably) as a gunship by the Russians.
** The latter aircraft may have been on loan from the Vietnam People's Air Force, who inherited a number of ex-South Vietnamese UH-1s and still have about fifteen of them in service.
* The high-tech helicopter gunships that attack Bruce Banner in the Ang Lee ''[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Hulk Hulk]]'' movie are ''not'' Hueys... but General Ross is co-ordinating the operation from one. This is rather like seeing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-35_Lightning_II F-35 Lightning IIs]] being led into battle by a prop-engined [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC-47_Spooky AC-47]].

* Justified usage in pretty much every single movie about UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar ever made.
** Many other types of helicopter-- H-34 Choctaws, SH-3 Sea Kings, CH-47 Chinooks, CH-46 Sea Knights and OH-6 Cayuses--were also in regular use in Vietnam, though they're considerably less likely to show up in films.

* The BillyJoel song ''Goodnight Saigon'' starts as it means to go on by opening with [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar the sound of the jungle and the Huey's very distinctive engine note]]. It's almost a minute later by the time the ''song'' actually starts.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' mostly averted this in favor of the historically-accurate [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_47 Bell 47]]. However, some early episodes have a model Huey hanging from the ceiling of Col. Blake's office, and later on the O Club has a sign on the wall reading "4077th Med. Co. Air Ambulance" and featuring an illustration of either a Huey or another Vietnam-era chopper.

This trope is becoming less common as time goes on. More recent films tend to rely more on the Aérospatiale [=AS350=] Squirrel (or its two-engine counterpart, the [=AS355=] Twin Squirrel) as their go-to helicopter of choice. Its sleek look, especially when depicted in black, seems to lend itself to the slicker attitude of more modern action films. Examples include ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'' (which does feature some Hueys but primarily uses Squirrels), three out of the four live-action ''Film/ResidentEvil'' movies (''Apocalypse'', ''Extinction'' and ''Afterlife''), ''TheOtherGuys'' and ''{{Shooter}}''.

It's not only military action movies that favor the Huey. Their versatility, reliability, ready availability as surplus, low cost, and ease of maintenance has them showing up pretty much every other time a helicopter's needed as well. Hence Bell 204/205/212 helicopters, all civilian Hueys, see very heavy usage for everything from logging to firefighting (it's definitely the single most popular type for Fire/Rescue work) to VIP transport, with Bell continuing to roll new ones off the assembly line even after fifty years in production. Though the US Army started replacing Hueys with Black Hawks as the general-purpose transport helicopter as long ago as 1979, they still keep a lot of them flying for various odd jobs[[note]]The Huey costs less to operate, requires less maintenance per flight hour, and burns less fuel than a Blackhawk. It can also fit into a much smaller landing zone. The new Y-model even has greater sling-load lifting capability than the Blackhawk.[[/note]]. The same is true of the other branches, except the Marine Corps, who not only still use them in a front-line role But are also currently taking delivery of the new and highly-advanced [=UH-1Y=] model. It's commonly said in the US Military that when the last Blackhawk is deleted from the inventory, it will be slingloaded to the Boneyard by a Huey.

It's not only military action movies that favor the Huey. Their versatility and ready availability as surplus has them showing up pretty much every other time a helicopter's needed as well. Hence Bell 204/205/212 helicopters, all civilian Hueys, see very heavy usage, though certainly not to the extent that militarized Hueys do due to not having the same stranglehold on the market - or the public's imagination. Though in RealLife the US Army started replacing Hueys with Black Hawks as long ago as 1979[[note]] The US Marine Corps still uses Hueys and is still taking delivery of the newest Y model[[/note]] and many other armed forces never used them at all, in the movies they still show up everywhere even now - even places they have no right to be. As a general rule:

* In ''TwoFastTwoFurious'', a Huey is seen flying low overhead in one of the shots for no reason at all.

* The second ''{{Rambo}}'' movie features two Hueys, one operated by the PrivateMilitaryContractors in the bogus extraction, and one (inexplicably) as a gunship by the Russians.

* A somewhat-military movie, or a movie featuring the military that skimped on research, will almost invariably have Hueys and follow this trope;

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' mostly averted this in favor of the historically-accurate Bell 47. However, some early episodes have a model Huey hanging from the ceiling of Col. Blake's office, and later on the O Club has a sign on the wall reading "4077th Med. Co. Air Ambulance" and featuring an illustration of either a Huey or another Vietnam-era chopper.

* In the 2014 ''[[Film/Godzilla2014 Godzilla]]'', almost all of the US military helicopters are Hueys, even though the scenes in which they appear are set in 2014.

* ''UnderSiege2DarkTerritory'' has a train being hijacked by terrorists in a matched pair of Hueys, one of which apparently vanishes into thin air sometime before the climax. This appears to happen more because it'd be a [[RuleOfCool really cool way to hijack a train]] than because it makes ''any logistical sense at all''.
* Hueys do not appear in the StevenSeagal vehicle ''{{Submerged}}''. What does show up is a far smaller helicopter which inexplicably sounds like one on takeoff.

** And in ''SupermanReturns'', he also foils a bank robber attempting to make a rooftop getaway in a Huey, who's used the door-mounted minigun - which, inexplicably given that the robber is not a member of the US military and probably doesn't have access to military ordnance, is not only present but loaded - to hold off the cops. This doesn't work quite so well on [[ShootingSuperman Superman]].

* ''MagnumPI'': Variant of the trope: the "experimental attack helicopter" that a BrainwashedAndCrazy T.C. steals in one episode is clearly a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD_Helicopters_MD_500 Hughes 500D]] with guns and rockets stuck on it. Amusingly enough, the 500D is the same chopper T.C. flies in his day job. [[FridgeLogic One wonders why he didn't notice.]]

Every time the heroes in an action movie or TV show have to go somewhere by helicopter, chances are they'll be doing it in a member of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Huey_family Bell Huey]] family. This is justified in [[TheVietnamWar Vietnam War]] movies: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Huey1.jpg UH-1D Iroquois]] is a symbol of US involvement in Vietnam, with over 7,000 of them seeing service. As a dedicated troop transport helicopter, it's a natural choice for TheSquad - it's hard to roll out after a LockAndLoadMontage in an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD_Helicopters_MD_500 MD-500]] which only fits two actors. Their looks also help convey a [[RuleOfCool tough, militaristic feel]] and suggest a military movie in the way a less easily-recognizable helicopter might not. In a gunship situation, expect two heavily-armed attack choppers flown by nameless pilots in formation with a Huey carrying a named character.

When the Huey shows up appropriately - for example in period movies and situations where they'd likely be seen - it's just a sign the filmmakers [[ShownTheirWork did the research]]. Its appearance can also be justified as a deliberate stylistic choice where the moviemakers are trying to [[RuleOfSymbolism draw parallels]] between the events in the movie and TheVietnamWar: the rest of the time this trope applies.

* Justified usage in pretty much every single movie about TheVietnamWar ever made.

* The BillyJoel song ''Goodnight Saigon'' starts as it means to go on by opening with [[TheVietnamWar the sound of the jungle and the Huey's very distinctive engine note]]. It's almost a minute later by the time the ''song'' actually starts.

* In ''Film/ShortCircuit'' an officer refers to the helicopters as "choppers," but is told by a subordinate, "[[InsistentTerminology We call them hueys now]]." The superior officer is annoyed that he wasn't notified earlier of the nickname update. The gunship that appears at the end is not a Huey, however; it is a 206B [=JetRanger=].

* In the original ''Film/{{Predator}}'' movie, Dutch and his team are flown into the jungle in Hueys. The actual [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic Vietnam allegory]] comes later.

[[/folder]]

* In ''Film/JackRyanShadowRecruit'' Lt. Ryan and his troops are shown flying to a mission in a Huey, even though the US Marine Corps wasn't using them by the time of [[TheWarOnTerror the war in Afghanistan]], roughly when the start of the film is set.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': Despite taking place in the mid-2000s, the US Army is only seen employing Hueys.

* Very nearly the case with ''BlackHawkDown''. The negotiations to borrow Black Hawk helicopters from the US military took so long that filming had already started a month before the deal was finalized. Repainted Hueys were on hand to be used instead in case the deal fell through. Director Ridley Scott said that its fortunate they were able to use the right helicopters, since model is right there in the title of the film, and Hueys don't look anything like Black Hawks.
* In ''UnderworldEvolution'', even helicopters that ''aren't'' Hueys turn out to embody this trope. A modified SA 360 Dauphin, a noticeably smaller make and model of helicopter, is used in long-shots - though nobody appears to have told the Foley editors as the ship [[TheCoconutEffect sounds like]] a Huey throughout - but when it lands and TheSquad pile out of the back, they're [[TheyJustDidntCare very obviously getting out of a Huey]].
* ''SuckerPunch'' proves that even in the nebulous 'it's the 1950s, kinda' period the movie's set in, Hueys will be the number-one choice of fantasy rotary-wing aircraft. In one of Baby Doll's dream sequences, the helicopter the girls use to assault a train on an alien planet is a Huey.
** Of course, the same movie had the girls fighting a dragon from a B-25 Mitchell (WorldWarII medium bomber) and fighting Fokker triplanes in PowerArmor.
* ''WeWereSoldiers'' has Colonel Moore's Airborne Cavalry troopers riding into battle in UH-1 Hueys, which was quite accurate. What was less accurate was the same Hueys, flown by the same pilots, later laying down [[MacrossMissileMassacre rockets]] and [[GatlingGood minigun fire]]. While there were Huey gunships, they were operated by different units than the transports, and organized as airborne artillery rather than air cavalry.
* The original ''[[{{Film/RedDawn1984}} Red Dawn]]'' featured an American Huey (or possibly two separate Hueys) as the sole American military force depicted being able to fight back against the Soviet forces that overun the town in the film's beginning. By the 1980s, it would be more likely for a Blackhawk transport, or an Apache or Cobra[[note]] a heavily-redesigned variant of the Huey, actually[[/note]] attack helicopter, to be serving in that role. Of course, it would be quite reasonable for the [[HomeGuard Reserves or National Guard]] to still be using Hueys in the 80's, and mordernized twin-engine variants of the Huey are in service [[RealityIsUnrealistic even into the 21st century]].

It's not only military action movies that favor the Huey. Their versatility and ready availability as surplus has them showing up pretty much every other time a helicopter's needed as well. Hence Bell 204/205/212 helicopters, all civilian Hueys, see very heavy usage, though certainly not to the extent that militarized Hueys do due to not having the same stranglehold on the market - or the public's imagination. Though in RealLife the US Army started replacing Hueys with Black Hawks as long ago as 1979[[hottip:*: The US Marine Corps still uses Hueys and is still taking delivery of the newest Y model]] and many other armed forces never used them at all, in the movies they still show up everywhere even now - even places they have no right to be. As a general rule:

* The original ''[[{{Film/RedDawn1984}} Red Dawn]]'' featured an American Huey (or possibly two separate Hueys) as the sole American military force depicted being able to fight back against the Soviet forces that overun the town in the film's beginning. By the 1980s, it would be more likely for a Blackhawk transport, or an Apache or Cobra[[hottip:*: a heavily-redesigned variant of the Huey, actually]] attack helicopter, to be serving in that role. Of course, it would be quite reasonable for the [[HomeGuard Reserves or National Guard]] to still be using Hueys in the 80's, and mordernized twin-engine variants of the Huey are in service [[RealityIsUnrealistic even into the 21st century]].

** Fowler's use of the Huey is particuarly odd in one episode, as Airachnid scans it and immediately transforms into a sleek stealth helicopter. Given that the CGI model for her alt-mode had already been created, and that Transformer alt-modes have otherwise been identical to their scanned vehicles, it makes you wonder why the animators didn't just give Fowler the stealth chopper for that particular scene.

** Several other types of helicopter-- SH-3 Sea Kings, CH-47 Chinooks, CH-46 Sea Knights and OH-6 Cayuses--were also in regular use in Vietnam, though they're considerably less likely to show up in films.

It's not only military action movies that favor the Huey. Their versatility and ready availability as surplus has them showing up pretty much every other time a helicopter's needed as well. Hence Bell 204/205/212 helicopters, all civilian Hueys, see very heavy usage, though certainly not to the extent that militarized Hueys do due to not having the same stranglehold on the market - or the public's imagination. Though in RealLife the US Army started replacing Hueys with Black Hawks as long ago as 1979[[hottip:*: The Marine Corps still uses Hueys and is still taking delivery of the newest Y model]] and many other armed forces never used them at all, in the movies they still show up everywhere even now - even places they have no right to be. As a general rule: