Product Description
Winner of an Emmy and multiple film festival awards including Best Documentary Film and Audience Awards in 2010, The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club is a fun-filled documentary romp through the life of one of the most colorful and accomplished female pilots of the early 20th Century. Florence ''Pancho'' Barnes was the first woman stunt pilot in Hollywood in 1929 and shattered Amelia Earhart's air speed record in 1930. In the 1940's and 50's, Pancho entertained the greatest test pilots in the world, the men with the right stuff at the infamous ''Happy Bottom Riding Club'' guest ranch near Edwards Air Force Base. When Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 in 1947, he partied with Pancho. A friend of the fast and the famous, Pancho Barnes was a swaggering, forceful, ill-behaved woman whose exploits and accomplishments are truly the stuff of legend.
Featuring never-before-seen photographs and film footage and interviews with many of Pancho's friends including astronaut Buzz Aldrin and famed test pilots Bob Cardenas, Bob Hoover and Chuck Yeager, The Legend of Pancho Barnes is an unforgettable, exciting, and poignant romp through aviation history. Narrated by Tom Skerritt, with Kathy Bates as the voice of Pancho Barnes.
This multi-award-winning film has screened throughout the United States on public television (PBS), in Australia, and in nearly a dozen film festivals. Celebrated within the aviation community, it was specially screened at the EAA's AirVenture in 2010 and 2011, at AOPA's annual convention, at Sun 'N Fun, the Arlington Fly In, NASA Dryden, and at scores of air museums nationwide.
This deluxe DVD features both the broadcast version (as seen on public television) and the special uncensored film festival version of the documentary, along with nearly 18 minutes of additional video including deleted scenes. It also features commentary from writer/producer Nick Spark and director Amanda Pope, a study guide for secondary school students, and more.
Review
If you haven't seen the film, and you love aviation history ... you need to see it. --PilotMag, July 2010
Aficionados of aviation's golden age will find a life and times tale here that is as entertaining as it is comprehensive. --Aviation History, March 2011
A thoroughly entertaining look at a very unconventional life. If all you know of Pancho Barnes comes from Kim Stanley's portrayal of her in The Right Stuff, well, you've come to the right place. --After Ellen, July 2009
About the Actor
Dr. Buzz Aldrin A scientist, astronaut, author, consultant, and former head of the test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base, Dr. Aldrin was a friend of Pancho's who attended her 70th birthday party. Buzz likes to tell people, that his first flight as a boy was in a Lockheed Vega -- the same type of plane that Pancho flew as a test pilot back in 1929.
Brig. General Robert Cardenas One of the best multi-engine pilots of his generation, Bob Cardenas flew the mother ship B-29 for the Bell X-1 sound barrier busting project. He later served as chief test pilot for the (in)famous YB-49 Flying Wing. A card-carrying member of the Happy Bottom Riding Club, Bob has terrific memories of Pancho.
Bob Hoover One of the great aerial showmen of the 20th Century, Bob Hoover's distinguished career included stints as a test pilot, movie stunt pilot, and air show precision acrobatic flier. He flew as backup pilot to Chuck Yeager during the X-1 program and has fond memories of Pancho Barnes.
Gene Nora Jessen A woman with an enormous passion for aviation, Gene Nora earned her wings back in 1958. Just three years later, she was accepted into a NASA-sponsored program for women astronauts, and it looked like Gene Nora might fly in space. That never happened, but Gene Nora remained committed to aviation, becoming president of the Ninety-Nines, and paying tribute to the flying women of Pancho's era in her book, The Powder Puff Derby of 1929 (also available on Amazon.com).
Lauren Kessler An award-winning author whose essays often show up in the New York Times Magazine, Lauren Kessler chronicled the life and times of Pancho Barnes in her book, The Happy Bottom Riding Club. Some of her other books (all of which are sold on Amazon.com) include Stubborn Twig, Clever Girl (a profile of Cold War spy Elizabeth Bentley) and the recently published Dancing with Rose. She lives in Oregon.
Barbara Schultz A pilot and author, Barbara Schultz was friends with Pancho Barnes' son Billy, and ended up becoming intrigued with the story of the tough, strong aviatrix. After conducting interviews with surviving friends, she wrote Pancho: The Biography of Florence Lowe Barnes (available on Amazon.com).
Brig. General Charles E. 'Chuck' Yeager The man who broke the sound barrier in 1947, Chuck Yeager's career as a test pilot is without parallel. Yeager's time on the X-1 project is closely associated with Pancho Barnes and her club; Yeager cracked his ribs on Pancho's corral gate just prior to his supersonic flight.
About the Director
Director Amanda Pope has an extensive 20-year background in writing, producing, directing and editing documentary, dramatic, and advocacy programs. A professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, she teaches graduate documentary and fiction directing.
Her hour-long public television documentaries include Jackson Pollock Portrait, a classic in its genre, Stages: Houseman Directs Lear,; and Cities For People. Her new film, Art Rescuers of Nukus on an endangered world class collection of 50,000 artworks secreted away in the desert of Uzbekistan will debut in 2009.
Producer and writer Nick Spark has a keen interest in history. He is a former contributing editor to Wings, a bi-monthly aviation history magazine with national circulation. His articles have appeared in Naval History, the Annals of Improbable Research, the U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings and Naval History. A short book he wrote about the origins of one of the world's most well-known phrases, A History of Murphy's Law (available on Amazon.com), garnered international attention and was recently translated into Finnish. He has appeared on NHK, National Public Radio, PBS' History Detectives and other media outlets domestic and abroad concerning his historical research. In 2005 the American Aviation Historical Society presented him with its Author's Award for his article ''Secrets of the Spirit''. He has produced or directed a number of award-winning documentary and industrial films, including a project for the Department of Defense. Nick's documentary film, Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines (available on DVD on Amazon.com) aired internationally. He holds a masters degree in Film Production from the University of Southern California.
