# Movies with engineers as heroes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 23, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208 "2010-12-23T18:19:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/21 "2010-12-23T23:24:28Z")
[The Sound Barrier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_Barrier) is about engineers breaking things. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/22 "2010-12-24T00:16:31Z")
Tucker: The Man and His Dream ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/23 "2010-12-24T00:33:03Z")
The General Bridge Over the River Kwai ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/24 "2010-12-24T00:43:26Z")
> [@Khaki\_Campbell](#): > > Arguably, Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) from _The Rock_. While I love The Rock, I’m not sure this fits the spirit of the OP, because Goodspeed has to become a traditional action hero to save the day, guns and hand-to-hand combat with VX gas included. His brains never really enter the equation - anyone could have disassembled those rockets and and destroyed the chips. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/25 "2010-12-24T01:00:48Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > a beautiful mind? good will hunting? … both of which are about mathematicians, not engineers … 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/26 "2010-12-24T02:07:57Z")
Nearly every Star Trek: TNG episode is about how they engineer a solution to a problem. True, they just threw in gobbledygook names for stuff, but they always did it by presenting some sort of logic to the gobbledygook. For example: “We have a problem with invisible ships.” -\> “We can set up ‘trip lines’ that detect the ships. If we arrange that into a lattice, we’ll be able to detect them.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/27 "2010-12-24T02:32:53Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > _Iron Man_? Definitely the engineer’s superhero! Makes his **own** superpowers! ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/28 "2010-12-24T03:59:14Z")
The thing about _Apollo 13_ is that the engineers (and mathematicians, and technicians and “steely-eyed missile men”) solved the problem not by engaging in stereotypical “heroics” but by being very, very good at their jobs. I’d disqualify _The Rock_ because, as already been mentioned, the heroics didn’t really involve engineering. I’ve never seen _MacGyver_, but I want to keep this to movies, so Star Trek might have to be rejected as well. And it’s a bit of a gray area, as the engineering is fictional, so it doesn’t have to make a lot of sense. _The Dish_ definitely fits the criteria. I wish _Iron Man_ fit the criteria, but he’s an engineer in preparation for becoming a hero, but the heroics never directly involve his engineering skills. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/29 "2010-12-24T05:18:59Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > _The Dish_ definitely fits the criteria. I wish _Iron Man_ fit the criteria, but he’s an engineer in preparation for becoming a hero, but the heroics never directly involve his engineering skills. I don’t know. The beginning of the first movie, when he put together the suit, was a lot of engineering and very little heroics. I liked that the suit was a bit of a kludge also - and enough of his background was given to make the work plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/30 "2010-12-24T05:36:08Z")
> **[October Sky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_sky)** > > October Sky is a 1999 American biographical drama film directed by Joe Johnston and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, and Laura Dern. The screenplay by Lewis Colick, based on the memoir of the same name, tells the true story of Homer H. Hickam Jr., a coal miner's son who was inspired by the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 to take up rocketry against his father's wishes and eventually became a NASA engineer. > October Sky is based on the lives of four young men who grew up in Coalw... ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/31 "2010-12-24T07:44:37Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I don’t know. The beginning of the first movie, when he put together the suit, was a lot of engineering and very little heroics. I liked that the suit was a bit of a kludge also - and enough of his background was given to make the work plausible. Granted, but the heroic acts in _Apollo 13_ were engineers engineering, where _Iron Man_ featured Tony Stark inventing something that allowed him to kick ass. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/32 "2010-12-24T17:19:54Z")
In _Real Genius_ practically all the characters are engineers. _No Highway in the Sky_ starred Jimmy Stewart as an Aeronautical Engineer. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/33 "2010-12-24T18:15:28Z")
Absurdly enough, the eponymous character from the “Prince of Persia” movie could qualify. Mostly he kicks enemy ass by solving all sorts of structural puzzles. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/34 "2010-12-24T19:04:33Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Granted, but the heroic acts in _Apollo 13_ were engineers engineering, where _Iron Man_ featured Tony Stark inventing something that allowed him to kick ass. The argument can be made that most of the ass-kicking was a result of the engineering stage. Put anyone in that suit, and he’d be equally heroic. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/35 "2010-12-24T20:24:19Z")
[No Highway In the Sky](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043859/) with Jimmy Stewart as an aeronautical engineer. StG ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208/36 "2010-12-24T21:23:03Z")
Jack Lemmon on _The China Syndrome_. Wilford Brimley, too. Nuke plant engineers save the world from a meltdown. The British engineer-officers in _Bridge on the River Kwai_ - perhaps not heroic, since their actions help the enemy, but they overcome their circumstances and restore some pride in their work. _The Aviator_, Howard Hughes having been quite an accomplished self-taught engineer. Any of the several Wright Brothers movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-engineers-as-heroes/565208.md?page=1)