# Why no Wright brothers movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [June 22, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809 "2008-06-22T17:50:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jlh3rd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@jlh3rd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlh3rd)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/41 "2015-02-10T16:35:24Z")
[quote=" gaffa, post:40, topic:453809"] May I used this as a signature quote? [/QUOTE] Yes, you may (used) this as a signature quote…lol ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/42 "2015-02-10T16:44:49Z")
Why no proper Revolutionary War pic? And by proper I mean something that isn’t “The Patriot” or “Revolution” or that ridiculous looking mini-series I recently saw trailers for. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/43 "2015-02-10T17:00:25Z")
The problem I have with a Wright Brothers movie is that the big finish is that first successful flight, and we’ve all seen it… they fire it up, the guy runs alongside it until it takes off, it flies for a bit, and then it lands. AAAAAND scene. Roll credits. _chirp chirp chirp_ There may be other things in their story that are interesting, or that involve gunfire, explosions or horses, but ask any movie-going 14-year-old what a Wright Brother movie is going to be about, and he’ll say it’s that clip they always show in the movies they run in Science class on the history of flight when the teacher can’t be arsed to come up with a plan. ---
**Author:** ![jlh3rd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@jlh3rd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlh3rd)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/44 "2015-02-10T17:18:32Z")
Someone brought up the movie Apollo 13 , and in a lot of ways it has similar problems. It has a known outcome, no one dies, all of the problems encountered by the crew were well known, and documentaries existed about the entire mission. I watched the original mission as it happened, had seen many of the documentaries and thought,“why would I want to see that movie. I know everything that happened.”…Every time it comes on I watch it…good director, good actors,…great story…bottom line,however, is money…as in, would the movie make any…I think it would … ---
**Author:** ![jlh3rd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@jlh3rd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlh3rd)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/45 "2015-02-10T17:21:46Z")
Yeh…I think there needs to be a good revolutionary war pic…it would be a long movie. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/46 "2015-02-10T17:42:46Z")
I think for ‘History heroes who actually were the bad guy’ the best we can do is Drunk History. Maybe Epic Rap Battles. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/47 "2015-02-10T17:50:21Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > The problem I have with a Wright Brothers movie is that the big finish is that first successful flight, and we’ve all seen it… they fire it up, the guy runs alongside it until it takes off, it flies for a bit, and then it lands. AAAAAND scene. Roll credits. > > _chirp chirp chirp_ > > There may be other things in their story that are interesting, or that involve gunfire, explosions or horses, but ask any movie-going 14-year-old what a Wright Brother movie is going to be about, and he’ll say it’s that clip they always show in the movies they run in Science class on the history of flight when the teacher can’t be arsed to come up with a plan. It would lack the drama of Apollo 13. Worst case is Orville falls 10 feet into a field. At about 7 mph. Maybe thrilling in 1903, but we’ve all gone much faster than that. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/48 "2015-02-10T18:56:51Z")
Now, how to make it a comedy … excuse me while I make a call to Rob Reiner … ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/49 "2015-02-10T19:42:46Z")
I didn’t read the entire thread and so pls excuse me if I’m repeating someone else’s idea here. But, as someone upthread said, “one of the bros was boring as dirt”. Well, never mind that. Their entire story is years of “boring as dirt” followed by one spectacular moment of 12 seconds (as best as I can recall). It would be extremely difficult to create a screenplay for a 2 hour movie that consisted of a few years of boring stuff followed by 12 seconds of excitement followed by another few years of boring stuff. I have read the story of the Wright bros and it was hugely disappointing because one of the bros was a real pain in the ass personality and he tried to convince the US Gov to buy his patent or his idea for a huge amount of money. But then something went wrong in that they learned they couldn’t patent that idea or something like that. So, that bro got all bent out of shape and refused to sell his idea or patent and then … the US Gov went ahead without the Bros, just as every other govt in the world did and the Bros were left holding an empty bag. That is the summary of the screenplay. Pretty hard to envision a good movie from that. Isn’t it? It’s almost the opposite of Bill Gates. Gate’s father was a lawyer and they figured out a way to buy patents or ideas from a bunch of people so they could have the exclusive rights to sell Windows. Gates never did any of the genius work himself. He just bought (almost) all of it from others and then sold it. They made billions. Now that is an exciting story. The Wright Bros were brilliant and figured out how to do things themselves. But one of the bros refused to allow them to succeed cause someone offered him some money that he thought was insufficient. Maybe not exactly the opposite of Bill Gates but pretty close. ---
**Author:** ![jlh3rd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@jlh3rd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlh3rd)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/50 "2015-02-10T19:48:10Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > It would lack the drama of Apollo 13. Worst case is Orville falls 10 feet into a field. At about 7 mph. Maybe thrilling in 1903, but we’ve all gone much faster than that. Yep, your right…that’s a big hurdle…how do you dramatize, “hey Orv, look, I’ve discovered wing warping by twisting this box”…it’d take good directing, acting, etc…money… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/51 "2015-02-10T20:45:43Z")
Neither brother ever seems to have had an interesting romantic interest. Their dad was a minister and before flying they ran a bicycle shop. Any movie would cost a fortune because you’d have to reconstruct the late 19th/early 20th centuries and there’s just not enough personality driven stuff to justify the expense to most studio executives. That said, they figure prominently in a really good IMAX movie I saw on the history of flight. And when I was a kid I always though the [Smothers Brothers](http://delafont.com/comedians/com_images/s-brothers.jpg)were shoe ins to play the [Wright Brothers](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Wright_brothers.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/52 "2015-02-10T20:54:08Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Neither brother ever seems to have had an interesting romantic interest. Their dad was a minister and before flying they ran a bicycle shop. Any movie would cost a fortune because you’d have to reconstruct the late 19th/early 20th centuries and there’s just not enough personality driven stuff to justify the expense to most studio executives. > That said, they figure prominently in a really good IMAX movie I saw on the history of flight. > And when I was a kid I always though the [Smothers Brothers](http://delafont.com/comedians/com_images/s-brothers.jpg)were shoe ins to play the [Wright Brothers](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Wright_brothers.jpg). “Mom always liked Orville best!” ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/53 "2015-02-10T23:45:36Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Any movie would cost a fortune because you’d have to reconstruct the late 19th/early 20th centuries and there’s just not enough personality driven stuff to justify the expense to most studio executives. Not all of it. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/54 "2015-02-11T03:34:06Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > the US Gov went ahead without the Bros, just as every other govt in the world did and the Bros were left holding an empty bag. After Wilbur died Orville tired of the legal battles and sold their patents for a million dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/55 "2015-02-11T13:06:59Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > After Wilbur died Orville tired of the legal battles and sold their patents for a million dollars. OK. Not exactly empty then. Thanks for that. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/56 "2015-02-11T13:46:38Z")
The government forced that to happen after US entry into WW1, by forming a patent pool of all aircraft producers. Orville accepted it, despite his hatred of Glenn Curtiss, due not only to Wilbur’s death but to the deaths of several of his close-friend exhibition pilots in crashes for which he blamed himself. His sister Katherine, who had run the brothers’ household (there were two other brothers who had their own lives), left him to marry at a spinsterish age, and he never fully got over that either. Orville spent the rest of his life in various ceremonial and advisory roles in the industry but stopped innovating. ---
**Author:** ![jlh3rd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@jlh3rd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlh3rd)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/57 "2015-02-11T22:49:26Z")
The movie should be about the centuries old desire to fly…how various people , stumbled, made some headway, and died trying to achieve that…and how one set of brothers finally did…It is,arguably, one of the greatest achievements of mankind…it would not be about two human beings who had their flaws…show me someone who is perfect…“cast the first stone” It would take someone who understands this…a director that can convey that…and actors that can portray that…and feels they can make money doing it… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/58 "2015-02-11T23:41:08Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > The problem I have with a Wright Brothers movie is that the big finish is that first successful flight, and we’ve all seen it… they fire it up, the guy runs alongside it until it takes off, it flies for a bit, and then it lands. AAAAAND scene. Roll credits. I read a bit about the Wright Brothers because for most Americans, December 17th 1903 is all we need to know about. I found it quite interesting to learn about the stuff in the 7~8 years after that, the murky history that most of us know almost nothing about. A good movie would have to include a bit about the shaky claims of Gustav Weißkopf, and how that relates to the tepid newspaper response to the Wrights, and the French calling them _bluffeurs_. There is a lot of story _after_ Kitty Hawk IV, and it is just tragic to just brush that stuff off as being of little consequence. And, of course, comic relief, a bunch of that needs to be worked in, if even as just wry comments by the brothers after crashing. It just has to be a comedy, to make it tolerable. ---
**Author:** ![jlh3rd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@jlh3rd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlh3rd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/59 "2015-02-12T00:00:38Z")
Then we’re talking about two different movies…one about discovery of flight…and another about the life of the wright bros. …the life of the Wright’s ? Don’t know if I wanna see that…the culmination of events that led to the first ,documented, breakthrough of flight? I think I’d see that. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809/60 "2015-02-12T13:29:39Z")
A non-hagiographic production could be interesting. The Wrights are American heroes, any negative aspects of their lives and motivations, anything normally-human being downplayed in the mythos. A version showing them to be motivated by riches, socially awkward despite their advanced racial views (Paul Laurence Dunbar was a good friend), depending on Octave Chanute to show them what to do, or even showing the other siblings would offend many, but would be original. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wright-brothers-movie/453809.md?page=4)