Hitch a Ride: WHIRLYBIRD Trailer Brings News From the Sky

Managing Editor; Dallas, Texas (@peteramartin)
Hitch a Ride: WHIRLYBIRD Trailer Brings News From the Sky

Maybe it's my life-long fascination with helicopters, or that Los Angeles is my hometown, or maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic for my younger years, but I find the trailer Whirlybird to be insanely, irrationally appealing.

Heading for release in select U.S. theaters and various Video On Demand platforms this Friday, August 6, director Matt Yoka's Whirlybird looks back at the 1980s and the 1990s, when news coverage from the air first took off. (?!) As it happens, John Badham's Blue Thunder hit theaters in 1983, which followed a "sinister" and "experimental" police helicopter that flew over Los Angeles. What timing!

The following year, I flew in a helicopter for the first time, a short hop from my home in the San Fernando Valley to Los Angeles International Airport, where I boarded a flight that would take me to new home in New York City. It was loud. And thrilling.

So what about Whirlybird? Here's the official description from distributor Greenwich Entertainment:

"Soaring above the chaotic spectacle of '80s and '90s Los Angeles, a young couple revolutionized breaking news with their brazen helicopter reporting. Culled from this news duo's sprawling video archive is a poignant L.A. story of a family in turbulence hovering over a city unhinged.

"A pioneer of helicopter reporting, Zoey Tur, along with then-wife Marika Gerrard, forever changed broadcast news with their action-packed live coverage of monumental moments in the history of L.A., including the 1992 riots and the O.J. Simpson Ford Bronco chase in 1994. This intense work delivered a needed daily dose of adrenaline for Zoey (known then as Bob) but the thousands of hours spent chasing breaking news eventually took its toll.

"Through the meticulous digitization and restoration of Zoey and Marika's sprawling video tape archive, this documentary brings to life the candid memories and reflections delivered by Zoey and Marika - as well as their kids, including their daughter, MSNBC host and author Katy Tur. In Matt Yoka's feature debut, Whirlybird, he delivers an immersive L.A. epic through the intimate story of a relationship."

Sounds pretty cool. So is the trailer, which you can watch below.

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