Sully (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

“Sully” Recounts Miracle on the Hudson

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 hit some birds while taking off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport forcing the pilot to land the plane in the Hudson River. The pilot’s calm landing on water and ushering his passengers onto the wing to await rescue resulted in him being hailed as a hero.

But Chesley Burnett “Sully” Sullenberger, III said he didn’t feel like a hero. He was just doing his job.

In the movie titled “Sully,” Tom Hanks takes on the role of the self-effacing pilot with customary ease. Aaron Eckhart joins him as Jeffrey Skiles, First Officer of the downed Airbus A320. And Laura Linney portrays Lorraine Sullenberger, Sully’s wife.

“Sully” is now flying high at Tropic Cinema.

As directed by Clint Eastwood, “Scully” goes beyond the plane’s miraculous landing on the frigid waters of the Hudson. “For me, the real conflict came after,” says Eastwood, “with the investigative board questioning his decisions, even though he’d saved so many lives.”

Tom Hanks, totally in character with Sully’s close-cropped white hair and mustache, sees this as a feel-good movie. “In the political atmosphere we’re in, there are an awful lot of points being made on the notion that you can’t count on people and institutions because they’re all broken -- that none of them work,” says Hanks. “Well, that’s nonsense. They’re not all broken. And you can still have faith in them. And, in that regard, I think this movie makes a really strong case.”

In recognition for saving the 155 passengers of Flight 1549, Sully Sullenberger and his crew were awarded the National Air and Space Museum’s highest honor: the 2010 Current Achievement Trophy.

“My entire life is being judged on the basis of those 3 minutes and 28 seconds,” says the real-life Sully. “We never know which flight will test us ... I had gotten to a point late in my career when I thought that test would never happen to me. I was wrong.”

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