High Road To China File

The Biplanes That Almost Wore a Fedora: Revisiting High Road to China

In the early 1980s, the cinematic landscape was dominated by a single, whip-cracking shadow: Indiana Jones. Yet, in 1983, a different kind of adventurer took to the skies in High Road to China . Starring Tom Selleck in his first major leading film role, this aviation-heavy epic is often remembered as the "consolation prize" for the man who almost played Indy. However, beneath its reputation as a "copycat" lies a production story as turbulent as the cross-continental flight it portrays. The Consolation Prize of a Lifetime High Road to China

Released just two years after Raiders , High Road to China was frequently dismissed by critics as a "pale echo" or a "lifeless" imitation. Selleck, however, defended the film, noting that while both were period adventure pieces, his character—, a boozing, PTSD-haunted WWI vet—was far removed from the scholarly, tomb-raiding archaeologist. A Troubled Flight Path The Biplanes That Almost Wore a Fedora: Revisiting