The Cannes Film Festival might have felt a little less blockbuster-y this year, but John Travolta brought all the star power as he debuted his first film as a director.
Among the Hollywood contingent this year, including jury member Demi Moore, and official competition film actors Adam Driver and Sebastian Stan, Grease icon Travolta unveiled Propeller One-Way Night Coach on the Croisette.
But it was somewhat of an unexpected comeback for the actor, who had stepped away from the spotlight since the death of his wife, Kelly Preston, in 2020.
The last decade or so of his career also included a significant direct-to-video dip, seeing him languish in the likes of Speed Kills (2018), which holds the unfortunate distinction of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.
But on Friday, the 72-year-old’s intensely personal film will receive its international release on Apple TV – and potentially herald his return to more acclaimed movie territory.
What is Propeller One-Way Night Coach about?
Propeller One-Way Night Coach is an adaptation of Travolta’s own 1997 children’s book of the same name; he wrote, directed, produced, narrated, and financed the 61-minute film, as well as appearing in a cameo role as a pilot.
Set in the 1960s, the golden age of aviation, the movie follows young plane enthusiast Jeff (Clark Shotwell) and his mother (Kelly Eviston-Quinnett) as they set off on a one-way, cross-country journey to Hollywood.
As a lifelong aeroplane enthusiast and qualified pilot, the film has plenty of autobiographical elements, with Travolta also sharing that Eviston-Quinnett’s character was based on his own actress mother and older sister Ellen, who was in attendance at Cannes.
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My review of Propeller One-Way Night Coach
I doubt Propeller One-Way Night Coach will see John Travolta reach the high altitude of his early career heyday with the likes of Saturday Night Fever, which earned him an Oscar nomination, or Grease.
Some critics have brutally ripped into it as part of a decidely mixed reception, describing it as a new low for the star and ‘like watching a toddler walk into a lamp post’.
But I disagree. It has an inherent likability at its core that is quite hard to resist, even in some of its cringier moments.
Travolta, sensibly for such a nostalgia-filled film, leans hard into the style and sounds of the sixties, complete with kitsch animations and no apology for obvious musical choices like the gentle jazziness of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five or Frank Sinatra.
Clark Shotwell is an endearing screen presence as Jeff, an upbeat eight-year-old – even in the face of repeated chicken cordon bleu – who’s thrilled to be on a plane for the first time.
That the film is narrated by Travolta as an older Jeff does awkwardly jar at times, especially to begin with and during some of the more clangingly inelegant parts of the writer-director’s script, but they eventually find a sort of groove together.
It also helps add a little extra humour to some of the rather mature observations this precocious (but not annoyingly so) child has about his mother, Helen (a fizzy Kelly Eviston-Quinnett), as she keeps an eye out for a rich boyfriend. In fact, Jeff is only too happy to help in the hunt while nursing his own crush on air stewardess Doris (Ella Bleu Travolta).
Propeller One-Way Night Coach is, as others have pointed out, a bit of an oddity running at an hour. It also offers nothing ground-breaking to viewers, who may not really know what to make of it, but it will certainly appeal to fans of Mad Men or the cruelly cut short Pan Am as a welcome snapshot of the glamour of the period.
As a film, it demands nothing of you, which could be a selling point in its own right. The innocence with which it celebrates the magic of aviation harks back to its roots as a 1997 children’s book by Travolta, who also largely avoids any sentimentality of the movie becoming cloying.
While it is, at its heart, an indulgent vanity project for its creator and star, it was also Travolta’s own money that he chose to spend – and the passion and knowledge he demonstrates for aviation (he’s also a qualified pilot who flew himself to Cannes and back) is a major part of the appeal that it does have.
It’s not a cool or zeitgeisty film, but it does work as a reminder that being nerdy about something is often infectious, which Travolta already learned with both Apple TV signing on to the project and Cannes Film Festival accepting it.
Is it the best work he’s ever done? No. But it’s also far from the worst, which has come most consistently in the past 10 years or so, when he’s found himself in the direct-to-video doldrums. Nor is it in any way offensive.
If this is how Travolta launches himself back into the big leagues of Hollywood, I won’t begrudge it.
3/5
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John Travolta’s Propeller premiere
For those not at Cannes, Travolta’s emotional reaction to being awarded a surprise honorary Palme d’Or at the screening grabbed most of the headlines in the aftermath.
What’s more, his bold new look of beret and glasses threatened to overshadow any artistic purpose of the evening entirely; he later confirmed he was ‘playing the part of a director’ as an homage to great auteurs and also in order to look back and easily define the event in his 50-year career.
Travolta was visibly touched to have a Palme d’Or bestowed upon him, saying it was ‘the last thing I expected’, ‘a humbling moment’ – and even ‘beyond the Oscar’.
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He also avoided committing to confirming that directing was a permanent career move, revealing he ‘just wouldn’t dare unless it was something as delicious and inviting as this was’.
But his remarks suggested he had no retirement plans as of yet.
‘The truth is that I do know how to do this. And for 55 years, I’ve watched other people do it well, I’ve watched them do it not so well, I’ve watched them do it mediocrely [sic.], and I’ve watched mistakes – and I really believe I can navigate around all of that in anything I would choose to do,’ he told the audience at Cannes.
Has John Travolta pulled off a second career comeback thanks to Cannes?
This is not the first time Travolta has been lauded at Cannes, for in 1994, his career enjoyed a major resurgence thanks to Quentin Tarantino and his enduring classic Pulp Fiction.
During the 1980s, the actor had hit a rocky patch of some critical and commercial failures while also turning down the lead parts in movies that went on to be massive, including An Officer and a Gentleman and Splash.
While baby comedy Look Who’s Talking in 1989 gave Travolta his most successful film since Grease, it was playing against type as hitman Vincent Vega that truly revitalised things for him, bringing a second Oscar nomination as well.
Pulp Fiction – which won the official compeition and was awarded the Palme d’Or – was re-screened again at Cannes on its 20th anniversary in 2014, with the city’s affection for the film on permanent display thanks to a giant underpass mural.
But in recent years, bar an Emmy acting nomination in 2016 for The People v. O. J. Simpson (and a win as a producer), the Swordfish and Hairspray star has largely been languishing in bargain bin films like Paradise City, Mob Land, and Cash Out sequel High Rollers, none of which even received theatrical releases.
However, Cannes was ready to fight for its now-Palme d’Or honouree, with festival director Thierry Frémaux even breaking the long-held rules of not formally accepting films until right before the festival.
Following the screening, Travolta emphasised that the ‘biggest compliment’ he received for Propeller One-Way Night Coach was Frémaux’s recognition and acceptance of it ‘for the first time in history, five months before all these decisions were [usually] made’.
He also revealed he ‘cried like a baby because I just couldn’t believe it’.
‘I was afraid that Berlin [Film Festival] could have stolen the film! I wanted to keep it for us,’ responded Frémaux.
His decision to also award a Palme d’Or gives Travolta the perfect runway for Propeller One-Way Night Coach and another potential comeback. The magic of Cannes could work a second time to elevate this movie icon’s career – if he so chooses – back to the highest echelons.
Fans will also get their say via the power of streaming very soon, where Apple TV also adds a protective layer of prestige as a discerning platform, which is also home to some of the biggest Hollywood players and hits with The Morning Show (Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston), Shrinking (Harrison Ford), and pop culture phenomenon Severance.
If this heralds a brighter career era for Travolta, it remains to be seen, but being in the room at Cannes reminded me of the true movie star that he has been – and could be again.
Propeller One-Way Night Coach premiered at Cannes Film Festival on May 15. It releases on Apple TV exclusively on Friday, May 29.
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