Typically, the only time the average person would ever jump out of an airplane is if the engine is on fire, the fuel tanks are empty or there's a bomb in the luggage compartment. In the 1994 movie "Drop Zone," however, crooks use their mad skydiving skills to make pinpoint landings on Federal Buildings in order to steal government secrets.

Wesley Snipes stars as Pete Nessip, a U.S. Marshall taking a convicted computer expert to prison on an airplane. Terrorists attack the plane, however, and parachute out a hole in the side of the fuselage, taking the computer wizard with them. During the attack, Nessip's brother also is killed, and he wants some serious payback. In order to fight these crooks on their own terms, Nessip seeks the help of Jessie Crossman (*Yancy Butler*), a skydiving expert with a chip on her shoulder. The U.S. Marshall and the skydiver clash almost immediately, but she shows him who is boss, especially in the air. With her help, Nessip may be able to catch the terrorists and avenge his brother before the final credits roll.

One of the classic adventure films from director John Badham, "Drop Zone" is a visually stunning movie that features some jaw-dropping skydiving sequences. At times, the footage looks like men and women performing an aerial ballet thousands of feet in the air. Badham has a great eye for detail, and the stunt work here is superb.

At the height of his action hero popularity, Wesley Snipes does an excellent job as U.S. Marshall Nessip. His funniest moments come when Jessie shows him exactly how she deals with reluctant jumpers --- a trapdoor under their feet. Nessip repays her cruelty with kindness, however, by saving her life after she's forced to jump without any gear.

Besides a well-packed parachute, the film also shows that a skydiver needs a pair of goggles that provide good protection from UV radiation. The eyewear also should not fog up at critical moments, no matter if you are chasing crooks like Snipes or just skydiving for fun.

There's something inherently pure about the sport of running, requiring only a t-shirt, shorts and a good pair of athletic shoes to participate. It also is a sport that shows how athletes can reach down deep into themselves to squeeze out one extra mile, even when they are teetering on the brink of exhaustion.

Without Limits, the story of Olympic athlete Steve Prefontaine (Billy Crudup), perfectly demonstrates that drive and determination. Before a car crash ended his life at the age of 24, Prefontaine was one of the most talented runners at the University of Oregon. Nicknamed "Pre" by his friends and fans, this athlete pushed himself hard on the track.

Prefontaine trained under the now-legendary coach Bill Bowerman (Donald Sutherland), who also was the co-founder of Blue Ribbon Sports, the company that would later become known as Nike. As shown in the film, Bowerman used his runners as test subjects for new athletic shoe designs. Bowerman wanted footwear that was lighter, offered greater protection for his runners and produced less wind resistance.

Hailing from Eugene, Oregon, Prefontaine participated in the 1972 Munich Olympics, but did not receive a medal in the event that he was best known for, the 5000-meter run. A favorite to win the same event at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Prefontaine tragically lost his life before he could compete.

Without Limits takes a look at the man who receives some of the credit for the popularity of running. Director Robert Towne offers a fair look at the very short life of this amazing athlete, showing both his triumphs and failures. This is a film that honors a man who could have achieved even more greatness in his chosen sport.

Besides films and books, Prefontaine's life continues to inspire people, especially the residents of Oregon. The Prefontaine Memorial Run, which is next scheduled for September 19, 2009, is now entering its 30th year of operation. A film that still pops up on cable and satellite stations, Without Limits tells the tale of the greatest runner that you probably never knew existed.

Resources:http://www.prefontainerun.com/

To an outsider, competitive sailing seems like a glamorous sport and a pastime for the wealthy and privileged. In the new film "Morning Light," however, Roy E. Disney shows that sailing is hard, grueling work that can take the lives of even the most experienced sailors.

Disney, an accomplished sailor and the nephew of the late Walt Disney, decided to gather a group of young, talented men and women to serve as the crew of the Morning Light, a 52-foot racing sloop. With the help of some experienced coaches, this enthusiastic group would participate in the Transpacific Yacht Race that begins in Los Angeles and ends in Hawaii.

Disney and co-producer Leslie DeMeuse first sailed in this race more than 30 years ago, which covers a fairly unforgiving 2,225 mile stretch of the Pacific Ocean. As Disney tells the group of young hopefuls in an early scene, one mistake can really put your lives at risk. Disney goes on to say that "I always tell my crews that if you fall overboard, consider it a death sentence." To keep that from happening, the 15 hopefuls go through intensive safety training along with their preparations for the Transpacific race. As the race draws near, however, four people will have to stay on shore as alternates while the other 11 try to sail for glory. Unanimously elected skipper by his peers, Jeremy Wilmot has the unenviable task of selecting the best possible crew for the Morning Light.

Watching this film is a lot like watching an episode of "Survivor," but with a very real sense of excitement and danger. You also get to see the less glamorous aspects of spending 10 days on a boat, including body odor, smelly feet and food that Wilmot says tastes like dirt near the end of the race. Since these young people are sharing living space, they have to live out of their duffel bags for the better part of two weeks.

One of the best sailing documentaries ever made, "Morning Light" is so realistic that you may even get seasick watching it.

In 1984, a time when the Cold War was causing some rather icy relations between the Soviet Union and the United States, a little film called Red Dawn arrived in theaters. The first movie released with the "PG-13" rating, this gritty drama showed what might happen if Russia mounted a full-scale invasion of the United States.

As the story opens, Soviet paratroopers land outside a local high school in the fictional town of Calumet, Colorado. When one teacher goes outside to investigate, he is shot in cold blood by the soldiers. During the ensuing confusion and panic, many Calumet townspeople are captured, but some students manage to escape into the mountains.

Jed Eckert (*Patrick Swayze*) leads his brother Matt (*Charlie Sheen*) and the other students on guerilla attacks against the invading army. Calling themselves "Wolverines" in honor of their high school mascot, Jed and his ragtag army actually do some real damage to the Soviet troops.

A bit unbelievable at times, the ultra-patriotic Red Dawn takes place in and around the Arapaho National Forest. Though the boys are used to camping and hunting, they really have to live off the land this time in order to survive. In one key scene, Robert (*C. Thomas Howell*) stalks and kills his first deer, drinking the blood so his spirit will bond with the spirit of the animal.

The Red Dawn cast also contains a "Who's Who" of young acting talent, many of whom went on to have stellar careers. Three years before Dirty Dancing made them household names, Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey were co-stars in this outdoor adventure. Charlie Sheen, who now will forever be known for his starring role in "Two and a Half Men," is just a supporting player here.

Many scenes in Red Dawn were shot in the town of Las Vegas, New Mexico, which also was seen more recently in the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men. It's a beautifully shot, outdoor movie that requires some suspension of disbelief, but the New Mexico scenery makes it all worthwhile.

Resources:

http://www.lasvegasnm.gov/

Some people want nothing more than to live and work in the wild, while others have the great outdoors thrust upon them. That's exactly what happens to Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks), an efficiency expert who suddenly has all the time in the world in Castaway.

As an analyst for Federal Express, Chuck constantly looks for new ways to make deliveries more efficient and timely. His devotion to both the company and the clock make him such an asset to the company that they send him to overseas locations such as Russia. The clock runs his life so much that Chuck even has to book time with his girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt). The clock finally stops, however, after a FedEx plane crashes into the ocean, killing the crew and stranding Chuck on the shores of an island, thousands of miles from home.

Not the greatest outdoorsman, Chuck is forced to bring himself up to speed on the basics of hunting and fishing. He even spends several painful hours learning how to make fire the old fashioned way, wishing the entire time that he had a lighter. With no working cell phone and unforgiving ocean currents surrounding the island, Chuck's stay on his tropical paradise stretches from days to weeks to years. His only companion there is Wilson, a volleyball that Chuck personalizes with a face and hair. Throughout his ordeal, Chuck keeps up a constant conversation with Wilson, but the audience never hears exactly what the volleyball is saying.

Enhanced by an intriguing performance from Tom Hanks, Castaway shows what happens when an executive who is used to the suburbs has to fend for himself, without benefit of clocks or cars. Hunger is a great motivator, and Chuck's situation forces him to hunt for food and water on the island. He crafts crude tools out of stones and wood and, eventually, he becomes pretty good at spear fishing. Despite getting back to nature, though, Chuck wants nothing more than to return to civilization and his beloved Kelly.

Castaway, rated PG-13 for intense action sequences and some disturbing images, is available on DVD.

Those who choose to make their home in the wilderness typically find a truly rewarding, but sometimes harsh, life away from the big cities. Clay Spencer, the outdoors hero of Spencer's Mountain, has relished the joys of living in the wild for most of his life.

As played by Henry Fonda, Spencer is the patriarch of a large family living in the Grand Teton Mountains in Wyoming. Life is quite good for Clay and his family, but Mr. Spencer wants to build a bigger and better home for his wife (*Maureen O'Hara*) on a parcel of land that he inherited. He has his extended family stop by occasionally to work on the new house, rewarding them with a big batch of Mrs. Spencer's cooking.

Unlike the mountains, which have stayed the same throughout the years, the lives of Spencer's children rapidly are changing, especially his eldest son Clayboy (*James MacArthur*). A top-notch high school student, Clayboy has dreams of packing his duffel and leaving the mountain to go to college, but his family doesn't have enough money to send him.

Clay Spencer then has to choose between making a better life for his family on the mountain and giving up his own dreams to help the kids make their way in the world. It's the toughest decision that Spencer has ever had to make, especially for a man who loves the mountains as much as he does.

A simple, yet intriguing film, Spencer's Mountain shows how a family can thrive and survive on the slopes of a mountain range like the Grand Tetons. Clay Spencer was raised on the mountain and he wants his kids to love the land just as much as he does, but their dreams have grown much larger than the Grand Tetons.

Spencer's Mountain and the novel that inspired it also formed the basis for The Waltons, the popular television series about another mountain family. It's a quiet, unappreciated film that will awaken and renew your love and lust for the great outdoors.

A few months before his untimely death, John Belushi co-starred with Blair Brown in the romantic comedy Continental Divide. Starting in the urban sprawl of Chicago before shifting to the Rocky Mountains, this film provides excellent examples of both Belushi's acting abilities and the grandeur of the Rockies.

Belushi plays Ernie Souchak, a hardboiled political reporter who goes after corrupt politicians like a lion chasing his prey. Unfortunately, Souchak gets on the wrong side of a crooked city councilman, whose henchmen promptly put him in the hospital. To keep him safe, the editor makes his top reporter load up his backpack for an out-of-town interview.

Souchak, a dedicated city dweller, is appalled after learning the subject of his interview, the reclusive naturalist Dr. Nell Porter (Brown). A woman who prefers the company of bald eagles to people, especially nosy reporters, Porter doesn't want the journalist hanging around, or interfering with her work.

In this remote mountain wilderness, however, Souchak and Porter finally reach an understanding after he is injured. Ernie comes to appreciate Nell's work and her understated beauty, while she finds that there's a decent guy under all that bluster. The two fall madly in love, just as Souchak has to head back to the Chicago skyscrapers and subways.

A romance set against a stunning Colorado backdrop, Continental Divide is the kind of film that will make you want to leave the city and head to the mountains. John Belushi and Blair Brown make an oddly believable couple, especially since the former "Saturday Night Live" star toned down his manic energy for the film. It's a real fish-out-of-water story, but Belushi makes it work.

The real star of this film is, however, the great outdoors. Countless films have been set in and around Chicago, but Colorado doesn't get as much exposure in comparison. The Nell Porter character lives in relative isolation, with only another mountain dweller for company, but she makes the mountain life look very desirable.

From Johnny Weissmuller's loincloth-wearing adventures as Tarzan to Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee, many great outdoor characters have graced the silver screen, but none as memorable as Forrest Gump. As played by Tom Hanks, this simple, honest young man from Alabama arguably was the greatest outdoorsman and all-around athlete in movie history.

Running: Born with a crooked spine, young Forrest must wear leg braces to straighten out his back. As young toughs chase him in one memorable scene, though, Forrest hobbles along on his braces until they fall off, allowing him to "run like the wind blows." From that moment forward, no matter where he went, Forrest gets there by running. As an adult, he even runs back and forth several times across the country in little more than a t-shirt, shorts and athletic shoes.

Football: Purely by accident, Forrest's running talents earn him an athletic scholarship and a position on the University of Alabama's football team. Named to the All-American Team, Forrest gets a trip to the White House and all the free soda he can drink.

Armed Combat: During the Vietnam conflict, Forrest Gump joins the Army and serves a tour of duty in the tropical Vietnamese jungles. When his platoon is attacked by enemy forces, Forrest races into the jungle to pull as many of his friends out as he can, even after he gets "shot in the buttocks."

Ping Pong: Recovering in an Army hospital, Forrest is introduced to ping pong, a sport that, in his words, "came very natural" to him. The United States makes good use of his table tennis abilities, sending him on a tour of Army hospitals across the country as well as to China to compete against their best players.

Sailing: Honoring a promise to a deceased friend, Gump travels to Louisiana and buys a shrimp boat, even though he's never sailed much before. Though the competition is fierce, he and business partner Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinise) eventually survive a vicious storm and become the most successful shrimping operation in the country.

With talents for running, fighting and sailing, Forrest Gump truly ranks among the greatest outdoor heroes in movie history.

Though they may love nothing more than being outdoors, most people spend the work week behind a desk, on a sales floor or standing on a factory line. Because they can enjoy the wild only on Saturdays and Sundays, some outdoor enthusiasts have earned the nickname "Weekend Warriors."

Billy Crystal takes this concept one step further in City Slickers by playing Mitch, a middle-aged man who "tries to find his smile" by joining his friends on a real cattle drive. Each year, on Mitch's birthday, his best friends Phil (Daniel Stern) and Ed (the late Bruno Kirby) treat him to some macho, outdoor adventure, the latest being a trip to Pamplona, Spain to run with the bulls.

For his next birthday, Phil and Ed take Mitch off to play cowboys for real. Instead of a dude ranch, however, these three businessmen spend two weeks driving cattle from New Mexico to Colorado. Under the watchful eye of Curly (Jack Palance), the Trail Boss, Mitch and his buddies ride horses and eat food that's "brown and hot" with other city slickers. Things don't quite go as planned, however, after Curly dies suddenly on the trail and his two drunken assistants abandon the group. Mitch, Phil and Ed step up and decide to complete the cattle drive without any professional assistance. Mitch even becomes a surrogate mother for an orphaned calf that he names Norman.

More insightful than funny, City Slickers deals more with finding happiness in life than anything else. Disenchanted with his career as a radio station ad executive, Mitch reluctantly heads to New Mexico with his friends to discover what Curly calls the "One Thing" that makes life worthwhile. Along the journey, Mitch and the boys ride through some gorgeous and treacherous parts of New Mexico and Colorado. Despite getting in touch with the outdoors, Mitch still can't get rid of his city slicker ways. In one scene, he pulls out a battery-powered coffee grinder that triggers a cattle stampede.

With its mature, insightful themes and breathtaking scenery, City Slickers will make you ditch your three-piece suit for a pair of jeans, saddle and a cowboy hat.

Before extreme sports added a new level of danger to athletic competitions, bicycle messengers in urban areas such as New York City risked their necks just to make a paycheck. Because a cyclist can navigate through the worst Manhattan traffic jam, many companies employed these urban daredevils to deliver important documents.

Hot off his success in "Footloose," Kevin Bacon hung up his dancing shoes to star in the 1986 urban adventure "Quicksilver." Bacon played Jack Casey, a cocky 1980's stock broker who bets everything he, his clients and his parents have on a risky deal. When that deal goes sour, Jack loses just about everything, including his self-respect. Still hungering for the thrills and speed of Wall Street, Jack buys a bicycle and becomes an employee of the Quicksilver Messenger Service. When a former stock market colleague asks him why he works as a messenger, Jack says it's because "When I'm on the street, I feel good, man. I feel exhilarated." After he befriends a new messenger named Terri (a cute-as-a-button Jamie Gertz), Jack cycles into trouble once again. Terri unknowingly delivers narcotics for a drug dealer and Jack puts himself in harm's way trying to help her. Jack's affection for Terri leads to the ultimate life-or-death showdown for this messenger.

An often overlooked film from the 1980's, "Quicksilver" pays homage to bicycle messengers who go as fast as they want. The highlight of the film is a head-to-head competition between Jack and another messenger on the New York streets, with Roger Daltrey's memorable "Quicksilver Lightning" playing in the background.

Besides a good puncture repair kit and strong legs, a bicycle messenger needs a reliable messenger bag. For Jack Casey, a good choice would be the appropriately-named Jack Pack by OGIO. With its audio pocket, Jack could listen to hits by Roger Daltrey as he made his deliveries.

An underrated movie from the 1980's, it's worth going for a ride with Kevin Bacon in this bicycle adventure. "Quicksilver," rated PG for violence, adult situations and language, is available on DVD.

Traveling on the open road gives you an intoxicating feeling of freedom, no matter if you are a jogger, hiker or bicycle enthusiast. For high school graduate Dave Stoller (Dennis Christopher), the lead character in 1979's Breaking Away, his bicycle also gives him the freedom to be someone totally different than himself.

Living near Indiana University in Bloomington, Dave becomes obsessed with competitive bicycling racing and Team Cinzano, the Italian bicycling team. Not content to be himself, Dave reinvents himself as an Italian exchange student to impress a pretty co-ed, even adopting a fake foreign accent. Eventually, though, Dave learns who the true heroes are in his life, especially after a painful encounter with Team Cinzano. He starts to embrace his status as a "Cutter," the cruel nickname given to townspeople by the wealthy college students. The term refers to the men and women who spend their lives cutting and shaping the limestone blocks harvested from the quarries in Bloomington.

A simple, yet moving story about family and friends, "Breaking Away" features some impressive footage of "The Little 500," an annual bicycle race held at Indiana University in Bloomington. Jackie Earle Haley, who plays the masked vigilante Rorschach in the "Watchmen" movie, does a great job here as the scrappy Moocher. What Moocher lacks in size, he more than makes up in attitude.

Dave does a lot of serious training in "Breaking Away," including riding in the rain and racing down the highway next to a long-distance trucker. Director Peter Yates also shows the physical dangers of bicycle racing, especially when competing against unscrupulous opponents.

Though Dave favored a simple t-shirt and shorts while riding his bike, he could have improved his performance by wearing an Ultra LS Cycle Jersey. This product from Zoot Sports helps keep a competitive bicyclist warm and dry even under the harshest road conditions.

One of the best sports-themed movies of the 20th-century, Breaking Away is a story about finding your way in the world and embracing the freedom of the open road and the outdoors.

A big part of the enjoyment that comes with exploring the great outdoors is doing it your own way, not the way that everyone else thinks you should. This fierce sense of outdoor independence dominates "The Straight Story," a big screen adventure that also focuses on some of the most gorgeous areas of the United States.

The late, great actor Richard Farnsworth stars as Alvin Straight, the real life Iowa farmer who rode a lawn mower nearly 300 miles to visit his ailing brother in Wisconsin. Not a person who liked to take charity from anyone, Straight spent a good portion of the summer of 1994 traveling the back roads at a blazing 5 miles per hour. At night, the proud and stubborn Straight would cook and camp out under the stars, paying for supplies out of his own pocket. When a kindly husband and wife offered Alvin the use of their telephone, he left cash by the phone to pay for the call. Most people would have given up along the way and accepted a ride or a bus ticket, but the stubborn Straight kept on going like a true outdoorsman.

Director David Lynch, known for such edgy material as "Blue Velvet," makes "The Straight Story" a virtual love letter to the great outdoors. As he shows Alvin Straight's long journey from Iowa to Wisconsin, Lynch captures some unspoiled wilderness on film.

Part biography and part documentary, "The Straight Story" is a film that will entice viewers to explore the great outdoors, but make sure to gas up your car and not the riding mower before hitting the road.

A few years before Kevin Costner danced with wolves on the big screen, he starred in an interesting little film called "AmericanFlyers." Here, Costner plays Dr. Marcus Sommers, a sports physician who invites his estranged brother David (David Marshall Grant) to train with him for a grueling bicycle race called the "Hell of the West."

Because their father died years earlier from a cerebral aneurism, his mom is worried that David may have inherited the same genetic defect. At his mother's urging, Marcus invites David to visit him at the sports medicine clinic where he works. Marcus puts his brother through his paces and, when David exceeds the doctor's expectations, Marcus tells him he has the "cardiovascular system of King Kong's little brother."

Marcus also encourages David to join him in "The Hell of the West," slowly bonding with his brother as they bicycle through the mountains. Along the way, David meets an attractive young lady (Alexandra Paul from "Baywatch") who joins their racing team. As the race progresses, however, Marcus starts to have difficulty keeping up with his little brother.

Largely ignored during its initial release in 1985, "American Flyers" focused on competitive bicycle racing long before Lance Armstrong started breaking records in the Tour de France. Kevin Costner, known for the classic baseball film "Field of Dreams," does a decent job here as Dr. Sommers, but it is not his best role by any means.

The real selling point of "American Flyers" is, of course, the race itself. Director John Badham ("War Games,") and his camera crew captured some beautiful shots of Colorado mountain roads for the racing sequences. The plot is pretty standard stuff, but the scenery truly is unforgettable.

If you want to try your legs at racing through the mountains like Marcus and David, the best place to start is with your shoes. Before you begin training, invest in a good pair of Merrell Moab Ventilators, which are tough enough to handle the punishment of a stage race like "The Hell of the West."

Long before the series focused more on style than substance, Sylvester Stallone gave one of the best performances of his career in "First Blood," the story of a Vietnam Vet who had serious difficulty returning to civilian life.

Stallone plays John J. Rambo, a decorated war hero trying to reconnect with some members of his squad. Unfortunately, after traveling to a small town, he learns that one of his Green Beret buddies has died from long-term exposure to the chemicals used during the Vietnam conflict. Of all the soldiers in his squad, he literally is the last man standing.

The frustrated Rambo simply wants to get something to eat and leave town, but the narrow-minded local sheriff (Brian Dennehy) doesn't like the way he looks and drives him to the city limits. When Rambo returns to town, the sheriff promptly arrests him, abusing him with a high-pressure hose and a straight razor. The mental and physical torture reawakens Rambo's guerilla warfare skills and he escapes into the woods. With only a survival knife and his military training, the former soldier wages his own personal war against both the town and the memories that still haunt him from Vietnam.

The best scenes in "First Blood" take place in the wilderness, where John J. Rambo goes into hiding and lives off the land. As his former commander tells the police, Rambo has been trained to eat things that "would make a billy goat puke." He also has an incredible tolerance for pain, especially during one outdoor sequence where he has to sew up his own wounded arm.

A soldier such as John Rambo can survive with just a knife, but most people who enjoy camping really can use a good duffel bag like the Expedition made by Mountain Hardware. When you need to haul a lot of gear into rough terrain, the Expedition is roomy enough to hold everything you need.

Though the later "Rambo" movies focused more on special effects than characters, "First Blood" remains one of the best outdoor movies ever made.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, men who had lost everything because of the economy "rode the rails" in search of something better. "Emperor of the North," a classic film from the 1970's, showed how truly dangerous this activity could become for these hobos. Character actor Ernest Borgnine ("The Poseidon Adventure") starred as Shack, a legendary train conductor who didn't take kindly to bums riding his train cars for free. If it came down to it, Shack would prefer to kill a homeless rider rather than let anyone ride his train illegally.

Shack's lethal reputation made him a legend among those riding the rails, and anyone who could safely ride the conductor's train for free would become a hero. A hobo named "A Number 1" (the legendary Lee Marvin) takes up the challenge, hoping to escape the watchful eye of the lethal Shack during the trip. Unfortunately, the veteran hobo gets stuck with a novice rider (Keith Carradine) whose ego and inexperience may get them both killed.

Most of the action takes place on top of a moving train, and this makes "Emperor of the North" exceptionally gritty and harsh. This is not a battle of wits between conductor and hobo but rather a fight to the death between two Depression-era gladiators, neither of whom is willing to back down.

At his crusty best, Ernest Borgnine rules both the film and the train as Shack, the conductor who has no compassion or sympathy for anyone. Shack's weapon of choice was a large hook attached to a heavy-duty chain, which he wielded like a pair of nunchucks against any man who dared hitch a ride on his train.

Lee Marvin goes toe-to-toe with Borgnine as the veteran rail rider looking to bolster his reputation. "A Number 1" was the kind of man who liked to travel light, so if it was available to him, he would have worn a Mountain Hardwear Lodown Jacket with enough goose down to keep him warm on those cold train rides.

With its simple, yet effective story, "Emperor of the North" definitely is a classic outdoor adventure. "Emperor of the North" is available on DVD.