When The Rocketeer opened in the summer of 1991, critics weren’t blind to the notion that the film might owe a debt or two to the Indiana Jones franchise. Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Chicago Reader dubbed it a “rip-off” of both the Indiana Jones films as well as Back To The Future, and other reviews didn’t ignore its inspiration in ’30s- and ’40s-era serials. (The late, great Roger Ebert suggested, “Indy kidded [serials], The Rocketeer copies them.”)

What the...? Wait. Since Indiana Jones was pulp-era inspired didn't that franchise owe a debt or two to the Doc Savage and Tarzan films, then, not to mention the Flash Gordon movie that came out in 1980? Is there some sort of dibs on harkening back to the pulp era? Rocketeer, the movie, was based on a comic book series that quite obviously and openly drew its inspiration from that entire era, which included...oh...I dunno...King of the Rocket Men who wore a rocket pack on his back, who inspired Commander Cody! It's kinda hard to base a film on a comic book series that's inspired by the pulp era without having elements that scream that era. The article mentioned Dick Tracy, but there was also The Shadow and the Phantom, so which movies get a pass to be based upon the pulp era?