Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan couldn't save Kennedy, but he's determined not to let a clever assassin take out this president.Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan couldn't save Kennedy, but he's determined not to let a clever assassin take out this president.Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan couldn't save Kennedy, but he's determined not to let a clever assassin take out this president.
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 2 wins & 17 nominations total
- Harry Sargent
- (as Fred Dalton Thompson)
- Matt Wilder
- (as Greg Alan-Williams)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe 62-year old Clint Eastwood (with the help of a safety belt) actually did hang six stories above the ground on the ledge scene, although stuntmen did the jump and the fall onto the fire escape.
- GoofsLilly's gown during the party scene would be inappropriate for a female Secret Service agent, as it would prevent her from performing her duties should there be an attempt on the President's life. In those situations female agents instead wear dress pants and more practical shoes. (With the gown, there is also the problem of where to hide the service weapon.)
- Quotes
Frank Horrigan: [over the phone] I want you to give yourself up.
Mitch Leary: So I can live a long and fruitful life?
Frank Horrigan: Oh, we can work something out.
Mitch Leary: [laughs] Jesus, Frank, don't fucking lie to me. I have a rendezvous with death, and so does the President, and so do you, Frank, if you get too close to me.
Frank Horrigan: You have a rendezvous with my ass, motherfucker!
- Alternate versionsThe original UK cinema and video releases were cut by 8 secs (10 secs for video) by the BBFC to heavily edit shots of Al being suffocated with a plastic bag, some bloody gunshot impacts, Sally's head being beaten against a wall, and to remove the neck-breaks of Sally's flatmate. The cuts were fully waived in 2008 for the Blu-ray.
- ConnectionsEdited into In the Line of Fire: The Ultimate Sacrifice (2000)
- SoundtracksWillow Weep For Me
Written by Ann Ronell
Clint is Frank, a Secret Service agent who, perhaps in a moment of doubt, failed to catch the bullet that killed JFK. He then took to drink, which drove his family away, and now plods along in the bureaucracy until he is contacted by John Malkovitch, calling himself "Booth," who strikes up a sort of skewed relationship with him based on their shared, disillusioned conviction that everything is meaningless except the impulse to escape dreariness and predictability. Now, this is rather an anfractuous set of attitudes for a performer like Clint to project, but he does rather well, less robotic than usual. And he does seem to carry around with him, like a burden of stone, the memory of that moment in Dallas.
He's tested again halfway through this movie. He is hanging from the roof of a tall building, grasping Booth's hand, and he pulls his pistol and points it at Booth, who asks him if he is really willing to shoot. If he does, of course, he saves the president from an attempted assassination by a CIA-trained murderer, but he does so at the cost of his own life. Booth twits him about the situation as they hold hands in midair.
Later Clint even has a short speech, talking to Renee Russo, about his failure to save the president in Dallas. "If I'd have reacted quickly enough, I could have taken that shot . . . and that would have been alright with me." It's underplayed, but his voice chokes slightly, his eyes water, and his lip trembles. It's one of the few scenes in any of Clint's films that might properly be called "moving." We know from his newfound resolve that given another chance he would take the bullet this time. (The irony is that he doesn't like the current president. Who could? He gives pompous speeches in Colorado about how they "carved a nation out of the wilderness." Didn't they do the same thing in Las Vegas?)
It's often said that a movie is only as good as its villain. It isn't true, nothing is that simple, but an argument could be made for its truth value in this case. The reptilian John Malkovitch with his Tartar eyes is marvelous.
Talk about disillusioned. Okay, he can ham it up a little, sniffing with disdain even as he plugs two innocent hunters between the eyes, but he's fascinating on the screen. Renee Russo has little do to. Fred Thompson, as the chief White House aid, is now back in politics, a relief for movie-goers. If Clint's acting range is limited, Thompson's is something less. In every film he's been in, he wears the same solemn and dissatisfied expression, as if constantly plagued by some form of volcanic digestive disorder.
The direction by Wolfgang Peterson is as good as it was in "Das Boot," which is pretty good. There is a great deal of the usual suspenseful cross-cutting in the final shootout. And when Clint and Russo fall into an impassioned embrace in her hotel room and scuttle backwards towards the bed like two weasels in heat, Peterson playfully shows us their feet along with a succession of objects dropping to the floor -- not only the usual garments but handcuffs, guns, beepers, palm pilots, Dick Tracy wrist watches and other impedimenta. Interrupted, Clint lies back on the bed and sighs, "Now I have to put all that stuff back on again."
Well written and worth watching.
- rmax304823
- Apr 27, 2002
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Trong Tầm Lửa Đạn
- Filming locations
- Biltmore Hotel - 506 S. Grand Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA(as hotel in Denver)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $40,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $102,314,823
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $15,269,388
- Jul 11, 1993
- Gross worldwide
- $176,997,168
- Runtime2 hours 8 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1