"In the Line of Fire," the 1993 Jeff Maguire-scripted, Wolfgang Petersen-directed political action-thriller, is one of the most gripping and exciting action films ever made. It also contains one of the most thrilling games of cat-and-mouse ever depicted on the big screen. And lastly, it also features one of the best performances of its legendary star, a then-63-year-old Clint Eastwood.
At the time, Eastwood was coming off the success of winning his first Oscar for directing the previous year's Best Picture-Winner "Unforgiven" (1992). Like in that film, Eastwood uses his age to great effect in the character he plays. In "In the Line of Fire," Eastwood plays Frank Horrigan, a Secret Service agent who is the only remaining active-duty member from the detail of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who, of course, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Horrigan has been haunted for the past 30 years by his inability to protect Kennedy, since he had failed to react quickly enough to the first shot. Why he did not react faster, he isn't exactly sure. Did he mistake the sound of the first shot for something else? Or could it be because he's afraid to take a bullet for the president, even though that is his job?
In the present, Frank is now an investigative field agent with his younger partner Al D'Andrea (Dylan McDermott) as the pair work to thwart a mysterious fiend who calls himself "Booth" (as in John Wilkes Booth, the gunman that killed President Abraham Lincoln in 1865) and is gunning for the current president, who has embarked on his re-election campaign. "Booth" likes to taunt Frank over the phone (well aware that his phone calls are being traced) and even goes the extra step of providing him with just enough clues about his next actions while still remaining elusive. "Booth" is also aware of Frank's past.
"Booth" is later revealed to be Mitch Leary (John Malkovich, who received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance here), a disillusioned former assassin for the C. I. A., who had suffered a mental breakdown and now sees the murder of the president as the ultimate form of revenge against his former handlers. Leary is a chameleon-like master of disguise and expert modelmaker - two skills that he acquired from his work with the C. I. A., that he puts to excellent use in his plans to assassinate the current president, along with the homemade weapon that he will ultimately use to carry out his fiendish plot.
For Frank, he sees stopping Leary at any cost as his chance at redemption for failing to save President Kennedy 30 years earlier.
"In the Line of Fire" is a smart and satisfying, heart-stopping action-thriller, with top-notch performances from all of its cast members. Eastwood is in top form, as always, and again using his age to great effect to play yet another trademark character. He is his usual no-non-sense tough guy who butts heads with his superiors and later has to go at it lone wolf-style. But he's also aware that he isn't the same man that he was 30 years ago, as time has worked its way over him. He even struggles to keep pace in the presidential motorcade as it drives through the nation's capital. It's a stirring, realistic moment that shows that Horrigan, and Eastwood, is not a superman, and is not immune to the hands of Father Time.
On his down time, he even finds opportunities to flirt with Lily Raines ("Lethal Weapon 3" Rene Russo), his new Secret Service field chief. They get off to a rocky start - he accuses the Secret Service of tokenism by employing female field agents like herself - but over the course of the "Booth"/Leary investigation they build up a mutual respect for one another over jazz, bars, and romance. Russo was an interesting but not altogether unusual choice for Horrigan's love interest, since she again plays a formidable but tender-hearted love interest for a raw and rugged leading man.
And a hero is really only as good as his villain, and "In the Line of Fire" supplies us with John Malkovich as Mitch Leary. The oddball John Malkovich has made a career out of playing creepy and intelligent psychopaths; his Mitch Leary is no different. Leary is 100% determined to carry out his plans, and sees his conversations - which take the form of real conversations that are brilliantly acted by both himself and Eastwood - with Horrigan representing the ultimate challenge that he has set up for himself in his quest to assassinate the president. He even comes to regard Frank as his "friend." When these two meet face-to-face for the first time after a thrilling rooftop chase, there comes a moment when Leary demonstrates the depth of his insanity, and his commitment to his self-appointed mission. Malkovich is both frightening and captivating; it's no wonder, then, that he received an Oscar nomination for his performance here.
"In the Line of Fire" is not only a great action film, but it's also an outstanding Clint Eastwood film.
This one is definitely not to be missed.
9/10.
At the time, Eastwood was coming off the success of winning his first Oscar for directing the previous year's Best Picture-Winner "Unforgiven" (1992). Like in that film, Eastwood uses his age to great effect in the character he plays. In "In the Line of Fire," Eastwood plays Frank Horrigan, a Secret Service agent who is the only remaining active-duty member from the detail of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who, of course, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Horrigan has been haunted for the past 30 years by his inability to protect Kennedy, since he had failed to react quickly enough to the first shot. Why he did not react faster, he isn't exactly sure. Did he mistake the sound of the first shot for something else? Or could it be because he's afraid to take a bullet for the president, even though that is his job?
In the present, Frank is now an investigative field agent with his younger partner Al D'Andrea (Dylan McDermott) as the pair work to thwart a mysterious fiend who calls himself "Booth" (as in John Wilkes Booth, the gunman that killed President Abraham Lincoln in 1865) and is gunning for the current president, who has embarked on his re-election campaign. "Booth" likes to taunt Frank over the phone (well aware that his phone calls are being traced) and even goes the extra step of providing him with just enough clues about his next actions while still remaining elusive. "Booth" is also aware of Frank's past.
"Booth" is later revealed to be Mitch Leary (John Malkovich, who received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance here), a disillusioned former assassin for the C. I. A., who had suffered a mental breakdown and now sees the murder of the president as the ultimate form of revenge against his former handlers. Leary is a chameleon-like master of disguise and expert modelmaker - two skills that he acquired from his work with the C. I. A., that he puts to excellent use in his plans to assassinate the current president, along with the homemade weapon that he will ultimately use to carry out his fiendish plot.
For Frank, he sees stopping Leary at any cost as his chance at redemption for failing to save President Kennedy 30 years earlier.
"In the Line of Fire" is a smart and satisfying, heart-stopping action-thriller, with top-notch performances from all of its cast members. Eastwood is in top form, as always, and again using his age to great effect to play yet another trademark character. He is his usual no-non-sense tough guy who butts heads with his superiors and later has to go at it lone wolf-style. But he's also aware that he isn't the same man that he was 30 years ago, as time has worked its way over him. He even struggles to keep pace in the presidential motorcade as it drives through the nation's capital. It's a stirring, realistic moment that shows that Horrigan, and Eastwood, is not a superman, and is not immune to the hands of Father Time.
On his down time, he even finds opportunities to flirt with Lily Raines ("Lethal Weapon 3" Rene Russo), his new Secret Service field chief. They get off to a rocky start - he accuses the Secret Service of tokenism by employing female field agents like herself - but over the course of the "Booth"/Leary investigation they build up a mutual respect for one another over jazz, bars, and romance. Russo was an interesting but not altogether unusual choice for Horrigan's love interest, since she again plays a formidable but tender-hearted love interest for a raw and rugged leading man.
And a hero is really only as good as his villain, and "In the Line of Fire" supplies us with John Malkovich as Mitch Leary. The oddball John Malkovich has made a career out of playing creepy and intelligent psychopaths; his Mitch Leary is no different. Leary is 100% determined to carry out his plans, and sees his conversations - which take the form of real conversations that are brilliantly acted by both himself and Eastwood - with Horrigan representing the ultimate challenge that he has set up for himself in his quest to assassinate the president. He even comes to regard Frank as his "friend." When these two meet face-to-face for the first time after a thrilling rooftop chase, there comes a moment when Leary demonstrates the depth of his insanity, and his commitment to his self-appointed mission. Malkovich is both frightening and captivating; it's no wonder, then, that he received an Oscar nomination for his performance here.
"In the Line of Fire" is not only a great action film, but it's also an outstanding Clint Eastwood film.
This one is definitely not to be missed.
9/10.