In the Line of Fire (Special Edition)
by Wolfgang Petersen
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Clint Eastwood, Dylan McDermott, Gary Cole, John Malkovich, Rene RussoDirector: Wolfgang Petersen
Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
Cinematographer: John Bailey
Producer: Wolfgang Petersen
Producer: David Valdes
Producer: Gail Katz
Producer: Jeff Apple
Producer: Robert J. Rosenthal
Writer: Jeff Maguire
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Unknown; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Unknown; French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); Portuguese (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 128 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-02-27
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of In the Line of Fire (Special Edition)
Movie Review: Eastwood Vs. Malkovich, with the President in the Middle...
Summary: 5 Stars
Clint Eastwood, in his first film after completing his masterpiece, UNFORGIVEN, chose a winner with Wolfgang Petersen's suspenseful IN THE LINE OF FIRE. As 30-year veteran Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan, Eastwood had the misfortune of protecting President Kennedy, November 22, 1963, and the specter of not reacting quickly enough has never fully left him, through the subsequent years. At the other end of the spectrum is ex-CIA assassin Mitch Leary (brilliantly portrayed by John Malkovich), who had become 'excess baggage' for the intelligence community, due to budget cuts. After surviving a bungled attempt to kill him, Leary decides to vent his rage at his 'betrayal' by assassinating the President. In his research, he discovers that the only agent still active from the 1963 team is Horrigan, and, deciding they shared a kinship, he begins to tease Horrigan with clues about himself, and how he'll kill the President.The film builds up a 'head of steam' from the very first scene, as Horrigan and his partner, Al D'Andrea (Dylan McDermott, long before television stardom in THE PRACTICE) take down a band of counterfeiters, and the edginess never lets up, as Leary, introducing himself as 'Booth', begins his series of fateful calls to Horrigan. Facing mounting opposition from the head of the Presidential Secret Service team (Gary Cole), as well as the White House Chief of Staff (future Senator Fred Dalton Thompson), Horrigan badgers, insults, and belittles everyone's work, knowing the potential assassin will find any crack in the security, and take advantage of it. Only his boss, Sam Campagna (FRAZIER star John Mahoney), his partner, D'Andrea, and fellow agent Lilly Raines (Rene Russo, in another star-making performance), take him seriously, with Raines soon falling in love with the cantankerous agent.
The plot is full of twists and turns, as Horrigan barely misses capturing Leary, twice, and Leary, at one point, actually saves Horrigan's life (while ending D'Andrea's). Strung so tightly that he starts making bad 'calls', Horrigan is finally removed from Presidential security...just as Leary is about to make his move...
IN THE LINE OF FIRE does for the Secret Service what BACKDRAFT did for firefighters, and television's NYPD BLUE did for policemen; it shows the organization not as a group of faceless supermen, but as dedicated people performing an essential service, protecting the lives of others. As Leary sneers to Horrigan, "I'm the offense, you're the defense," and that analogue truly describes the difficulty of their job; they must find the means to protect the President against whatever misdeed a perpetrator can concoct. While Clint Eastwood's Horrigan may be far more of a 'lone wolf' than the Agency would, in real life, tolerate, his dedication to his job reflects well on those unique individuals who would 'take a bullet' for the President.
It is an excellent suspense film, and a worthy addition to any Clint Eastwood collection!
Summary of In the Line of Fire (Special Edition)
A VETERAN SECRET SEVICE AGENT HAUNTED BY HIS FAILURE TO PROTECT JOHN F. KENNEDY FROM ASSASSINATION GETS A CHANCE TO REDEEMHIMSELF THIRTY YEARS LATER, WHEN A BRILLIANT PSYCHOPATH THREATENS TO KILL THE CURRENT PRESIDENT.Between his directorial duties on A Perfect World and The Bridges of Madison County, Clint Eastwood starred in this pulse-racing 1993 thriller. In the Line of Fire was directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the brilliant director of the World War II U-boat masterpiece Das Boot. Eastwood gives one of his best performances as Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan, who still feels responsible for the death of JFK 30 years earlier. Horrigan gets a shot at redemption when challenged by a psychotic but highly intelligent assassin (John Malkovich) who intends to kill the current U.S. president. Tension builds as this intellectual cat-and-mouse game reaches its climactic confrontation, but not before we've seen the killer at work, covering his trail with ruthless precision. Tightly scripted by Jeff Maguire, the film cuts Malkovich loose as one of the most memorable screen villains of the 1990s, and costars Rene Russo as Eastwood's sharp Secret Service colleague and romantic partner. --Jeff Shannon
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