Firefox (film)
Firefox | |
---|---|
Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
Screenplay by |
|
Based on | Firefox by Craig Thomas |
Produced by | Clint Eastwood |
Starring | Clint Eastwood |
Cinematography | Bruce Surtees |
Edited by |
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Music by | Maurice Jarre |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 136 minutes |
Countries | United States Austria Greenland |
Languages | English Russian |
Budget | $21 million[1] |
Box office | $47 million |
Firefox is a 1982 American action techno-thriller film produced, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. It is based upon the 1977 novel of the same name by Craig Thomas.
The film was set in Russia, but
Plot
A joint British-American plot is devised to steal a highly advanced
However, the
Evading the Soviets' attempts to stop him, Gant barely reaches the
Cast
- Clint Eastwood as Major Mitchell Gant
- Freddie Jones as Kenneth Aubrey
- David Huffman as Captain Buckholz
- Warren Clarke as Pavel Upenskoy
- Ronald Lacey as Dr. Maxim Ilyich Semelovsky
- Kenneth Colley as Colonel Kontarsky
- Klaus Löwitsch as General Vladimirov
- Nigel Hawthorne as Dr. Pyotr Baranovich
- Stefan Schnabel as First Secretary
- Thomas Hill as General Brown
- Curt Lowens as Dr. Schuller
- Clive Merrison as Major Lanyev
- Kai Wulff as Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Voskov
- Dimitra Arliss as Dr. Natalia Baranovich
- Austin Willis as Walters
- Michael Currie as Captain Seerbacker
- Alan Tilvern as Air Marshal Kutuzov
- Oliver Cotton as Dmitri Priabin
- Hugh Fraser as Police Inspector Tortyev
- KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov
Production
The film was based on the creation of a "mythical" super fighter: the
Filming occurred in 1981 at a number of locations including
Reception
Author Howard Hughes gave Firefox a negative review, "Watch the trailer, read the book, play the game — just avoid the film, it's another Eiger Sanction. Less a 'Firefox', it's more of a damp squib, or at best a smoldering turkey."[12] Vincent Canby's review in The New York Times made a similar assessment, zeroing in on Eastwood's lack of control over the plot line. "Firefox is only slightly more suspenseful than it is plausible. It's a James Bond movie without girls, a Superman movie without a sense of humor."[13] However, Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, describing it as "a slick, muscular thriller that combines espionage with science fiction. The movie works like a well-crafted machine."[14] Todd McCarthy of Variety panned the film as "a burn-out. Lethargic, characterless and, at 137 minutes, at least a half-hour too long."[15] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote that it was "generally entertaining," but "would be a lot more so if Eastwood, who served as producer-director, had excised some of the laborious buildup to the final shootout. Instead, we are asked to sit through some boring patches in which he avoids detection by Russian security officers, who seem to speak Russian or English whenever they like. What's uninteresting about all of this is that we know that Clint is going to make it to the plane. So, let's get on with it."[16] Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times called the film "a sagging, overlong disappointment, talky and slow to ignite. It is the first time that Eastwood the director has served Eastwood the actor-icon so badly, and it is unnerving."[17] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote, "Both loyal fans and neutral observers may agree that Eastwood has steered himself into a peculiarly murky flight path on this occasion," calling the plot "far-fetched" and expressing disappointment that "the Firefox doesn't look all that formidable on the screen ... The only in-flight special effect that stirs the imagination is the parallel curtains of water that suddenly erupt in the wake of the plane as it whooshes across the ocean."[18]
As of August 2023, the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 41% based on reviews from 17 critics.[19]
Video game
A
See also
References
- ^ a b Hughes 2009, p. 198.
- ^ "Firefox: Budget." Clint: The Life and Legend. Retrieved: June 2, 2013.
- ^ Schickel 1996, p. 378.
- ^ Schickel 1996, p. 375.
- ^ a b Thomas 1982, p. 29.
- ^ Munn 1992, p. 187.
- ^ Munn 1982, p. 185.
- ^ (1983-12-01). Spotlight on filming in SD County. Daily Times-Advocate, 52, 56-57.
- ^ Carlson 2012, p. 257.
- ^ "A Tour of the Warner Bros. Studio Museum." Warner Bros. VIP Studio Tours. Retrieved: June 2, 2013.
- ^ Carlson 2012, p. 249.
- ^ Hughes 2009, p. 200.
- ^ Canby, Vincent. "Firefox (1982), Stealing Firefox." The New York Times, June 18, 1982.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Firefox Movie Review & Film Summary (1982)". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
- ^ McCarthy, Todd (June 16, 1982). "Film Reviews: Firefox". Variety. 14.
- ^ Siskel, Gene (June 18, 1982). "Eastwood's ponderous pacing almost misfires 'Firefox'". Chicago Tribune. Section 3, p. 3.
- ^ Benson, Sheila (June 18, 1982). "Caper Chase and Classic Grace". Los Angeles Times. Part VI, p. 1.
- ^ Arnold, Gary (June 22, 1982). "Farfetched 'Firefox'". The Washington Post. B8.
- ^ Firefox at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ "Arcade Laserdisc: Fire Fox (1983 Atari)". YouTube.
Bibliography
- Carlson, Mark. Flying on Film: A Century of Aviation in the Movies, 1912–2012. Duncan, Oklahoma: BearManor Media, 2012. ISBN 978-1-59393-219-0.
- Culhane, John. Special Effects in the Movies: How They Do It. New York: Ballantine Books, 1981. ISBN 0-345-28606-5.
- Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
- Hughes, Howard. Aim for the Heart. London: I.B. Tauris, 2009. ISBN 978-1-84511-902-7.
- Munn, Michael. Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner. London: Robson Books, 1992. ISBN 0-86051-790-X.
- Schickel, Richard. Clint Eastwood: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1996. ISBN 978-0-679-74991-2.
- Thomas, Craig. Firefox. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1977. ISBN 0-03-020791-6.
- Thomas, Walter. "Filming Firefox." Air Classics, Vol. 44, No. 9, September 1982.
External links
- Firefox at IMDb
- Firefox at AllMovie
- Firefox at the TCM Movie Database
- Firefox at the American Film Institute Catalog