Firefox (1982)

A pilot is sent into the Soviet Union on a mission to steal a prototype jet fighter that can be partially controlled by a neuralink

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers:

Alex Lasker (screenplay), Wendell Wellman (screenplay),

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Freddie Jones, David Huffman

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Mitchell Gant
Freddie Jones	...	Kenneth Aubrey
David Huffman	...	Captain Buckholz
Warren Clarke	...	Pavel Upenskoy
Ronald Lacey	...	Semelovsky
Kenneth Colley	...	Colonel Kontarsky
Klaus Löwitsch	...	General Vladimirov (as Klaus Lowitsch)
Nigel Hawthorne	...	Pyotr Baranovich
Stefan Schnabel	...	First Secretary
Thomas Hill	...	General Brown
Clive Merrison	...	Major Lanyev
Kai Wulff	...	Lt. Colonel Voskov
Dimitra Arliss	...	Natalia
Austin Willis	...	Walters
Michael Currie	...	Captain Seerbacker

Storyline

The Soviets have developed a revolutionary new jet fighter, called "Firefox". Naturally, the British are worried that the jet will be used as a first-strike weapon, as rumours say that the jet is indetectable on radar. They send ex-Vietnam War pilot Mitchell Gant on a covert mission into the Soviet Union to steal Firefox.

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Plot Keywords:

soviet union | refueling | russia | jet fighter | fighter plane | 

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Taglines:

...the most devastating killing machine ever built... his job... steal it!

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Genres:

Action | Thriller | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

18 June 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Firefox - tulikettu

Filming Locations:

Cut Bank, Montana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$21,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$8,152,948 (USA) (18 June 1982)

Gross:

$8,152,948 (USA) (18 June 1982)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Malpaso Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A new special effects technique for the shooting of the flying sequences called "Reverse Blue-Screen Photography" was developed by John Dykstra for this picture. Wikipedia states that the process involved "coating the model with phosphorus paint and photographing it first with strong lighting against a black background and then with ultraviolet light to create the necessary male and female mattes to separate the foreground model and the background footage. This enabled the shiny black model to be photographed flying against a clear blue sky and gleaming white snow; compare this with traditional blue-screen technique used in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back".

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Goofs

When the Firefox crosses over the Missle cruiser Riga the sky is clear. However, when we see the view of the missiles from behind the Firefox the sky is suddenly cloudy.

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Quotes

Priabin: [speaking of Mitchell Gant] Obviously, sir, he knows our planes, our aircraft, as well as anyone. He would be a good choice for sabotage or analysis of information. But, perhaps he intends a close inspection of the MiG-31!
Col. Kontarsky: [realizing Priabin is implying that Gant may steal the MiG-31] He *cannot* be here for *that*!
Priabin: [realizing he may be right] No sir. Surely not! He couldn't hope to get away with it!
Col. Kontarsky: Thank you, Dmitri, thank you. Well done.
[to his lieutenants]
Col. Kontarsky: Arrest Baronovich and the others now!...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits after the title has been shown. This has since become a trademark of all Eastwood-directed films.

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Connections

Edited into Trouble with the Curve (2012)

User Reviews

Cold War clichés

I'm not sure whether Firefox is really a guilty pleasure or simply a film I remember as being one. It's certainly overlong and overfamiliar despite its neat Maguffin – Clint Eastwood's flashback-plagued Vietnam vet fighter ace has to steal a state-of-the-art warplane with a thought-controlled weapons system (as long as you remember to think in Russian) from the heart of the Evil Empire – but it has a sort of undemanding Cold War charm that the constant stream of clichés only reinforces. Even the old school model effects in the final chase-and-dogfight section are more fun in their way than modern CGI effects, especially when the Firefox is leaving a wall of water in its wake as it races across the sea or causing fallen snow to fill the air as it passes over the mountains, so it's a shame that much of the last third is played in darkened control rooms rather than the skies.

The Russians, naturally, are mostly played by British actors, albeit in this case actors best known for their sitcoms, which adds a different dimension to their scenes as comically humourless KGB types or lemming-like dissidents only too happy to die for the cause, or incorrigible hams like Freddie Jones who simply look like they SHOULD be in a sitcom. There's even an almost admirable perversity into giving most of the explanatory dialogue in the last half-hour to Klaus Löwitsch, an actor with a shaky grasp of spoken English who sounds like a bumblebee caught in a vacuum cleaner pipe. Not good by any means, but strangely watchable, and Maurice Jarre contributes an enjoyable score from the days before he disappeared entirely into atonal electronics.

The Region 1 DVD is the uncut theatrical version before Clint re-edited and trimmed the film by some 12 minutes without visibly improving it, although the Region 2 PAL DVD is the cut version.