Air Force One (1997)

Hijackers seize the plane carrying the President of the United States and his family, but he (an ex-soldier) works from hiding to defeat them.

Director:

Wolfgang Petersen

Writer:

Andrew W. Marlowe

Stars:

Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Harrison Ford	...	President James Marshall
Gary Oldman	...	Ivan Korshunov
Glenn Close	...	Vice President Kathryn Bennett
Wendy Crewson	...	Grace Marshall
Liesel Matthews	...	Alice Marshall
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Chief of Staff Lloyd 'Shep' Shepherd
Xander Berkeley	...	Secret Service Agent Gibbs
William H. Macy	...	Major Caldwell
Dean Stockwell	...	Defense Secretary Walter Dean
Tom Everett	...	National Security Advisor Jack Doherty
Jürgen Prochnow	...	General Ivan Radek (as Jurgen Prochnow)
Donna Bullock	...	Deputy Press Secretary Melanie Mitchel
Michael Ray Miller	...	Colonel Axelrod
Carl Weintraub	...	Lt. Colonel Ingraham
Elester Latham	...	AFO Navigator

Storyline

The President of the USA goes to Moscow and gives a stirring speech outlining the USA's new "Zero-tolerance" policy with respect to terrorism. On the flight home, terrorists take over Air Force One (the President's official plane) and take the passengers (including his wife and daughter) hostage. The terrorists plan to execute one hostage every half-hour unless/until their demands are met. However, the President is a former Medal of Honor winner, so the terrorists may be in for a surprise...

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Plot Keywords:

terrorist | hostage | ex soldier | terrorism | u.s. president | 

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Taglines:

Harrison Ford is the President of the United States.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Details

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

25 July 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

AFO

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$85,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$76,200,000 (Non-US) (31 October 1997)

Gross:

$172,620,724 (USA) (30 January 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Beacon Communications, Radiant Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One day during filming, two F/A-18 fighters appeared and radioed in a surprised report that the plane they'd been asked to identify was Air Force One and there were bullet holes in it. (They were actually decals). The air traffic control center in Los Angeles knew about the filming and was able to set them straight.

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Goofs

When the terrorist fires at the toilets, the bullet spray on the back wall of the second toilet (that he opens) is different from the spray on the door.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Major Perkins: [after landing in Kazakstan] Quick head count! One, two, three, four, five. Move out!

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Crazy Credits

Jürgen Prochnow plays General Ivan Radek yet in the cast list he is credited as "General Alexander Radek".

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Connections

References Die Hard (1988)

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Soundtracks

"L'INTERNATIONALE"
Written by Eugène Pottier (as Eugene Pottier) and Pierre Degeyter

User Reviews

Fun to watch, if you do not make a big deal out of technical accuracy.

Very entertaining action, once you get past the "believability" problems, i.e., terrorists getting on the plane at all, the plane having an on-board armory, Secret Service agents' inability to shoot accurately, etc.

Acting is good enough that you care about the characters.

As others have noted, the CGI aerial sequences sometimes have the aircraft moving in unnatural or impossible ways, and this is visually jarring. (After the touch-and-go, Air Force One turns a 180 almost like a helicopter) I gave it a 7 out of 10 - not brilliant, but makes for an entertaining evening.