Broken Arrow (1996)

Terrorists steal nuclear warheads from the U.S. military but don't count on a pilot and park ranger spoiling their plans.

Director:

John Woo

Writer:

Graham Yost

Stars:

John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Travolta	...	Vic Deakins
Christian Slater	...	Riley Hale
Samantha Mathis	...	Terry Carmichael
Delroy Lindo	...	Colonel Max Wilkins
Bob Gunton	...	Pritchett
Frank Whaley	...	Giles Prentice
Howie Long	...	Kelly
Vondie Curtis-Hall	...	Lt. Colonel Sam Rhodes
Jack Thompson	...	Chairman, Joint Chief of Staff
Vyto Ruginis	...	Johnson
Ousaun Elam	...	Lt. Thomas
Shaun Toub	...	Max
Casey Biggs	...	Novacek
Jeffrey Stephan	...	Shepherd (as Jeffrey J. Stephen)
Joey Box	...	Frakes

Storyline

"Broken Arrow" is the term used to describe a nuclear device that has been lost. In this movie, two nuclear missiles are stolen by rogue US pilot Deakins, but hot on his trail is his co-pilot Hale and a Park Ranger, Terry. The action takes place in Utah's canyon country; a high stakes game of cat and mouse.

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Plot Keywords:

male male relationship | good versus evil | evil man | villain | hero | 

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Taglines:

Prepare to Go Ballistic

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong action violence and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 February 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Código flecha rota

Filming Locations:

Lee's Ferry, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$70,770,147

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$150,270,147

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Mark Gordon Productions, WCG Entertainment Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

John Travolta and Samantha Mathis later worked together again on The Punisher (2004) which in that film Maria Castle (Mathis) is killed by the film's main antagonist Howard Saint (Travolta).

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Goofs

The scene where the traitor pretends to be incapacitated by radiation from an "exposed core" of the weapons, and the ones listening seemingly believe that, is implausible. Weapon grade plutonium has fairly little radioactivity, and that is alpha-radiation, which is easily stopped by plain clothes and the skin before it does any damage. Furthermore, radiation poisoning does not kick in that fast. And last, suspending belief in these facts and assuming cracked weapons could kill, the teams would not go in without radiation meters to warn them off to prevent this exact scenario. So no one would be fooled by the fake radio transmission, especially if an investigation team was sent to find the bodies and discover that their causes of death were bullet wounds and not radiation poisoning.

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Quotes

Terry: [running after Riley even though he told her to go to a phone for help] Oh, this is a bad idea.
[jumps on the roof of the truck with Hale]
Terry: Hi.
Riley Hale: [Bemused] Hi.

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Connections

Referenced in Mission to Mars (2000)

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Soundtracks

Brothers
Composed by Hans Zimmer
Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

User Reviews

Cool!?

Well. What can I say? This film is rather typical and has the same amount of violence as many other action-thrillers. (But perhaps a little more?) Despite this, it was very enjoyable and in my opinion deserves 6.5 stars-slightly more than it actually got. I never realized that Travolta was such a good "bad guy" actor and almost deserved an Oscar! But Christian Slater was just as good as the out and out good guy, along with Terry Carmichael as his side-kick. The ending was short but effective, because of the pleasing lack of sentimentality and sexism. Keep up the good films, because I certainly enjoyed this one.