The Rock (1996)

A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.

Director:

Michael Bay

Writers:

David Weisberg (story), Douglas Cook (story) (as Douglas S. Cook)

Stars:

Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Connery	...	John Patrick Mason
Nicolas Cage	...	Stanley Goodspeed
Ed Harris	...	General Francis X. Hummel
John Spencer	...	F.B.I. Director Womack
David Morse	...	Major Tom Baxter
William Forsythe	...	Ernest Paxton
Michael Biehn	...	Commander Anderson
Vanessa Marcil	...	Carla Pestalozzi
John C. McGinley	...	Marine Captain Hendrix (as John C. Mc Ginley)
Gregory Sporleder	...	Captain Frye
Tony Todd	...	Captain Darrow
Bokeem Woodbine	...	Sergeant Crisp
Jim Maniaci	...	Private Scarpetti
Greg Collins	...	Private Gamble
Brendan Kelly	...	Private Cox

Storyline

Stanley Goodspeed, who lives in Washington, D.C., is a biochemist who works for the F.B.I. Soon after his fiancée Carla Pestalozzi announces that she is pregnant, Stanley gets a call from F.B.I. Director James Womack. Womack tells Stanley that San Francisco's Alcatraz Island has been taken hostage, along with eighty-one tourists, by Marine General Francis Xavier Hummel who, for years, has been protesting the government's refusal to pay benefits to families of war veterans who died during covert military operations. The death of his wife Barbara on March 9, 1995 drove General Hummel over the edge, and now he's holding hostages in order to get his point across. Stanley is needed because General Hummel has stolen some VX gas warheads and has announced that he will launch them onto San Francisco unless his demands are met. Stanley knows how to disarm the bombs, but he needs someone who knows Alcatraz well enough to get him inside. That man is former British Intelligence Agent John Patrick...

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Plot Keywords:

two word title | time bomb | colored smoke | aircraft | warplane | 

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Taglines:

America is Rocking!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, language and a sex scene

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 June 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Rock

Filming Locations:

New Russian Hill Market - 1198 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$25,069,525, 9 June 1996

Gross USA:

$134,069,511

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$335,062,621

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hollywood Pictures, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nicolas Cage wrote his dialogue for the scene where the soldier has a gun to the back of his head just a few minutes before the shoot, and he had his lines on cue cards. Michael Bay immediately said no to the presence of the cards, but Nic said he'd been doing it for years in a pinch, and Michael relented and said he could see Nic reading. "I don't believe it", said Cage. "I think that was just a phobia of his."

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Goofs

When Private Cox and Mason are engaging in a fist fight, Private Cox says "English prick. I ever tell you my old man was Irish?" Mason is in fact Scottish (as confirmed when his record is shown earlier in the film and his place of birth is listed as Glasgow, Scotland). Private Cox may mistakenly be using the term English instead of British, for example (as Britain would incorporate Scotland too).

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Quotes

[first lines]
General Hummel: Congressman Weaver and esteemed members of the Special Armed Services Committee, I come before you to protest a grave injustice... It has to stop.

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Alternate Versions

There is quite a bit of alternate footage on the airline version. Such as: Hummel holding and pointing his gun at Mason's head. In the theatrical version, his gun forearm is being steadied by his other forearm as he says, "That was a bad move, soldier". In the airline version, he is holding his weapon with both hands, and dialogue is inflected with a more threatening tone. He is made to be more threatening by alternate takes of dialogue, as seen in his takeover of Alcatraz from Ranger Bob and his ransom demands. There is also some alternate footage when Goodspeed is disassembling the first rocket. Also, some of the soldiers' frantic voice-overs in the beginning have been removed; the "Rube Goldberg" sequence that introduces Goodspeed has been removed. The airline viewer's first introduction to Goodspeed is the Sarin Gas incident. Some of this alternate footage appears in the TBS TV version in the United States.

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Connections

Featured in Honest Trailers: Face/Off (2017)

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Soundtracks

San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)
(uncredited)
Written by John Phillips
Performed by Sean Connery
Courtesy of Epic Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Too watchable, only the music gets tiresome

Fantastically made. Undoubtedly one of the best action films in the last 20 years, Bruckheimer had a fantastic effect on this as his oh so loud impact fashioned this movie into what it is, quite possibly one of the finest in its' genre. Connery puts in a sturdy performance as does Cage but the show is stolen by the one and only Edd harris. His commanding performance carried the movie through small snippets where boredom may have set in, his emotion in the delivery of his lines left nothing to be desired and the role seemed so fitting for such a man, although his height was comic in comparison with the other marines.

All round great film with good acting with just the right amount of comic relief when it was most required. thumbs up fellas