Air Force One (film)


Air Force One is a 1997 American political action thriller film directed and co-produced by Wolfgang Petersen and written by Andrew W. Marlowe. Starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson, Xander Berkeley, William H. Macy, Dean Stockwell, Paul Guilfoyle and Jürgen Prochnow, the film follows Air Force One being hijacked by a group of terrorists who demand the release of their country's imprisoned dictator and the president's attempt to rescue everyone on board by retaking his plane.
The film was a box office success and received mostly positive critical reviews. It became the fifth highest-grossing film of 1997, earning $315.2 million worldwide. It also received two Academy Award nominations for Best Sound and Best Film Editing, losing both awards to Titanic.

Plot

A joint operation between American and Russian special forces captures General Ivan Radek, the dictator of a rogue neo-Soviet regime in Kazakhstan that retained its nuclear weapons, threatening war. Three weeks later, U.S. president James Marshall attends a diplomatic dinner in Moscow, during which he praises the operation and warns the United States will not negotiate with terrorists. Marshall and his entourage, including his wife Grace and daughter Alice, and several of his cabinet and advisers, prepare to return home on Air Force One. Six Radek loyalists disguised as journalists, led by Egor Korshunov, board the plane.
After takeoff, Secret Service agent Gibbs, a mole, enables Korshunov and his men to obtain weapons and hijack the plane, killing multiple security and military personnel before taking the passengers hostage, including Grace and Alice. Marshall is raced to an escape pod in the cargo hold and seemingly escapes as the pod is ejected. Korshunov breaches the cockpit, aborting the plane from making an emergency landing at Ramstein Air Base. A squadron of F-15s escort Air Force One as Korshunov has it piloted towards Kazakhstan.
However, Marshall, a veteran of the Vietnam War and a Medal of Honor recipient, had hidden himself in the cargo hold instead of using the pod. He covertly kills two of Korshunov's men and obtains a satellite phone to communicate with vice president Kathryn Bennett, letting his staff know he is still alive and aboard the plane. Korshunov, assuming that it is merely a Secret Service agent in the cargo hold, contacts Bennett and demands Radek's release, threatening to kill a hostage every half-hour. Separating Alice and Grace from the group, he kills National Security Advisor Jack Doherty and Deputy Press Secretary Melanie Mitchell. Marshall unsuccessfully tries to force Korshunov to land by dumping some fuel after rewiring the plane's circuitry.
Marshall devises a plan to trick Korshunov into bringing Air Force One to a lower altitude of 15,000 feet for a mid-air refueling so that the hostages can parachute safely off the plane. As a KC-10 tanker docks with Air Force One, Marshall escorts the hostages to the cargo hold, where the majority parachute to safety. Korshunov and his men discover the deception and catch Marshall, Chief of Staff Lloyd Shepherd, Major Norman Caldwell, and Gibbs. The induced turbulence severs the connection between the tanker and Air Force One, and the fuel leak ignites, destroying the tanker.
With the president and his family now under his control, Korshunov forces Marshall to contact Russian president Stolicha Petrov and arrange for Radek's release. Bennett is urged by Defense Secretary Walter Dean to invoke the 25th Amendment, thus overriding Radek's release, but she refuses. While Korshunov and his men celebrate Radek's release, Marshall breaks free and kills Korshunov and his remaining loyalists. Marshall rescinds his order, and Radek is shot dead while attempting to escape.
Marshall and Caldwell direct the plane back to friendly airspace but are tailed by a second batch of Radek loyalists in MiG-29s. The F-15s rejoin Air Force One and engage and defeat the enemy aircraft, but Air Force One suffers severe damage to its fuel tanks, engines, and tail controls from the MiGs' gunfire, and an explosion from an F-15 when its pilot sacrifices himself to intercept a missile.
A standby United States Air Force Special Operations Command MC-130E with the callsign Liberty 24 is called to help, sending parajumpers on tether lines to rescue the survivors. Marshall insists that his family and the wounded Shepherd be transferred first. When there is time for only one more transfer, Gibbs reveals himself as the traitor, killing Caldwell and the parajumper. Marshall attacks Gibbs and attaches himself to the transfer line at the last moment. Air Force One crashes into the Caspian Sea, killing Gibbs, while the MC-130E airmen reel Marshall to safety. With Marshall and his family safe, Liberty 24 is given the callsign Air Force One as it flies to safety.

Cast

First Family
  • Harrison Ford as President James Marshall
  • Wendy Crewson as First Lady Grace Marshall
  • Liesel Matthews as Alice Marshall, the President's daughter
Terrorists
U.S. Government on Air Force One
U.S. Government in Washington
Cameos
  • Alan Woolf as Russian president Stolicha Petrov
  • Jürgen Prochnow as General Ivan Radek, the military dictator of a rogue terrorist regime in Kazakhstan
  • Don McManus as Lieutenant Colonel Jack Carlton, F-15 "Halo Flight" leader
  • Dan Shor as Notre Dame aide

    Production

Development

A large part of the crew took a tour of the real Air Force One before filming. Some scenes, most notably where the terrorists tour the plane, were based on this touring experience. The character of Deputy Press Secretary Melanie Mitchell was based largely on their real-life tour guide, and the crew felt uncomfortable having to film the character's execution by the terrorists. For the exterior scenes, the producers rented a Boeing 747-146 aircraft, N703CK from Kalitta Air and repainted it to replicate the Air Force One livery.
Air Force One is shown as being equipped with a one-person escape pod for emergency use by the president of the United States. It was also done this way in at least three other films, Escape from New York, Bermuda Tentacles and Big Game. The actual Air Force One does not have an escape pod.
Paul Attanasio was brought in as a script doctor to work on the film prior to shooting. In the original draft, Gibbs revealed himself as the mole early and joined the terrorists in hijacking the plane. Scenes explaining his motivation were cut from the final script, with director Wolfgang Petersen reasoning that the scene was considered too long to tell and irrelevant to the plot. The director felt it was more suspenseful to keep the audience in the know in the final cut and specifically pointed to the scene in which Marshall gives Gibbs a gun before escorting the hostages from the conference room to the parachutes in the cargo hold.
Gary Oldman was hired to play the role as the film's villain after choosing not to accept a role in Speed 2: Cruise Control. Petersen later said he called the filming experience "Air Force Fun" because of how comic and genial Oldman would be off-screen. He also said that Oldman would suddenly return to the menacing film persona "like a shot." Oldman used his acting fee for the film to help finance his directorial debut, Nil by Mouth.
Kevin Costner was offered the role of James Marshall, but turned it down as he had other commitments. He went on to play the lead role in The Postman instead. The script was then given to Harrison Ford who accepted it.

Filming

General Radek's palace, seen in the film's opening, was portrayed by two locations in Cleveland, Ohio: the exterior was Severance Hall, and the interior was the Cuyahoga County Courthouse. The Russian prison where Radek was incarcerated was the Ohio State Reformatory, previously seen in The Shawshank Redemption and also used for Godsmack's music video for "Awake" in 2000. Ramstein Air Base, Germany was portrayed by Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Ohio. The diplomatic dinner scene was shot at the Ebell of Los Angeles while a second unit captured scenes in Red Square in Moscow. Scenes featuring Sheremetyevo International Airport, the departure airport of Air Force One in the film, were shot at Los Angeles International Airport. At the Van Nuys Airport, production would take place in some of the hangars while Dante's Peaks film crew occupied the other buildings.
Ford refused to do a scene in the script where Marshall sits down to gather himself as he felt that he didn't sit down when family is in a crisis. Marlowe always felt the "Get off my plane!" line was cheesy until Ford performed it to "pitch-perfect".
F-15C Eagle aircraft from the 33rd Operations Group, 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida were used in the film.