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Pretty Good

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Like Burt Lancaster before him, veteran star Clint Eastwood would often subscribe to that "one for the studio, one for me" policy. The same year that he made the more low key and personal "Honkytonk Man", he made this fairly decent espionage thriller, based on the novel by Craig Thomas. Clint also directs & produces, and stars as Mitchell Gant, a burnt-out former soldier / P.O.W. haunted by his Vietnam War experiences. He's recruited for an extremely risky mission: go behind enemy lines in Moscow, and steal the Soviets' cutting-edge new fighting plane out from under their noses. Needless to say, the mission doesn't always go smoothly.The movie is overlong, and for a while it's just not as tense (or involving) as it could and should be. But it's still an entertaining story, reasonably well told, with Clint in fine form. It really picks up once the Firefox is in the air. Then it gets pretty exciting, despite the presence of some dodgy effects. The location shooting, widescreen photography (by frequent Clint collaborator Bruce Surtees), and music (by Maurice Jarre) are all first rate.The real value with "Firefox" lies in an exemplary supporting cast. Freddie Jones may be rather eccentric, but he's consistently amusing in the part of a key exposition provider. Familiar faces such as Ronald Lacey & Wolf Kahler (both from "Raiders of the Lost Ark"), Kenneth Colley (Admiral Piett in two of the "Star Wars" movies), Nigel Hawthorne ("The Madness of King George"), David Huffman ("Blood Beach"), Dimitra Arliss ("The Sting"), and Stefan Schnabel ("The 27th Day") help to make the material more engrossing than it might have been in less capable hands. Keep your eyes peeled for John "Cliff Clavin" Ratzenberger in a small role as one of the men from the submarine.This may not be a great film, by any means, but this viewer thinks that it shows its audience a good enough time.Seven out of 10.

I have made it a mission almost to see every single film the leading actor and director of this has ever done, and I heard about this one, with a title not to be confused with the web browser, directed by Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby). Basically a highly advanced Soviet fighter aircraft, MiG-31, NATO code name "Firefox", has been developed, it is capable of Mach 6 speed, it is invisible to radar, and carries weapons controlled by thought. The British have heard rumours of a plot being devised to steal the jet and use it as a first- strike weapon, former United States Air Force Major Mitchell Gant (Clint Eastwood), a Vietnam veteran and former POW, is brought in and given the mission to locate and steal the Firefox, and bring it back to friendly territory for analysis. The KGB has got wind of the operation and in pursuit of Gant, he only remains a step ahead of them because of sympathisers, he reaches the air base at Bilyarsk, where the Firefox prototype is under heavy guard, Dr. Pyotr Baranovich (Nigel Hawthorne), one of the scientists, informs Gant that there is a second prototype that must be destroyed. Gant knocks out Soviet pilot Lieutenant Colonel Voskov (Kai Wulff), who was assigned to take the first prototype on its maiden flight, scientists attempt to destroy the second prototype to give Gant the chance to suit up and start the first fighter, but the scientists are killed by the guards and do not destroy the second prototype, but Gant manages to escape the hangar and lifts off. Evading attempts from the Soviets to stop him, Gant barely reaches the Arctic and lands to refuel, he makes a rendezvous with a U.S. submarine, however his refusal to kill Voskov means the Soviet pilot flies the second prototype to seek and destroy him. Gant and Voskov engage in an air battle, Gant barely manages to fire one of the rearward missiles, he destroys Voskov's plane, and satisfied no other Soviet forces chasing him, Gant begins his flight to safety. Also starring Freddie Jones as Kenneth Aubrey, David Huffman as Captain Buckholz, Warren Clarke as Pavel Upenskoy, Ronald Lacey as Semelovsky, Kenneth Colley as Colonel Kontarsky, Klaus Löwitsch as General Vladimirov, Stefan Schnabel as First Secretary, Thomas Hill as General Brown, Clive Merrison as Major Lanyev and Dimitra Arliss as Natalia. Eastwood is okay playing the disillusioned flier and the only man to do the job of stealing the new Russian jet, some the supporting cast are alright, I agree with critics, as director Clint's heart doesn't seem to be fully in it, the flying and attack sequences in the fighter are the most decent moments, but overall it is a boring thriller. Adequate!

Clint Eastwood plays Vietnam veteran Mitchel Grant, an expert pilot recruited for a top secret mission: to steal an experimental Soviet jet, that can evade radar, from the Soviet Union, and fly it back to American waters. The mission has many risks, though many allies in the Soviet Union help Grant, even at risk to their own lives.Though the film has many exciting aerial chase and dogfight scenes, and an interesting idea, it goes on too long, and only comes to life near the climax. Not to mention, the premise is highly unlikely in the first place, as it seems stupid to steal the plane, and not be worried about the consequences? At the very least, this would cause a huge international incident, possibly a war. Wouldn't American and British forces be better served by building their own Firefox, rather than undertaking such a risky mission? This problem is glossed over, harming its credibility, though it isn't bad really, but it does fall short.

I was in basic training in the Army when this movie came out. This was back in the 80's when we hated the Russians. Here I was sitting in an Army theater in Ft Sill, OK watching Clint kick some Ruskie tails. At the end I was in this crowd of closely shaved hot heads cheering it all on. Compared to today the special effects are slack and the scenes hardly believable. That did not matter way back then. Clint had that classic 'eyeball jitter' look and that's all that mattered. This movie is perfect for some gold old Sunday afternoon fun when the wife and kids are out somewhere and you are hanging out with the dog on the couch.