You can tell Clint Eastwood is getting old by all of the "retired" characters he plays who are pressed back into service, as in this early '80s effort. It's one of Eastwood's lesser action entries, in which he served as both star and director. He plays a retired fighter pilot who is enlisted by the U.S. government to infiltrate the Soviet Union (back in the days when it was still an Evil Empire) and steal an ultra-top-secret fighter plane with all kinds of superior capabilities (back when the Stealth bomber was still a struggling prototype). Sure, no problem. Except that it takes forever to actually get Clint into the plane--and once he's got it, he keeps interrupting the fighter-plane sequences (the best thing about the movie) to land the thing and have fistfights and gunfights. --Marshall Fine
2.
FIREFOX is an entertaining cold war fantasy piloted by actor-director Clint Eastwood. When the Russians develop a Mach 5 jet with thought-controlled weaponry, the free world needs someone to go and steal it from them in order to maintain the balance of power. Mitch Gant (Eastwood) was once a hotshot pilot and speaks fluent Russian, so despite his mental instability (he’s suffering from posttraumatic stress as a result of his experiences in Vietnam), he’s the man for the job. Gant is really the only character Eastwood has played who doesn’t have a problem with authority. His bosses want a job done. They’re on the side of right, so he does it. Along the way, he’s aided by some Jewish dissidents (including a scientist played by Nigel Hawthorne) who are really a lot more heroic than Gant. Essentially, Eastwood has adapted an espionage thriller by Craig Thomas into a fun action film. The jet itself is, well, neat, and the final dogfight between the two Firefox prototypes is quite thrilling. The effects were produced by John Dykstra’s firm, which also worked on STAR WARS, but Eastwood’s own down-to-earth sensibility keeps things grounded in some kind of reality.
3.
It rips through the skies at six times the speed of sound, is invisible to radar and spits death- launching and guiding missiles purely by the pilot's thoughts. It's the MIG-31, the most devastating war machine ever built, code name Firefox. But Firefox belongs to the Russians. To maintain the balance of world power, the West must steal it. Clint Eastwood directs and stars as ace U.S. pilot Mitchell Gant, the man for the job.
Firefox delivers a unique payload of nail-biting suspense and effects pyrotechnics. Special Visual Effects Producer John Dykstra won an Oscar for Star Wars- and his work on Firefox is in that out-of-this-world class. Join Eastwood in the cockpit and soar!
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