John Lithgow Chews Up The Scenery

"Well I don't recognize the face, but the butt does look vaguely familiar." ~ Jessie Deighan

"Hey, be careful, or you'll embarrass old Frank." ~ Gabe Walker

"It'll take a heap more than that, rock jock." ~ Frank

“Kill a few people and they call you a murderer. Kill a million, and you’re a conqueror.” ~ Eric Qualen

“This rope looks 60 years old. Will it hold?” ~ Jessie

“Don’t think so.” ~ Gabe 

“Bad answer.” ~ Jessie

“Delmar, from me to you, you’re an asshole.” ~ Hal Tucker 

“Yeah? And you’re a loud mouth punk slag, who’s about to die.” ~ Delmar 

“Maybe. But in a minute, I’ll be dead, and you will always be an asshole.” ~ Hal

“Your friend just had the costliest funeral ever.” ~ Qualen

"I was there, remember? You were the only one who didn't panic. So why don't you do us all a favour and quite hoarding all the guilt. You held on as long as you could." ~ Jessie

"What the hell do you know about bad times, man? You didn't love her, and you didn't have to explain to her family!" ~ Hal

"And you didn't have to look into her eyes when she was falling! So drop it!" ~ Gabe

Cliffhanger is an action thriller from 1993, by director Renny Harlin and starring Sylvester Stallone. The adventure film, telling a cat and mouse story mixed with wilderness survival, touches on all the right beats for a summer blockbuster, and brings its own sense of humour to the equation while also employing good characterization. And it features one of the best villains I’ve seen in an action film, played by an actor who was clearly having a ball playing someone so malevolent.

The film starts out among the mountains, where a search and rescue ranger, Gabriel Walker (Stallone) is making an ascent to two stranded climbers. One is his friend and co-worker Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker), who’s injured his leg. The other is Hal’s girlfriend Sarah (Michelle Joyner), who’s not terribly comfortable on the mountain, admitting that Hal talked her into it because he said it was better than sex. Gabe sets up a line to the waiting helicopter across the chasm, where his pilot girlfriend Jessie Deighan (Janine Turner) and fellow ranger Frank (Ralph Waite) are waiting to take the climbers aboard. What starts out as a routine day goes terribly wrong, leaving Sarah dead, Hal blaming Gabe, and Gabe blaming himself.

Eight months later, a senior Treasury agent (Paul Winfield) is seeing off a flight of agents taking three cases filled with 100 million dollars in uncirculated thousand dollar bills for transport. Air travel is seen as safer, but there are turncoats among the agents, and a mid-air heist involving another plane gets underway, and the heist goes wrong. The three cases are lost over the mountains, and the other plane crashes, with most of the gang of thieves surviving. Their leader, Eric Qualen (John Lithgow) is less than impressed with the surviving federal turncoat Travers (Rex Linn), and anxious to recover the money.

Meanwhile, Gabe returns to the mountains after time away; he finds Jessie back at their place, but he’s not back to stay. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt, he asks her to leave with him. She refuses when she’s called into work, and it's not long before the lives of the search and rescue mountaineers intersect with the ruthless gang of crooks determined to reach their money. 

Stallone co-wrote the screenplay with Michael France, and Harlin was brought on board after his experience directing Die Hard 2. While the film is heavy on action, the story does allow for characterization- the overwhelming guilt for Gabe is with the character throughout much of the film, while Hal's grief is mixed with rage. By contrast among the villains, Travers is a man seemingly permanently driven by his temper, while Qualen comes across as of a calmer disposition- albeit snarky and absolutely ruthless, but a man in control- at least most of the time. The screenplay also weaves in enough humour, most of it from Qualen, who aside from being malevolent has more of his share of dry, slightly sadistic humour. There's even some of that for Gabe, particularly in a bad pun moment in remarking on the cost of heat.

Harlin has a great touch for action, and it shows in this film. Most of the location shooting was done in the Italian Dolomites, filling in for the American Rockies. Some of the filming required stunt people- no insurance company would have signed off on certain moments involving actors, and Harlin's skills particularly show themselves in the mid-air heist, in the failed rescue early on, or in harrowing duels while sliding off a glacier or on the side of a cliff. He conveys just as much danger and tension, though, in a face off that's more quiet, with one adversary on top of the ice, while the other is trapped in the water below. The resulting film is one that will give serious problems to someone with a fear of heights. Harlin also brought in Trevor Jones to compose the score; Jones was previously best known for his work alongside Randy Edelman composing the score for Last Of The Mohicans, and is an under-appreciated composer. Jones weaves together heroic melodies with tense themes that mesh well with the movie.

The cast are well chosen, from the various Eurotrash gang of thieves, all of whom are nasty customers, reminding one of rabid dogs chafing at the leash. Caroline Goodall is an exception as Kristel, the calm and icy pilot who seems to have a thing with Qualen- while she's assembling a bomb, for instance, he tells her she'll make someone a good wife one day, while she quips that he should see her bake a cake. She's professional for the most part, but has one blind spot she doesn't quite see coming.

Rex Linn has spent most of his career playing either lawmen or ill tempered villains, and for some odd reason got saddled with years on end of putting up with the mumbling and socially inept David Caruso on CSI Miami. He spends a good part of this movie hollering at people as the traitorous Travers, being perpetually angry, and one gets the sense the character is overcompensating for his own failures as a man by yelling so much. The character isn't particularly respected by any of the other members of the gang, and it shows. Linn certainly does play to that, though, which makes the performance effective.

Ralph Waite is best known as the kindly patriarch of The Waltons, and this character's pretty much a similar sort of fellow. Frank is the senior man at the rescue service, still capable and calm under pressure, a bit eccentric, but generally the kind grandfatherly sort of man you'd expect.

John Lithgow gets to have a lot of fun as Qualen. The villain is not one of shades of grey; there are no moral dilemmas for him; he's malevolent, ruthless, and out for himself. He doesn't mind sacrificing others to get what he wants, and is not a character who would ever consider being merciful. That said, he's also quite calm under pressure- he takes things in stride, doesn't overreact when things go amiss- at least not until late in the game, and he comes across as a capable leader. He might be a thoroughly nasty and dangerous character, but it's fun watching him chew the scenery, and Lithgow makes the most of it.

Michael Rooker went on to other things after this film, and I like his performance here. Events early on are shattering for him, losing the woman he loves, and we can understand his anger, directed at Gabe, even if he doesn't see that some of it ought to be directed at himself. As angry as he might be though, as the story develops, the friendship is still there beneath the resentment- Hal urges Gabe to make a break for it if he can. Throughout the story as it unfolds, Hal's a defiant character even at gunpoint, resourceful even under pressure, and Rooker really plays to that.

Janine Turner was well cast as Jessie. She carries the character as you'd expect a pilot to be- professional and calm. And she also gives the character depth, wisdom, independence, and inner strength. I like her remark early on to Gabe- she doesn't know if she should hate him or love him, but she understands him, and that certainly comes across throughout Turner's performance. Jessie and Gabe come across as a believable couple, even though they're at a difficult point through a good part of the film.

Sylvester Stallone will never be accused of being an actor of great range, but that doesn't matter. Here he gets the job done in just the right way, by playing the character as haunted and tormented by guilt. Gabe as we first meet him might be a cheerful guy who sees nothing wrong in teasing his friend, though in the wake of things going wrong, he becomes a broken man. Stallone plays to that as the character's return plays out, and an extreme situation is required to shake him out of his despair. As the story unfolds, we see the resourcefulness of the character, the man who knows the mountains, and while he's poorly armed compared to his adversaries, he certainly knows how to use the tools at hand, and that comes across in how Stallone plays him. This is actually my favourite Stallone role, with his fish out of water sci-fi leading role in Demolition Man a close second.

Cliffhanger still goes for the thrills each time I see it, playing out a story of clearly very bad people contending with the good guys- good but human. The director handles the momentum of action and the tension of adrenaline very well indeed, but has the sense to allow quiet moments too, just so the audience can catch their breath, appreciate an acidic remark from the villain... and brace themselves to go back over the edge again.

Another Christmas Eve, Another Terrorist Incident

Some links to see to first of all. Norma has the opening to her book Superhero In Training available at Wattpad, and the details can be found at her latest post. Yesterday having had been a Friday, Parsnip had a Square Dog Friday. Krisztina had some Christmas decorating ideas.

Now then, as to today. Last year I reviewed my favourite Christmas movie, Die Hard. Therefore, it was time to review the first sequel, which happens to also be set at Christmas time.

"I think Cardinal Richelieu said it best: treason is merely a matter of dates. This country's got to learn that it can't keep cutting the legs off of men like General Esperanza, men who have the guts to stand up to Communist aggression." ~ Colonel Stuart

"And lesson #1 starts with killing policemen? What's lesson #2? The neutron bomb?" ~ John McClane

"No. I think we can find something in between." ~ Colonel Stuart

"Murder on television. Helluva start to Christmas week." ~ Trudeau

"Next time you kill one of these guys, get 'em to enter the code first." ~ Leslie Barnes

"You give me this story and I'll have your baby." ~ Samantha Coleman

"Not the kind of ride I'm looking for." ~ John McClane

"McClane! I assume it's you, McClane. You're quite a little soldier. You can consider this a military funeral." ~ Colonel Stuart

"Oh, we are just up to our ass in terrorists again, John." ~ John McClane

After the success of Die Hard, it was inevitable that there would be a sequel (and three more after that at last check). Die Hard 2: Die Harder was the 1990 film directed by Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger) and bringing back Bruce Willis and Bonnie Bedelia as John and Holly McClane, caught up in another terrorist incident on Christmas Eve. It is based on the novel 58 Minutes by Walter Wager, and weaves the characters created by Roderick Thorp into the narrative of that novel, which tells the story of an unseen terrorist taking control of a major airport's air traffic control system. It raises the stakes considerably from Die Hard, as sequels are often prone to do, and brings us a villain who's quite different from the first film's antagonist, but thoroughly ruthless.

Things open up in Washington on Christmas Eve, a year after the Nakatomi Tower incident. John McClane (Willis) is at Dulles Airport, having had arrived a few days ahead of his wife Holly (Bedelia) with the kids for a visit to his in-laws. He's picking up Holly, who's inbound on a plane, and the weather in the area is deteriorating as a major snowstorm is moving in. John's police instincts kick in regarding a couple of suspicious fellows, and an incident ensues in the baggage areas of the terminal. One of the men gets away, the other dies at John's hands, and John's suspicions are raised. His attempts to persuade the airport's chief of police, Carmine Lorenzo (Dennis Franz) of what might be happening go unheeded. Trudeau (Fred Dalton Thompson), the airport chief of operations, and one of his right hand men, an engineer named Leslie Barnes (Art Evans) are trying to cope with the weather and the chaos of holiday travel.

Which of course is when things go terribly wrong. McClane's suspicions are correct. Someone takes control of the airport systems remotely, including communications, declaring his intentions. An inbound military jet from South America is carrying one General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), who will be facing drug traffficking charges in America. He sets down conditions for the General's release and warns the control tower not to interfere in his plans for the evening, or civilian planes will pay the price. McClane recognizes the sound of his voice from a chance encounter: Colonel Stuart (William Sadler), a disgraced former Special Forces officer with ties to Esperanza. With his wife's plane among those at risk in the snowy skies over DC, McClane goes on the hunt to find a way to thwart Stuart and his men.

The screenplay by Steven DeSouza and Doug Richardson took on some of the same elements of the first film- terrorist incident on Christmas Eve, antagonism with authority figures, ruthless villains, sarcastic hero- but then took them in different directions. In setting the story back east, but in a place not particularly his own (as would have been the case if the movie had been set in New York, as it is in Wager's original novel), it puts McClane out of his element, and in a situation where the weather is as much of an antagonist as the terrorists. The antagonism with authority figures plays out very differently from the first film, which was a wise course of action. Where McClane spends most of his interaction with Lorenzo in a state of mutual dislike (at least until late in the film), things are different with Trudeau, who's pragmatic and realistic enough to listen to the concerns of an out of town detective. This is very different, of course, from the first film, where we had Paul Gleason still berating McClane at film's end, and the FBI behaving like a pack of buffoons. 

Harlin has a good touch with action, and it certainly shows in this film, and would do so again in other work. He follows McClane's path through airducts and elevators, down frozen runways and in under-construction areas of the airport. Most of the film was shot in various locations such as airbases, and Harlin helms the film in the right way, showing a skill for ferocious action both at a distance and in the immediate up close and personal. He and his crew certainly convey the sense of weather being a factor in the story- anyone familiar with the Washington area knows what a bit of snow can do to cripple the city, and Harlin keeps the snow coming throughout the film, giving us a blizzard on just the wrong night for travelers, but just the right night for the intentions of his villains. He certainly knows how to film plane crashes- we get more than one here, and the sequences are spectacular. Harlin's direction keeps the pacing of the film going nicely; there's no real slowing down here. Instead we're caught up in the sense of the clock ticking down and the dread of potentially thousands of people at risk at the whim of a very dangerous man.

The casting choices are very well made throughout. We have a couple of other holdovers from the first film. Reginald Veljohnson reprises his role as Al Powell in a cameo, speaking with McClane by phone, the two partners keeping the mood light while dealing with a troubling situation. The energy between the two is much the same as with the first film, two men who have become friends and understand each other. William Atherton returns again as the sleazy journalist Richard Thornburg, who happens to be on the same plane as Holly, and who happens to have a restraining order against her (that whole thing with her hitting him at the end of the first film damaged his ego). He's still as self absorbed, irresponsible, and sleazy as he was the first time around, still believing he's destined for great things as a reporter. We despise him, naturally, which he surely has coming. Contrast him, though, with a new reporter, Samantha Coleman (Sheila McCarthy), who's a local reporter at the terminal looking for a story. McCarthy plays her as plucky and a bit ambitious, but with integrity that is utterly lacking in Thornburg. She even proves to be helpful where McClane is concerned, and McCarthy gives her a streak of humour and humanity.

Art Evans plays Leslie Barnes, the communications engineer who seems to be the smartest guy in the room, and who's an ally to McClane. He carries himself like a competent, efficient specialist, and we get to like him. Evans plays him as sympathetic and as a man trying to find a solution to a crisis. Though he's out of his element as a man under fire, he stays calm, and that's a big contrast to the airport's head of police, as played by Dennis Franz. Lorenzo is a profane, antagonistic walking temper tantrum (come to think of it, that pretty much sums up many of the roles Franz plays). He is completely dismissive of McClane (at least until late in the game) and seems to be five minutes from a heart attack (tempers can be such a trigger for those things). He's an unpleasant sort of person... and yet when things change as the story goes along, still a man who knows what his job requires, and does it... even while being terminally pissed off. The third member of the airport authority is the always reliable Fred Dalton Thompson (reliable at least when he's not going into politics). He gives Trudeau a gruff but sympathetic portrayal, another in the list of character roles he's played, and we can believe him as a man of his position. It's a pragmatic character, a man who's in charge and yet sees the control he usually has taken from him. And Thompson also plays the shocked horror the character must feel when a harsh lesson is inflicted on the airport by the opposition.

Franco Nero is an Italian actor with most of his credits in Italian cinema, but there has been work in American films as well in his resume. His General Esperanza reminds us of various Latin American dictators, a nasty, ruthless man who feels quite like we would expect a dictator to be: arrogant and aloof. Even in a fallen state, he's a man accustomed to getting his own way, and Nero brings these qualities across in his performance. 

John Amos gets a complicated role to play as an American Special Forces commander, Major Grant, sent in with his squad to take down Stuart. He has history with the Colonel, and when we first meet him, he's thoroughly believable as a military officer, tough and brash, disgusted by the situation, initially dismissive of McClane. And yet that shifts (and shifts again as we discover new things about the Major) and Grant's purpose changes. Amos really comes across as no-nonsense, something you'd expect out of such an officer. 

Bonnie Bedelia gets to spend most of the film trapped in an airplane, having to put up with the presence nearby of a dirtbag she dislikes. She retains the attitude, the spunk, and the spirit of Holly in her performance, and when she discovers what's happening on the ground, her actions to intervene in the irresponsible self glorification of said dirtbag (hello, Mr. Thornburg) are entirely justifiable. This was her last turn as Holly, and the character is grounded in what at that point is a healthy marriage to John- the two feel believable in their conversations by phone and their reunion late in the film. I've always thought it was a shame that the later sequels ended the marriage. 

William Sadler has played a lot of character roles down through the years, but his turn as Stuart is one of his best. In the tradition of good villains, he believes what he's doing is the right and justified thing to do... even if it requires doing horrific things. For him, civilian deaths are mere collateral damage, justifiable if it means success for the mission. He's a capable leader too, clearly having the respect of his men, a driven man who happens to be ruthless in his methods. All in all, Stuart comes across as a very dangerous adversary, and all of that comes from Sadler's performance.

Willis of course is good to see back as McClane. He brings back the attitude and the sarcasm from the original film. We can feel his exhaustion as the character is placed into life threatening danger time and time again, somehow coming out despite the odds- we might wonder how he manages to get through the film without a blood transfusion. Willis plays him as very human, not terribly diplomatic, and prone to getting annoyed at a moment's notice. He can take care of himself in a fight though, and we completely get what's driving him- both his sense of duty and his worry about the safety of his wife in particular and countless others in general.

The studio really should have stopped with the second film. It's not quite as fresh as the original film, but it's a well paced, tense action thriller that increases the peril and practically turns weather into a character in a film. The sequels that followed tend to have diminishing returns, both in making McClane regress into a screwed up single guy with family and personal issues and in their story pacing (not to mention having a son grow up to become not a terribly bright Jai Courtney). Oh well, such is life. Yipekayay, and pass the eggnog. Instead of watching It's A Wonderful Life for the fiftieth time, I recommend watching Willis and Sadler bludgeon each other instead.