Taglines: Nothing grounds you like the truth.
Pushing Tin movie storyline. Nick and the other boys (and Vicki Lewis) working the hotspot of air traffic control in New York are impressed with themselves, to say the least. They thrive on the no-room-for-error, fast-paced job and let it infect their lives. The undisputed king of pushing tin, “The Zone” Falzone, rules his workplace and his wedded life with the same short-attention span that gets planes where they need to be in the nick of time.
That is, until Russell Bell, a new transfer with a reputation for recklessness but a record of pure perfection shatters the tensely-held status quo. The game of one-upmanship between the two flies so high as to lead Nick into Russell’s bed with his wife. His sanity slipping just as fast as his hold on #1, Cusack’s controller is thrown out-of-control when Thornton’s wanderer quietly leaves town. Nick must now find a way to regain his sanity and repair his marriage before he breaks down completely.
Pushing Tin is a 1999 comedy-drama film directed by Mike Newell. It centers on Nick Falzone (John Cusack), a cocky air traffic controller who quarrels over proving “who’s more of a man” with fellow employee Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton). The film is loosely based around the real world New York TRACON radar facility. The film was a box office failure and received mixed reviews. The original music score was composed by Anne Dudley and Chris Seefried.
About the Story
Nick “The Zone” Falzone (John Cusack) and his fellow air traffic controllers at New York TRACON pride themselves on their ability to handle the intense stress of being a controller for one of the busiest airspaces in the country, even boasting of the 50% drop-out rate for new additions to the staff who are unable to cope with the pressure.
The group is joined by the quiet and confident Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton), a veteran of TRACONs in the Western United States. Russell quickly proves to be exceptionally capable of handling the increased workload by using unorthodox and risky methods. Nick feels challenged by the new controller’s ability to out-perform him at seemingly every task and warns his supervisor that Bell is a loose cannon, especially after discovering that Russell once stood on a runway to allow himself to be violently propelled by a landing commercial airliner’s jetwash.
At a supermarket, Nick encounters Russell’s despondent young wife Mary (Angelina Jolie), who is sobbing over a grocery cart full of alcohol. In consoling her, Nick ends up back at the Bells’ house, where he and Mary both cheat on their respective spouses by having sex. Several days later, Mary informs Nick that she immediately told Russell about the affair, and that the confession has actually improved their marriage. Fearing retaliation, Nick confronts Russell at work, and is confused and surprised by Russell’s even-tempered response to the situation.
Meanwhile, Nick’s wife, Connie (Cate Blanchett), seems to become more and more intrigued by Russell, and Nick becomes increasingly paranoid that Russell will eventually seek revenge by having sex with her. While out of town for his father-in-law’s funeral, Nick can’t bring himself to lie when a grieving Connie challenges him to say that he has never cheated on her. As their flight home approaches New York, Connie tells Nick that she has indeed slept with Russell. The plane then makes an odd turn, and Nick assumes that Russell is harassing him, or possibly going insane, by purposely directing the plane into a dangerous storm.
Soon after going to TRACON to confront Russell, a bomb threat is called in to the facility. The building is evacuated as both Nick and Russell volunteer to stay behind to handle the daunting task of landing all the planes on approach in their airspace before the alleged bomb is set to go off in 26 minutes. Successfully routing all but one plane that has lost radio contact, Nick leaves the building as the deadline approaches, while Russell instead remains inside to make contact with the plane by calling one of its passengers via Airfone. Russell is lauded as a hero for making the effort despite the threat, which turned out to be a hoax.
Pushing Tin (1999)
Directed by: Mike Newell
Starring: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Jake Weber, Vicki Lewis, Michael Willis, Mike O’Malley, Matt Gordon, Neil Crone, Jerry Grayson
Screenplay by: Glen Charles, Les Charles
Production Design by: Bruno Rubeo
Cinematography by: Gale Tattersall
Film Editing by: Jon Gregory
Costume Design by: Marie-Sylvie Deveau
Set Decoration by: Steve Shewchuk, Clive Thomasson
Art Direction by: John Dondertman
Music by: Anne Dudley, Adam Hamilton, Chris Seefried
MPAA Rating: R for language and a scene of sexuality.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: April 23, 1999
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