Taglines: One Shot. One Kill. No Exceptions.
Sniper movie storyline. Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett (Berenger), Force Reconnaissance Marine, an experienced sniper, and his spotter, Cpl. Papich (Aden Young), are on a mission to assassinate a Panamanian rebel leader in the jungle. Because they are extracted in daylight instead of at night, Papich is killed by a sniper. Beckett runs back under fire to carry Papich’s body to the helicopter.
Later, Beckett is paired up with an inexperienced civilian, Richard Miller (Zane), to eliminate a rebel general financed by a Colombian drug lord. Miller is a SWAT team sharpshooter, with no combat experience or confirmed kills to his name. While on the way to the staging area, Miller’s helicopter is attacked by a guerrilla, and several members of the crew are killed. Miller is unable to take out the attacker; instead, the chopper’s dying gunner makes the kill, but the co-pilot believes Miller made the crucial shot, earning Miller a false reputation.
On the mission, Beckett insists on deviating from the plan that Miller was given. This, together with the fact that Miller has no experience or aptitude for jungle operations, sparks friction between the two. Early on, they encounter a group of Indians, who agree to lead them past the rebel guerrillas, in return for a favour: they must agree to eliminate El Cirujano (“The Surgeon”), an ex-CIA agent and expert in torture who has been aiding the rebels. Beckett agrees to do so.
Uncertain of Miller’s reliability and skeptical about his “kill” while aboard the helicopter, he tells Miller to kill El Cirujano in order to prove himself. However, when the time comes, Miller fails again by first firing a “warning shot,” followed by a shot at Cirujano’s head. Cirujano is able to dodge the head shot by ducking under it into the river in which he has been swimming. In the ensuing firefight with the alarmed guerrillas, one of the Indians is killed. Although the Indians do not directly blame either Beckett or Miller, they withdraw further help.
Sniper is a 1993 American action thriller starring Tom Berenger and Billy Zane as snipers on an assassination mission in Panama. It was shot in Queensland, Australia, and debuted at number two in the United States. It initiated the Sniper film series and was followed by six sequels: Sniper 2, Sniper 3, Sniper: Reloaded, Sniper: Legacy, Sniper: Ghost Shooter and Sniper: Homeland Security.
Sniper (1993)
Directed by: Luis Llosa
Starring: Tom Berenger, Billy Zane, J.T. Walsh, Aden Young, Ken Radley, Reynaldo Arenas, Gary Swanson, Hank Garrett, Vanessa Steele, Carlos Álvarez
Screenplay by: Michael Frost Beckner, Crash Leyland
Production Design by: Herbert Pinter
Cinematography by: Bill Butler
Film Editing by: M. Scott Smith
Costume Design by: Ray Summers
Set Decoration by: Leanne Cornish, Angus Tattle
Art Direction by: Nicholas McCallum
Music by: Gary Chang
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and language.
Distributed by: TriStar Pictures
Release Date: January 29, 1993
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