Taglines: The most important man, the surest airplane, the most dangerous Hijackers…
Air Force One movie storyline. An American and Russian Joint Military Operation results with Special Forces capturing General Ivan Radek (Jürgen Prochnow), the dictator of Kazakhstan. Three weeks later, a diplomatic dinner is held in Moscow by Russian President Petrov (Alan Woolf) to celebrate the capture of the Kazakh dictator, at which President of the United States James Marshall (Harrison Ford) expresses his remorse that action had not been taken sooner to prevent the suffering caused by Radek, whose regime took the lives of 200,000 people. He also vows that his administration will take a firmer stance against despotism and that they will never negotiate with terrorists.
President Marshall, along with his wife Grace (Wendy Crewson), daughter Alice (Liesel Matthews), and several of his Cabinet and advisors, board Air Force One to return to the United States. In addition, a number of members of the press corps have been invited aboard. A batch of Radek loyalists, led by Egor Korshunov (Gary Oldman), posing as a news crew, are cleared to fly on Air Force One.
After takeoff, Secret Service agent Gibbs (Xander Berkeley), who is secretly a mole, enables Korshunov and the loyalists to acquire weapons and begin storming the plane, killing many people before taking everyone else hostage. Secret Service agents race a reluctant Marshall down to an escape pod in the cargo hold, where he seemingly escapes as the pod is ejected. The terrorists breach the cockpit and prevent the plane from making an emergency landing at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Several F-15s escort Air Force One as the terrorists have it piloted towards Radek-loyal airspace.
Air Force One is a 1997 American political action-thriller film written by Andrew W. Marlowe and directed and co-produced by Wolfgang Petersen. It is about a group of Russian terrorists that hijack Air Force One, and the President of the United States’ attempt to retake the plane, while saving many lives as possible.
The film stars Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, as well as Glenn Close, Xander Berkeley, William H. Macy, Dean Stockwell and Paul Guilfoyle. A box office success with generally positive critical reviews, the film was one of the most popular action films of the 1990s.
A large part of the crew took a tour of the real Air Force One before filming. They based some of the film’s scenes, where the terrorists disguised as journalists survey the plane’s layout and begin to take their seats, on the touring experience. The character of Deputy Press Secretary Melanie Mitchell was based largely on their real life tour guide, and the crew felt uncomfortable having to film the character’s execution by the terrorists.
For the exterior scenes, the producers rented a Boeing 747-146 aircraft, N703CK from Kalitta Air and repainted it to replicate the iconic Air Force One livery. Scenes explaining Agent Gibbs’ motivation for being the mole were cut from the final script. According to director Wolfgang Petersen, Gibbs was a former CIA agent who lost a lot after the end of the Cold War and thus became angry with the American government and wanted revenge.
He knew the terrorists from his CIA days, so they included him in their operation. The scene was considered too long to tell, so it was cut from the film. The director also felt that it was unnecessary to add in the film so it was removed as it was irrelevant to the plot. He felt its something insignificant that the audience doesn’t really need to know about.
Gary Oldman did not stay in character between the scenes. The director later said he called the filming experience “Air Force Fun” because of how comic and genial Oldman would be off-screen. He also said that Oldman would suddenly return to the menacing film persona like a shot.
General Radek’s palace, seen in the film’s opening, was portrayed by two locations in Cleveland, Ohio: the exterior was Severance Hall, and the interior was the Cuyahoga County Courthouse. The Russian prison where Radek was incarcerated was the Ohio State Reformatory, previously seen in The Shawshank Redemption. Ramstein Air Base, Germany was portrayed by Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Ohio. F-15 Eagle aircraft from the 33d Operations Group, 33d Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida were used in the movie.
Air Force One (1997)
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Wendy Crewson, Paul Guilfoyle, William H. Macy, Liesel Matthews, Dean Stockwell, Tom Everett, Donna Bullock
Screenplay by: Andrew W. Marlowe
Production Design by: William Sandell
Cinematography by: Michael Ballhaus
Film Editing by: Richard Francis-Bruce
Costume Design by: Erica Edell Phillips
Set Decoration by: Ernie Bishop
Art Direction by: Carl Aldana, Nancy Patton, Carl J. Stensel
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith
MPAA Rating: R for violence.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures (United States), Buena Vista Pictures (International)
Release Date: July 25, 1997
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