Firefox (1982)

firefox

I've always wanted to buy this dvd, ever since I read the novel and saw the movie on t.v., I've search for this dvd and I found it on amazon.com. It's a good movie, with flawed characters, but despite this he made it, and the amazing dogfight with the other firefox, it just blew my mind away, eastwood is great! April 22, 2008

A fun film with a great conclusion

I'm partial to certain Eastwood films, especially the early spaghetti westerns which made him famous. This film is sort of a Cold War CAVIAR EASTERN.

Here, a long-retired, Vietnam-mentally-damaged Eastwood is tapped on the shoulder by the CIA to steal a new Soviet fighter-jet that is invisible on radar, the Firefox. (Clearly, the film preceded the unveiling of our own top-technology in that realm, which the Soviets never ever achieved). Eastwood, whose mother was Russian and so he speaks Russian like a native, grudgingly acceeds to the arm-twisting proposal and goes undercover behind the Iron Curtain. There, the CIA network ultimately gets him through a morass of close calls and to the Firefox, which he steals but at great cost of life to all the folks who helped him.

The final third of the film is totally focused upon his attempt to escape The Soviet Union with a second Firefox aircraft and a very ticked off Russian pilot (Eastwood had kicked his butt back at the Russian base), hot on his tail.

Of course, none of this could actually have been pulled off but it's nice to think that it COULD have happened, so, it's the purest form of silly fiction. But still, the film is well-conveyed, not hokey in any way.

Like John Wayne, Eastwood is the worst sort of actor, coming off as contrived and isolated from his supporting actors, but that is actually why most of us love him (and John Wayne too). Also, the special effects are very realistic in this film, well-done.

In the end, if you love Eastwood, you'll find this movie much to your liking, very macho and all. The stereotyped Russians (Soviets at the time), fully meet our western expectations of arrogance, bad temper, and ineptness.

If you're not a big Eastwood fan, I'd pass this one by as there are better choices in his film repertoire for the casual viewer. Don't look for anything deep and/or philosophical in this one -- it's a very straightforward flick, typical Eastwood really. November 12, 2007

movie preview

Clint Eastwood was a great choice for the lead role in this movie. His emotional flashbacks add a nice touch to the suspense surrounding his effort to sneak into Russia and steal a high-tech airplane. While the airplane is an interesting focal point, I enjoyed more following the logistics and complications the intelligence service had to confront to get Clint to the airplane and then out of Russia.. Good entertainment, particularly for spy fans. May 26, 2007

Cold War cliches

I'm not sure whether Firefox is really a guilty pleasure or simply a film I remember as being one. It's certainly overlong and overfamiliar despite its neat Maguffin - Clint Eastwood's flashback-plagued Vietnam vet fighter ace has to steal a state-of-the-art warplane with a thought-controlled weapons system (as long as you remember to think in Russian) from the heart of the Evil Empire - but it has a sort of undemanding Cold War charm that the constant stream of clichés only reinforces. Even the old school model effects in the final chase-and-dogfight section are more fun in their way than modern CGI effects, especially when the Firefox is leaving a wall of water in its wake as it races across the sea or causing fallen snow to fill the air as it passes over the mountains, so it's a shame that much of the last third is played in darkened control rooms rather than the skies.

The Russians, naturally, are mostly played by British actors, albeit in this case actors best known for their sitcoms, which adds a different dimension to their scenes as comically humourless KGB types or lemming-like dissidents only too happy to die for the cause, or incorrigible hams like Freddie Jones who simply look like they SHOULD be in a sitcom. There's even an almost admirable perversity into giving most of the explanatory dialogue in the last half-hour to Klaus Löwitsch, an actor with a shaky grasp of spoken English who sounds like a bumblebee caught in a vacuum cleaner pipe. Not good by any means, but strangely watchable, and Maurice Jarre contributes an enjoyable score from the days before he disappeared entirely into atonal electronics.

The Region 1 DVD is the uncut theatrical version before Clint re-edited and trimmed the film by some 12 minutes without visibly improving it for video release (however, the European PAL DVD is the shorter version). Boasting a good 2.35:1 widescreen transfer, it also includes a 29-minute British behind the scenes documentary and the theatrical trailer.

April 26, 2007

"Firefox" is about redemption

As a child, I was impressed by this movie's setting--the gritty, greasy depiction of the gritty, greasy life in the Soviet Union's proletariat interior--and the mesmerizing special effects that brought the MiG-31 to life. As an adult, all of this came back to me, with the added awareness of setting, conflict, and dark penumbras.

This is a dark film. So many people die in this movie: the first contact Pavel Upenskoy, the Jew scientists, the Soviet Pilot of the second prototype. Once again, setting is key: this mission is dangerous, death is probable, and failure more than likely. This contrasts with the gala James Bonds movies which (at times) can be life action cartoons, and is a precursor to the high-tension, high-body counts in "24."

The special effects, thought dated, still hold up. Though they are not as sophisticated 2005's film "Stealth" or the opening scenes of "Revenge of the Sith," I could "piece out imperfections with my thoughts . . . And make imaginary puissance." I'm one of these people who still thrills when Buster Crabbe hops into his obviously model spaceship and blast off form Mongo. Good storytelling can overcome bad special effects, as shown by "Ghostbusters."

Additionally, this film exemplifies how a book can be faithfully adapted to screen, without damaging the story or the theatrical presentation. Of course, some of the credit goes to the way Craig Thomas wrote the book. It is minimalist character study of Mitchell Gant's psychodrama within the grim Soviet Union. When Gant sweated, my palms became damp.

Yes, this film is a bit long, but like in "2001," I think the length added to the setting. The only thing that really could be cut is the bickering of the Soviet Air Marshals and the Premiere. However, that would detract form the setting aspect of the story. We see the hoary heads bang heads as they fumble with the hot potato that Gant has lobbed at them. Picture a cross between the Sith Lords and the Three Stooges, and you capture the tragicomic aspect of this psychothriller.

So, in the light of the Velvet Revolution, is this film relevant? I think so. In 1970, we had a double dose of military nostalgia--"Patton" and "MASH." In the midst of Vietnam, what did Korea or WWII have to do with anything? In part, it has to do with the common elements of war, warfare, and the warriors. C. S. Lewis spoke of a thought he had while in the service: "This is what Homer wrote about. This is War."

Similarly, in order to defend life, liberty, and property, (the purpose of the military), we need to inculcate the warriors about the virtue and value of what they are doing. Lewis again has important insight on this issue:

"Those who say that children [or even grownups] must not be frightened may mean two things. They may mean (1) that we must not do anything likely to give the child those haunting, disabling, pathological fears against which ordinary courage is helpless: in fact, phobias. His mind must, if possible, be kept clear of things he can't bear to think of. Or they may mean (2) that we must try to keep out of his mind the knowledge that he is born into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evil."

"If they mean the first I agree with them: but not if they mean the second. The second would indeed be to give children a false impression and feed them on escapism in the bad sense. There is something ludicrous in the idea of so educating a generation which is born to the . . . atomic bomb. Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker."

Courage is one of the values that this film portrays, not just with accepting the mission, but most epically as Gant deals with his own personal ghosts of Vietnam. In this sense, "Firefox" is about redemption: Gant, unable to save one Vietnamese girl, is able to save millions of lives by stealing the Firefox and to restore a balance of power between the two nations.

The other part has to do with aesthetics: this is a roping good spy and techno-thriller, and when we are done, we recognize that we have seen a marvelous tale told well. And that is the hallmark of any good story. March 14, 2007

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