“IN THE LINE OF FIRE” (1993): AN EASTWOOD AND MALKOVICH´S EXCITING POLITICAL THRILLER FILM

It is an American film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich and Rene Russo.

Written by Jeff Maguire, the film is about a disillusioned and obsessed former CIA agent who attempts to assassinate the President of the United States and the Secret Service agent who tracks him.

Eastwood's character is the sole active-duty Secret Service agent remaining from the detail guarding John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, at the time of his assassination in 1963. The film also stars Dylan McDermott, Gary Cole, John Mahoney, and Fred Thompson.

The film was co-produced by Columbia Pictures and Castle Rock Entertainment, with Columbia handling distribution.

Eastwood and Petersen also originally offered the role of Leary to Robert De Niro, who turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with A Bronx Tale.

After In the Line of Fire, Eastwood directed every film he starred in, until 2012's Trouble with the Curve.

Plot

Secret Service Agents Frank Horrigan and Al D'Andrea meet with members of a counterfeiting group at a marina. The group's leader, Mendoza, tells Frank that he has identified D'Andrea as an undercover agent, and forces him to prove his loyalty by putting a gun to D'Andrea's head and pulling the trigger. Frank shoots Mendoza's men, identifies himself as an agent, and arrests the counterfeiter.

Horrigan investigates a complaint from a landlady about an apartment's absent tenant. He finds a collage of photographs and newspaper articles on famous assassinations, a model-building magazine, and a Time cover with the President's head circled.

When Frank and his partner return with a search warrant, only one photograph remains, which shows a much younger Frank standing behind John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963.

Horrigan is the only remaining active agent who was guarding the President that day, and he is wracked with guilt over his failure to react quickly enough to the first shot, shielding Kennedy from the subsequent fatal bullet, which could have saved the President's life. This guilt drove Horrigan to drink excessively; eventually his family left him.

Horrigan receives a phone call from the tenant, who calls himself "Booth". He tells Horrigan that, like John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald, he plans to kill the President, who is running for reelection and is making many public appearances around the country. Horrigan, despite his age, asks to return to the Presidential Protective Detail, where he begins a relationship with fellow agent Lilly Raines.

Booth continues to call Horrigan as part of his "game," even though he knows that his calls are being traced. He mocks the agent's failure to protect Kennedy but calls him a "friend".

Booth escapes Horrigan and D'Andrea after one such call from Lafayette Park, but unknowingly leaves fingerprints in the process. The FBI matches the prints, but because the person's identity is classified, they cannot disclose it to the Secret Service. The FBI does notify the CIA.

At a campaign event in Chicago, Booth pops a decorative balloon. Horrigan, who has a cold, mistakes the pop for a gunshot. Because of this error, he is removed from the protective detail by Chief of Staff Harry Sargent and head of security detail Bill Watts, but he is left in charge of the Booth case.

Horrigan and D'Andrea learn from the CIA that Booth is Mitch Leary, a former assassin who has suffered a mental breakdown and is now a "predator". Leary, who has already killed several people as he prepares for the assassination, uses his model-making skills to build a zip gun out of composite material to evade metal detectors and hides the bullets and springs in a keyring.

D'Andrea confides to Frank that he is going to retire immediately because of nightmares about the Mendoza incident, but Horrigan is able to dissuade him from doing so. After Leary taunts Frank about the President facing danger in California, the two agents chase him across Washington rooftops, and Leary shoots and kills D'Andrea.

Frank asks Raines to reassign him to the protective detail when the President visits Los Angeles, but a television crew films him mistaking a bellboy at the hotel for a security threat, and Watts and Sargent once again force Frank to leave the detail.

Frank connects Leary to a bank employee's murder and learns that Leary, who has made a large campaign contribution, is among the guests at a campaign dinner at the hotel.

He sees the President approach Leary and jumps into the path of the assassin's bullet, saving the President's life. As the Secret Service quickly removes the President, Leary shoots Watts and uses Horrigan – who is wearing a bulletproof vest – as a hostage to escape to the hotel's external elevator.

Frank uses his earpiece to tell Raines and sharpshooters where to aim; although they miss Leary, Frank defeats him. The would-be-assassin chooses to fall to his death from the elevator.

Frank, now a hero, retires, as his fame makes it impossible for him to do his job. He and Raines find a farewell message from Leary on Frank's answering machine. Frank and Raines leave the house and visit the Lincoln Memorial.

Cast

·                    Clint Eastwood as Frank Horrigan

·                    John Malkovich as Mitch Leary

·                    Rene Russo as Lilly Raines

·                    Dylan McDermott as Al D'Andrea

·                    Gary Cole as Bill Watts

·                    Fred Thompson as Harry Sargent

·                    John Mahoney as Secret Service Director Sam Campagna

·                    Gregory Alan Williams as Matt Wilder

·                    Jim Curley as the President

·                    Sally Hughes as the First Lady

·                    Tobin Bell as Mendoza

·                    Cylk Cozart as Agent Cozart

·                    Clyde Kusatsu as Agent Jack Okura

·                    Steve Hytner as Agent Tony Carducci

·                    Patrika Darbo as Pam Magnus

·                    John Heard as Prof. Riger

·                    Joshua Malina as Agent Chavez

RECEPTION

Critical response:

In the Line of Fire was released in United States theaters in July 1993. The film received mostly positive reviews, receiving a 95% "Certified Fresh" positive rating by top film critics based on 64 reviews with an average rating of 7.8 out of 10 and a 79% positive audience rating based on 53,265 reviews.

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four, writing: "Most thrillers these days are about stunts and action. In the Line of Fire has a mind."

Box office:

The film was a considerable financial success as well, earning $176,997,168 worldwide (over $102 million in North America and $74 million in other territories), while its budget was about $40 million.

Accolades:

·                    1994 Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (John Malkovich)

·                    1994 Academy Award Nomination for Best Film Editing (Anne V. Coates)

·                    1994 Academy Award Nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay (Jeff Maguire)

·                    1994 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films (Ennio Morricone) Won

·                    1994 BAFTA Film Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (John Malkovich)

·                    1994 BAFTA Film Award Nomination for Best Editing (Anne V. Coates)

·                    1994 BAFTA Film Award Nomination for Best Screenplay (Jeff Maguire)

·                    1994 Chicago Film Critics Association Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor (John Malkovich)

·                    1994 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (John Malkovich)

·                    1994 MTV Movie Award Nomination for Best Villain (John Malkovich)

·                    AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains (2003):

·                                Mitch Leary – Nominated Villain