Russell Casse

Russell Casse is one of major protagonists in the 20th Century Fox's action 1996 film, Independence Day.
He is portrayed by Randy Quaid.
== Biography ==
Russell served as a F-4 fighter pilot for the United States Air Force in the Vietnam War. Around 1986, he claimed that he was abducted by aliens and attested that they experimented on him that led to his trauma and his belief that they are planning to kill humanity. His story was disbelieved by the public, earning Russell mockery from his peers and consternation from his family.
When his wife got sick, Russell could not give her enough attention, because of his obsession in searching for clues about his abduction. This led to her death, and to Russell's drinking problem and straining his relationship with his children, especially his eldest son Miguel. He and his children live in a camper, and he worked as a crop duster pilot in California's Imperial Valley. 
== War of 1996 ==
By the advent of the aliens' arrival in July 1996, Russell was arrested for papering city hall with leaflets from his crop duster in an desperate attempt to warn the public that the aliens are a threat. However, Russell was soon released as the authorities was focused on more pressing matters in light of the aliens. After the aliens began their attack, Russell and his family joined a large convoy of refugees and come across Captain Steven Hiller with a captured alien. Guided by Captain Hiller, the Casse family and the refugees traveled to Area 51.
Russell later volunteered in President Whitmore's counterattack on the aliens, assigned to fly a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet. During the attack on Area 51, Russell was integral in destroying the alien City Destroyer, as he was piloting the only available fighter jet with a missile left to destroy the Destroyer's weapon port. All the others had exhausted their missiles. However, the AMRAAM missile jammed when he attempted to fire it. Russell then made a fateful decision by flying his jet directly into the weapon in a suicide attack. Before making his sacrifice, Russell sends a heartfelt request to ground control, which is also heard by Miguel, to "Tell my children...I love them very much." Russell's suicide attack succeeded in destroying the alien ship, saving Area 51 and his family.
== History ==
He is a farmer with a reputation for having a few screws loose, along with alcoholism. It is also implied that he may or may not have been abducted by aliens in the past. At the end of the movie, he kamikazes his fighter plane following his fire mechanism jams into the alien ship's laser weapon just as it is about to fire on Area 51, destroying the ship and saving the lives of everyone taking cover inside the base and killing himself.
== Personality ==
Russell Case was a very complex individual. One very important note of his personality is that when he was being laughed at by the other customers at the local diner and was about to leave, when one of the alien invaders own massive City Destroyer spaceships showed up, he had a look of complete fear and utter horror on his face, upon recognizing the very same aliens that kidnapped and abducted him ten years years ago during the Vietnam War.
[to be added]
==Gallery==
Russell Casse about to do a sacrifice.png|Russell Casse about to do a sacrifice
Russell Casses sacrifice.png|Russell saves the day at the cost of his life
Russell Casse 1996 ID4.jpg
File:Randy-quaid-independence-day.jpg
==Trivia==
*Originally, Russell's sacrificial death was going to happen differently; In the original script for the movie, when Russell attempts to enlist in the aerial battle against the alien ship, he is turned down due to his alcoholism. This then prompts him to secretly steal the biggest, heaviest missile he could find, strap it to his old bi-wing plane, and fly it into the alien ship's weapon. In other words, the movie originally had it so Russell would have been intending to kamikaze himself to stop the aliens right from the start of the battle, rather than it being due to his missile malfunctioning.
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