Air Force One Movie Review & Film Summary (1997) | Roger Ebert Tweet Harrison Ford is one of the most likable and convincing of movie stars, and he almost pulls off the impossible in "Air Force One.'' I don't mean he saves the day; I mean he almost saves the movie. Here is a good example of how star power can breathe new life into old cliches--and "Air Force One'' is rich with cliches. Advertisement You are familiar with the movie's premise because of all the commercials and coming attractions trailers and magazine covers and talk show appearances. You know that Gary Oldman plays the leader of a gang of terrorists who gain control of Air Force One as it's flying back home from Moscow. You know it's up to Ford, as President James Marshall , Vietnam combat hero, to battle the terrorists. You know his wife and children are among the hostages--and that he has just vowed that America will never negotiate with terrorists. So. Since the movie has no macro surprises, does it have any micro ones?

Has director Wolfgang Petersen (" Das Boot ," " In The Line Of Fire ") found lots of neat little touches to make the movie work on a minute-by-minute basis, while on the larger scale slogs to its preordained conclusion? Sorta, sometimes. There's some neat stuff about "Air Force One,'' although I don't know how much of it to believe. (Is it really bulletproof from the inside? Does it really have an escape pod onboard? Is there really a way to parachute out the back hatch? Can you really call Washington from Russia on a cell phone while airborne?) Many of the action scenes take place in the bowels of the jet, down in the galley and luggage areas. There also is a counterplot set in Washington, where the vice president ( Glenn Close ) learns from the attorney general ( Philip Baker Hall ) that the president may be technically "incapacitated,'' and that she should consider taking over. And there are some good action sequences, in which people enter and leave airplanes at an altitude at which the practice is not recommended.

Advertisement But mostly the movie is stapled together out of ingredients from many, many other films about presidents, terrorists, hijackings, hostages, airplanes, politics and cat-and-mouse chases. It is inevitable, for example, that the terrorists will separate and go poking around on their own, so that they can be picked off one at a time. It is inevitable that there will be Washington press conferences, so that bones of information can be thrown to the seething press. It is inevitable that there will be personality flare-ups among the lesser politicians, and dire comments by their advisers ("The element of surprise is a formidable weapon''). The movie also resurrects that ancient and dependable standby, the Choosing of the Wires. In countless other movies, the bomb squad hesitates between "Red . . . or black? Red . . . or black''). This is a big-budget movie and presents us with five wires. It's an emergency, and the president needs to decide which two he should connect. See if you can guess the right two colors. The choices are green, yellow, red, white and blue. The movie is well-served by the quality of the performances.

Close is convincing as the vice president, and Gary Oldman has a couple of effective scenes as the terrorist ("Murder? You took 100,000 lives to save a nickel on the price of a gallon of gas.''). And Harrison Ford is steady and commanding as the president, even while we're asking ourselves if a middle-age chief executive would really be better at hand-to-hand combat than his Secret Service agents. Advertisement Some of the special effects scenes are effective, but others are distracting. In a key scene set near an open doorway on the plane, none of the actors convinced me that they thought they were standing next to a 30,000-foot drop. (For one thing, they never looked down, which I think is more or less the first thing I would do.) A climactic explosion is less than authentic, visually. And scenes involving a Russian political prisoner are confusing. "Air Force One'' is a fairly competent recycling of familiar ingredients, given an additional interest because of Harrison Ford's personal appeal. At this point in the summer, however, I've had enough explosions, showdowns, stunts and special effects.

I saw a movie the other day about a woman in Paris who lost her cat, and know what? It was more exciting than this. At least when the cat got up on the roof, it knew enough to look down. Popular Blog Posts Air Force One (1997) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Hijackers seize the plane carrying the President of the United States and his family, but he - an ex-soldier - works from hiding to defeat them.

Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON TV a list of 43 titles created 16 May 2012 a list of 25 titles created 29 Jun 2013 a list of 34 titles created 08 Dec 2014 a list of 43 titles created 11 months ago a list of 40 titles created 4 months ago Title: Air Force One (1997) 6.4/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 10 nominations. See more awards » Videos Dr. Richard Kimble, unjustly accused of murdering his wife, must find the real killer while being the target of a nationwide manhunt. Director: Andrew Davis When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge. Director: Phillip Noyce CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.

Director: Phillip Noyce US Marshal Samuel Gerard (Jones) and his team of Marshals are assigned to track down Sheridan (Snipes), who has been accused of a double-murder. Director: Stuart Baird Newly paroled ex-con and former U.S. Ranger Cameron Poe finds himself trapped in a prisoner transport plane when the passengers seize control. Director: Simon West A young police officer must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph. Director: Jan de Bont A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco. Director: Michael Bay A lawyer becomes a target by a corrupt politician and his NSA goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime. Director: Tony Scott In order to foil an extortion plot, an FBI agent undergoes a face-transplant surgery and assumes the identity and physical appearance of a ruthless terrorist, but the plan turns from bad to worse when the same criminal impersonates the cop.

Director: John Woo In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain in their newest sub violates orders and heads for the USA. Is he trying to defect or to start a war? Director: John McTiernan A retired master car thief must come back to the industry and steal 50 cars with his crew in one night to save his brother's life. Director: Dominic Sena Two hip detectives protect a murder witness while investigating a case of stolen heroin. Director: Michael Bay Edit Storyline The President of the USA goes to Moscow and gives a stirring speech outlining the USA's new "Zero-tolerance" policy with respect to terrorism. On the flight home, terrorists take over Air Force One (the President's official plane) and take the passengers (including his wife and daughter) hostage. The terrorists plan to execute one hostage every half-hour unless/until their demands are met. However, the President is a former Medal of Honor winner, so the terrorists may be in for a surprise... Written by Afterburner <aburner@erols.com> The most important man, the surest airplane, the most dangerous Hijackers...

See more » Genres: Rated R for violence | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 25 July 1997 (USA) See more » Also Known As: $37,132,505 (USA) (25 July 1997) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia The outdoor nighttime shots of the military invading Radek's palace were filmed in Cleveland, Ohio. The building that is supposed to be Radek's palace is actually Severance Hall, home to The Cleveland Orchestra. In some shots, you can see part of adjacent Case Western Reserve University's Thwing Center - a student union consisting of a glass atrium between two brick buildings. See more » Goofs Bullets would be useless against Air Force One, it is armored to withstand even a limited nuclear attack. See more » Quotes [first lines] See more » Crazy Credits Jürgen Prochnow plays General Ivan Radek yet in the cast list he is credited as "General Alexander Radek".

See more » Connections See more » Frequently Asked Questions It is what it is......fun 7 March 2005 | by Alvsy007 (Whitman , Mass) – See all my reviews Nonstop action, thrilling suspense, dark humor, and a brilliant concept, this flag waving over the top action adventure was a good two hours in 1997. The story: Enroute back to the States from Russia, Russian Nationals hijack the President's plane and hold him and his family (as well as most of his staff) hostage aboard Air Force One in order to release a Rouge General captured earlier. Harrison Ford from his first minute to his last looks comfortable in his Presidential role. That's to say, Ford appears, acts and just plain feels like he should be President. (Come one who saw this movie and wanted him to run). Gary Oldman's performance as the main villain (Ivan) should be up there with the likes of Alan Rickman's Hans from Die Hard and John Malkovich's Leary-Booth-Carney from In the Line of Fire (coincidentally directed by Wolfgang Peterson as well). Glenn Close pulls of the Vice President role with smirks and spunk.

Stars aside I think the supporting cast should get an equal if not harder pat on the back. These guys and girls . really made the movie. They're the ones that brought the chuckles and caused gasps. Wendy Crewson (The Good Son) nailed her role with more grace than a first lady has actually shown in the last recallable years. Paul Guilfoyle ("CSI", The Negotiator), was the kind gentle, "best buddy", chief-of-staff, who brought a small smile to your face every time he is on-screen. Xander Berkeley ("24", Terminator 2), plays the chilling secret service agent Gibbs. The lovable William H. Macy plays the good-mannered Air Force Officer who puts himself in harm's way for the President more time than the Secret Service agents do. He just doesn't get enough screen time toward the beginning. And Dean Stockwell will have you cussing under your breath as the power-hungry Secretary of Defense. And it seems that Wolfgang Peterson watched every great Action/Military movie of the past 3 years and hired all those "briefing room generals". For this I applaud him. As for the terrorist, they rival those of Die hard.

Cold, stone-faced, funny, smooth, and just plain hateable, they did their job. The bulk of the movie takes place aboard the Air Force One no kidding eh?). And boy do you believe it. The production designer (Williams Sandell) obviously paid attention to detail, mimicking the real Presidential Aircraft. Small, claustrophobic and believable. Andrew W. Marlowe's script gets it job done as well. Nothing award winning. It's everything you would expect given the story it has to tell. Couple times it will make you cringe, but again, look what it needs to accomplish. The late Jerry Goldsmith's score for this movie is a hands down classic. Only having two weeks to score the film after Peterson rejected Randy Newman's work, Goldsmith with the help of Joel Mcneely composed one of the most bombastic, riveting, emotional, suspenseful, and patriotic scores I've heard come out of the film world. It works perfectly with the movie. A few times your mind is going to be stretch you may have to resort to the "It's just a movie" mindset. Overall its fun. Not a bad way to spend 2 hours. Harrison Ford for President.

52 of 80 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Air Force One - Synopsis Buy The Soundtrack. A terrorist group has taken an entire plane hostage, demanding the release of General Alexander Radek, a vicious tyrant who has been murderously exploiting the remains of a Russia in shambles. Unless their leader is released, the terrorists will begin methodically killing passengers. But if the demands are met and Radek is set free, hundreds of thousands more will certainly die. One man must weigh the fate of his family, who is on board, against the fate of the world. That man is the President of the United States. The plane is Air Force One. Harrison Ford stars as U.S. President James Marshall in a heart-stopping action thriller from two time Oscar nominee director Wolfgang Petersen (In the Line of Fire, Outbreak). A Columbia Pictures and Beacon Pictures presentation of a Radiant production, Air Force One also stars Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Jurgen Prochnow, Wendy Crewson, Liesel Matthews, Paul Guilfoyle, Xander Berkeley, William H. Macy and Dean Stockwell. Based on an original screenplay by Andrew W.

Marlowe, the action thriller is produced by Armyan Bernstein, Wolfgang Petersen, Gail Katz, and Jon Shestack with executive producers Tom Bliss, Marc Abraham and David Lester. Two-time Oscar nominee Michael Ballhaus is the director of photography. William Sandell is the production designer, and Erica Phillips is the costume designer. The film is edited by two-time Oscar nominee Richard Francis-Bruce. Jerry Goldsmith, Academy Award winner for his work on The Omen, composed the score. "You're not going to see Harrison Ford sitting behind a desk in the Oval Office in this movie," says director Wolfgang Petersen, whose previous films have shown the human side of war (Das Boot), the dilemmas faced by the U.S. Secret Service (In the Line of Fire) and the consequences of bacterial research (Outbreak).

"This President is a man of action and there is no other actor who can match Harrison's combination of strength and intelligence in this kind of role." United States President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) makes an impassioned speech to a room full of Russian dignitaries: no longer will the greatest power on earth tolerate human rights violations such as those recently suffered under the fascist tyrant General Radek (Jurgen Prochnow) in Kazakhstan. He praises the joint Russian-American commando raid that resulted in the capture of this brutal dictator as the opening salvo in an all-out war against political tyranny. Later, the President joins his wife (Wendy Crewson) and daughter (Liesel Matthews) aboard his haven, his fortress, Air Force One. En route to Washington, the plane is hijacked by Radek loyalists posing as Russian journalists. They intend to force the release of their leader by holding the President hostage. The Vice President (Glenn Close) in the White House cannot reason with them and all the nation's military might is useless against them. Notes Petersen: "Gary Oldman makes a perfect antagonist because he is a very bright man and it is the brilliance of the character that makes him especially ominous.

And we are fortunate to have one of the great actors in the world as our commanding Vice President. Few actors with Glenn's presence can also project the complex layers of emotion experienced by this Vice President." The burden of stopping these terrorists ultimately rests on the shoulders of one man: the President himself, who has secretly remained on board the plane. Academy Award-nominee Harrison Ford plays U.S. President James Marshall, a leader whose courage and convictions in standing firm against terrorism are put to the ultimate test when his own family is taken hostage aboard Air Force One. "This is a story about a President who has made a very decisive political choice based on his own deeply held beliefs," says the international star whose distinguished career includes such hits as The Fugitive, Presumed Innocent and the recently re-released box-office phenomenon, the Star Wars trilogy. "Those beliefs are tested in a dramatic way as the stakes suddenly become very personal. He must gamble with his own freedom to secure the freedom of his family and the other hostages on board a hijacked plane. And such is the power of his office that if he fails, the whole world is held hostage.

"What I found most interesting in exploring the role was the incredible responsibility that the President has - how there is no one moment in his life when he's not beholden to the country's welfare ahead of his own or his family's," notes Ford. "As I reflected on it, I was most impressed with the enormous burden of the Presidency. I also thought it was a compelling story with a satisfying sense of triumph at its conclusion. And the prospect of a collaboration with Wolfgang delighted me." Though dramatized with the thrills of a non-stop action-adventure, Air Force One draws its inspiration from a very real contemporary dilemma. "Air Force One starts with a realistic premise and then, as I like to do in all my movies, creates thrills by heightening the reality," explains Wolfgang Petersen. "The reality of international terrorism has, unfortunately, become something we accept as part of modern life. But such acts are usually narrow in their focus and limited in their impact. We have created a scenario in which the success of a single terrorist act could have a drastic effect on the entire free world." When first-time screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe came to producer Jon Shestack with the pitch for Air Force One, it was an idea Shestack couldn't refuse.

The script was, in fact, exactly what the Beacon Pictures executive had been looking for. "The challenge was to come up with an action movie that was unique and where was there left to go?" Shestack says. "Effects had gotten as big as they possibly can get; body counts had gotten as high as they can go. There really wasn't anything left except to make the action hero be the most powerful man in the world." "There was never anyone else but Harrison Ford for this role," says Petersen. "He has the charismatic persona the President must have. He also has the intelligence and sense of humor that makes him likable. And, of course, he is totally believable when he has to fight back and get physical." The next challenge was to populate the cast with equally compelling actors. To portray Korshunov, the passionate and militant terrorist who holds the plane hostage, Petersen cast Gary Oldman, whose diverse performances in films ranging from Sid and Nancy to the recently-released sci-fi epic The Fifth Element, have garnered the actor universal acclaim. "Gary is very facile and technically skilled," notes Ford. "He is very powerful on screen and his menace comes with a disturbing ease.

I had a ball working with him." Despite the seriousness of his role, Oldman enjoyed the light tone that director Petersen maintained around the set. "I think it's important, if you're going to be working around a group of people for twelve weeks, that you're working for someone who doesn't take it all too seriously," says Oldman. "Wolfgang has a wicked sense of humor. He's also the boss, so I tend to laugh at all his jokes very loudly. "With an action thriller, the energy has to be maintained at such a high level that it can be quite exhausting. It helps tremendously when you have someone like Wolfgang up there steering the ship who seems to have boundless energy, never looks tired and can crack a few jokes." "While the two antagonists, Marshall and Korshunov, do not play many scenes together, it is the cat and mouse tension between them that sustains the action. Producer Gail Katz notes that Ford and Oldman conveyed a crucial chemistry in playing two men with drastically different but no less passionate beliefs: "They are both highly intelligent actors and they're playing highly intelligent characters, each representing completely opposing points of view. They are sparring intellectually on the one hand and physically on the other.

That combination of forceful individuals stepping into roles that allow them to exhibit their strengths really makes the movie take off." The role of the Vice President was also one that required an image of strength and decisiveness. Close came to her part with a high degree of such credibility built into her public persona. "The President and Vice President of the United States are very famous people," explains producer Armyan Bernstein. "So, the fact that Glenn is so well-known instantly secures a certain amount of credibility. But what she does as an actor is amazing. I was on the set one day and she was reading a speech that I'd read to myself a thousand times, and I looked around the stage and half the crew was standing there teary-eyed. That's a gift." To lure the five-time Academy Award-nominated actress, the filmmakers devised a unique and apropos invitation. Close recalls: "I was invited to have dinner with President Clinton in Wyoming during his vacation there this summer and Harrison Ford was there.

I was sitting on the President's right and halfway through dinner, Harrison came over and knelt down on the President's left and said 'Would you like to be my Vice President in a movie I'm doing?' Under those circumstances, I didn't think I could say no." ONE TOUGH PRESIDENT / Harrison Ford fights terrorists in 'Air Force One' and makes us believe it - SFGate ONE TOUGH PRESIDENT / Harrison Ford fights terrorists in 'Air Force One' and makes us believe it MICK LaSALLE, Chronicle Staff Critic Published 4:00 am, Friday, July 25, 1997 AIR FORCE ONE : Thriller. Starring Harrison Ford and Gary Oldham . Directed by Wolfgang Petersen . (R. 118 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.) 'Air Force One" is a thriller that taps into our deep and secretly cherished associations about the presidency. It gives us the president of our dreams, a president of mythic virtues, and then manipulates us by showing him desperately at risk. It's a gamble.

"Air Force One" goes against the current grain of presenting presidents in movies as evil or idiotic, or mock heroic, as in last year's "Independence Day." Instead, "Air Force One" dares to present a flat-out heroic president, without the safety net of irony. It succeeds. The catch is that the audience must believe, on some level, that it's watching the president of the United States. Buy it, and "Air Force One" is halfway home. Don't buy it, and the film becomes a preposterous thriller in which the president gets into gun fights and hand-to-hand struggles with terrorists. Fortunately, the film finds in Harrison Ford the one actor who can fully inhabit two kinds of grandeur -- action-movie bigness and the aura of the presidency. He has the ego and the intelligence for the job. He has the Gary Hart hair. He also has a quality that Americans appreciate in a president and perhaps are nostalgic for -- sincerity. As President James Marshall , Ford is beyond sincere. He is an impassioned visionary. We meet him for the first time at a Kremlin banquet in his honor, giving a speech in which he's about to implode with rage and moral fervor.

"It's your turn to be afraid!" he warns terrorists, promising to send American troops to fight terrorism and tyranny everywhere it might occur. At this point we should perhaps be thinking, "This guy is nuts." But "Air Force One," coming at the right time, capitalizes on the audience's latent hunger to believe that there could be a president who's not just an oily politician but a passionate man worthy of respect. It also doesn't hurt that we've had two presidents named Harrison and one named Ford. In any case, by the time Gary Oldman , as an obsessed Kazak super-nationalist, hijacks the president's Boeing 747 with a band of communist mal contents, the act seems like a chilling violation. There's a violence to the violence in "Air Force One" that's simply not present in the more cartoonish action films. Bullets rip nasty holes into doors, and the sound of gunshots in the confined space of the presidential plane is a jolt. Oldman's sadism -- his enjoyment of murdering defenseless people -- makes the violence more personal and frightening. More than, say, "Face/Off"; "Air Force One" is the stuff of nightmares.

The picture provides, within minutes, a setup something like that of "Under Siege," the Steven Seagal ocean thriller. There's a man on board the hijacked aircraft the terrorists don't know about, and he's dangerous. Only here it's not a cook but the president. This president is one tough character. In one of the movie's corny touches, a general speaks of the president's war record and his Medal of Honor -- just in case we start having doubts when we see him roughing up thugs 20 years his junior. The assurance is unnecessary. Anyone who has ever seen a Ford movie knows that his strength comes from one thing alone: His capacity to get more p.o.'d than anybody else. Director Wolfgang Petersen ("Das Boot") shifts the scenes back and forth from the action in the air to the maneuvering in the White House, with the vice president, played by Glenn Close , presiding over the Cabinet. Close walks it just right, portraying a politician completely out of her depth who yet might be capable enough to make the right decisions, one at a time.

Also noteworthy in these Cabinet scenes is Dean Stockwell , who plays the ambitious secretary of defense -- "I'm in control here." It's no accident that Stockwell resembles former Secretary of State Alexander Haig , who presumed he was in control after the attempted assassination of President Reagan. "Air Force One" takes its set-up and flies with it. Petersen's action fantasy escalates into midair dogfights and refueling, elaborate stunts with people dangling from the Air Force One parachute ramp and later trying to transfer on a cable to a rescue aircraft. There is a tone of confident military heroics and almost a reverence for the presidency that seem a throwback to World War II propaganda movies. It's going to interesting to see if hip '90s audiences go for this patriotic spin. I have a hunch they will. "Air Force One" might not be the role of Ford's career, but it might be the ultimate role of his maturity. In most of the great Hollywood careers, there comes a film when an actor or actress cashes in on the relationship he or she has built with the audience over time. This is one of those movies.

Latest from the SFGATE homepage: Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page. 'Air Force One': 25 Things You Didn't Know About the Harrison Ford Classic | Moviefone 'Air Force One': 25 Things You Didn't Know About the Harrison Ford Classic by Moviefone Staff "Get off my plane!" Just reading that sentence, you can hear Harrison Ford barking the famous catchphrase at Gary Oldman during a climactic sequence in "Air Force One." It's a familiar line, since we've all seen the classic 1997 thriller about a president (Ford) thwarting the Russian terrorist (Oldman) who's hijacked the flying White House.

Still, there's probably plenty you don't know about the movie (which opened 15 years ago, on July 25, 1997), including how accurate it is (and isn't), how the filmmakers got access to the real Air Force One, the battle over the film's instrumental score, and the financial windfall that made one cast member the richest star by far (it's not who you think). Read on for the plane (get it?) truth behind the movie. 1. "Air Force One" was actually director Wolfgang Petersen's second movie in four years about a president whose life is threatened; it followed the German-born filmmaker's 1993 hit "In the Line of Fire." 2.

If you're making a movie about a guy who goes ballistic when villains threaten or harm his family (like the president's wife and child on Air Force One), then Harrison Ford is your man, having tackled that plot in such films as "Frantic," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," "Patriot Games," "The Fugitive," and "The Devil's Own" (all released before "Air Force One"), as well as such follow-ups as "Firewall" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." 3. Nonetheless, Ford wasn't the first choice to play the two-fisted, combat veteran president James Marshall. Initially, the filmmakers offered the part to Kevin Costner, but he was too busy directing and starring in "The Postman," so he suggested Ford. (In retrospect, a good idea for Ford, but not so good for Costner.) 4. Gary Oldman, then as now, was the go-to casting for the villain. He brought his usual method intensity to the role, at least when cameras were rolling.

Once they stopped, Petersen has said, Oldman became jovial and friendly, so much so that Petersen redubbed the shoot "Air Force Fun." When he called "Action," however, Oldman instantly snapped back into character. 5. Playing the president's preteen daughter was Liesel Matthews, who had played the lead role a couple years earlier in Alfonso Cuaron's "A Little Princess." In fact, she was a princess of sorts; she was born Liesel Pritzker, an heiress to the family fortune of the Pritzkers, the Chicago clan that owns the Hyatt hotel chain. Her parents had divorced, and a battle brewed over whether she would use her father's or stepfather's surname as her stage name. She solved the problem by taking her brother Matthew's first name as her professional last name. 6. Xander Berkeley played Agent Gibbs, the Secret Service mole whose betrayal enables the hijackers. The movie never explains his treason, but Petersen said an initial draft of the script made clear that he was a former CIA agent disillusioned by the end of the Cold War. 7. At first, the White House wasn't going to allow the filmmakers access to the real Air Force One.

A phone call from Harrison Ford persuaded the administration to change its mind. 8. The guide who took the crew on a tour of the real plane served as an inspiration for the character of Melanie Mitchell, the deputy press secretary. In fact, Petersen said, the crew were so fond of her that they became squeamish during the sequence where the terrorists execute her. 9. In fact, Peterson originally filmed a graphic execution sequence involving Mitchell, but ended up cutting it because he thought it was too intense (instead, the gunshot is only heard from Ford's perspective, who was then hiding out in the bottom of the aircraft). 10. The real plane, a Boeing 747-200, was played in the film by a Boeing 747-146 rented from cargo airline American International Airways. It cost $300,000 just to repaint the plane to look like Air Force One. 11.

The sequence at the end, in which a Lockheed MC-130 Hercules rescues the 747 passengers by hooking a zipline to the crippled plane, is a near-copy of a similar sequence at the end of "Airport '75" (the only difference is that Charlton Heston's character was transferred via Super Jolly Green Giant Helicopter, not a Hercules). 12. Jurgen Prochnow, who plays the imprisoned war criminal, General Radek, was a veteran of Petersen's first big hit. He had played the U-boat captain in Petersen's 1981 submarine classic "Das Boot." 13. During the film, Prochnow's character is referred to as Gen. Ivan Radek, but the credits list him as Gen. Alexander Radek. 14. To compose the score, Petersen hired Randy Newman.

The pop songwriter-turned-film composer was known for adding humorous and wistful Americana to dramas like "The Natural" and "Avalon" as well as to cartoons like Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story." But he was not known for action, and the result was a score that Petersen found too whimsical and frivolous. Newman was fired and veteran scorer Jerry Goldsmith was hired. With just 12 days to complete a new score, Goldsmith brought aboard fellow composer Joel McNeely to assist. The music they came up with was the more traditional, serious, suspenseful score that Petersen had in mind. Copies of Newman's score, however, had already been issued as promotional CDs, and they became popular bootlegs among collectors. 15. Bill Clinton, who was the real president at the time of the film's release, liked it so much he saw it twice. He pointed out, however, that the real plane didn't have a parachute ramp or escape pods like the aircraft in the movie. Petersen predicted that future models of Air Force One would incorporate such security features. 16. The film was a smash, earning $173 million in North America and another $142 overseas.

It was the fifth-highest grossing movie of 1997. 17. The movie was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Editing and Best Sound, but it won neither. 18. "Air Force One" turned out to be the last of a wave of "Die Hard"-inspired thrillers (action movies where terrorists invade a confined space and are foiled by a lone hero/saboteur). One reason was that, by now, every conceivable multi-passenger vehicle (planes, trains, city buses) had been tried. 19. The other reason was the real-life terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Petersen has said that, after 9/11, he wouldn't have felt comfortable making a movie about terrorists attacking America by hijacking a jetliner. 20. Matthews made one more movie, the little-seen "Blast," before abandoning acting. In 2002, she and her brother Matthew sued their father and 11 Pritzker cousins, claiming that their trust funds had been misappropriated. A 2005 settlement left Liesel and Matthew with assets of about $450 million each.

After marrying Ian Simmons, she became known as Liesel Pritzker Simmons . Now 28, she is a philanthropist and founder of Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, which encourages microfinance loans in Africa. (You can check out a recent photo of her here .) 21. After "Air Force One," Berkeley continued to be in demand as a character actor, including on another terrorism-related drama, the first two seasons of "24." On the set of that TV series, he met co-star Sarah Clarke, to whom he has been married since 2002. Currently, he's a series regular on the CW's action drama "Nikita." 22. Wendy Crewson, who played the First Lady, also continued to find work as a character actress after "Air Force One." In 2005, she was part of the ensemble of another presidents-and-terrorists drama, the TV mini-series "The Path to 9/11," which also co-starred her then-husband, Michael Murphy. She was seen most recently in the 2012 movie "The Vow." 23. "Air Force One" was the first produced screenplay for Andrew W.

Marlowe. He went on to write the thrillers "End of Days" and "Hollow Man" and to create the current sleuth TV drama series "Castle." He is currently developing a Nick Fury screenplay for Marvel. 24. Randy Newman's score for 2010's "Toy Story 3" reportedly included some music cues from his old, rejected "Air Force One" score. 25. In a gag in 2003's "Scary Movie 3," Leslie Nielsen, playing the president, says, "I wonder what President Ford would have done," then looks at a portrait. But the Ford in the portrait isn't Gerald, it's Harrison. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that Charlton Heston's character was transferred via Hercules aircraft. In fact, it was a Super Jolly Green Giant Helicopter. We regret the error. Screen Junkies 10 American President Movies something here Political films are not always serious, and these 10 American President movies are a mixture of comedy and drama. Some of the movies deal with actors portraying real former American Presidents , while others are completely fictional.

These American President movies either poke fun at political life, or closely portray political life. "Frost/Nixon" It is one on the American President movies that has a real President portrayed by another actor. Frank Langella plays President Richard Nixon in the Oscar-nominated drama movie based on television interviews. The movie revolves around the revelatory interviews between British talk show host David Frost and former President Nixon. "JFK" This 1991 movie is about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. No actor played Kennedy, because he only appeared in the film via real archival footage. The plot revolves around counter-myth of what exactly happened the day President Kennedy got assassinated. It is an eye-opening movie about another theory of how President Kennedy was assassinated. "Dick" This 1999 comedy movie is about two girls who end up becoming the White House dog walkers. They soon discover that President Nixon is not a nice man, and inadvertently become "Deep Throat." Dan Hedaya portrays former American President Richard M. Nixon. It is a refreshing comedy, that has a great fictional twist on the Watergate scandal .

"The American President" This 1995 movie is about a widowed American President trying to win the love of an environmental lobbyist. President Shepherd realizes trying to court a woman is hard when the entire world is watching his every move. Michael Douglas portrays fictional American President Andrew Shepherd. "Air Force One" Harrison Ford stars as the fictional American President James Marshall in the 1997 adventure movie. The movie revolves around the President's plane being hijacked while him and his family are on board. President Marshall tries to keep his family safe while maintaining integrity. The action packed movie is entertaining from start to finish. "In the Line of Fire" This American President movie stars Clint Eastwood as Secret Service Agent Frank Horrigan who failed to save John F. Kennedy. Haunted with the memory, he soon finds himself faced with the same problem when assassination threats on the current President arise. Horrigan and his partner take it into their own hands to track down the would-be assassin before he kills the President. "Dave" The current American President wants to opt out duties for the day, so the White House staff finds a man to stand in for him.

While having his "free day" the real President Bill Mitchell suffers an unexpected stroke and falls into a coma. Dave Kovic is forced to keep pretending to be the President while the White House decides what to do about the situation. "Primary Colors" This political comedy is loosely based on former American President Bill Clinton . In the movie, the Presidents name is Jack Stanton, but he resembles Clinton. The plot is based around journalist Joe Klein's "Primary Colors" book. The book is based on Clinton's campaign for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination. "My Fellow Americans" Former presidents Kramer and Douglas are forced to join together in order to take down the current president. Current American President Haney tries to frame and kill the former Presents in order to cover up his scandals. The comedy movie revolves around Kramer and Douglas trekking across American trying to clear their names. "Head of State" This 2003 comedy movie is about an American President unexpectedly dying, and the man who becomes his replacement. Chris Rock stars as D.C. alderman, Mays Gilliam, who becomes the replacement. The late Bernie Mac stars as Gilliams running mate.

The comedy team of Bernie Mac and Chris Rock is hilarious, and if you don't take the American President movie seriously, you will enjoy watching it.

Question: Which actor played the President in the 1997 film ‘Air Force One’?
Answer: Harrison Ford