| Firefox | | Cast : | Clint Eastwood, Freddie Jones | | Director : | Clint Eastwood | | Studio : | Warner Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | June 18, 1982 | | DVD Released Date : | March 01, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 03, 2005 | | Summary | Underrated Espionage Movie | Content
 | What struck me about Firefox as I watched it for the first time in years was just how much there seemed to be a British influence on the script and the direction. I had the opportunity to watch Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People on DVD prior to watching Firefox again, and there are a lot of similarities in style between those British TV mini-series and Firefox.
While the quality of the script for Firefox doesn't come all that close to the scripts for Tinker, Tailor or Smiley's People, it isn't all that bad, either. The scripts for those two landmark mini-series are considered to be two of the best espionage/spy story scripts ever written. (My only complaint about those two mini-series was the direction and editing - they were paced too slowly, although Smiley's People was better on that count.) Firefox, in comparison, is much faster paced and (of course, this IS a Clint Eastwood movie) much more action packed - but the movie doesn't rush in letting the plot points play out.
Eastwood really stretches here as a director, going not for the action movie atmosphere, but rather more of a deliberately paced espionage movie - a bold move for an actor/director known best for his action movies (at that time). The script might have needed a little more work, but it is more than serviceable and the story works well considering the time period when it was written.
The ending is a very exciting sequence, and it is well handled with great special effects (for the time). It is the payoff that action movie fans will love.
Given the right expectations, Firefox is a very enjoyable movie to watch. More than it is usually given credit for. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 15, 2005 | | Summary | A Rather So-So Flick - Sort of "Stereotyped" | Content
| Although the idea of the novel, and later the movie, came from an actual event that occurred in 1976 when Lt. Viktor Belenko defected from a base in the Soviet Far East to Japan in a, then, secret MiG-25 Foxbat (I read a book about it called "MiG Pilot" written by John Baron), one would have to guess that the name "Firefox" came from the name "Foxbat".
There was plenty of good action with some humor in it, but I find some portions of the film unrealistic. Though I have never been to Russia or back when it was called the "Soviet Union", I could tell that there was so much stereotyping of Russian officials where one would constantly "ask for papers" and it seems that everyone would get asked for papers by some KGB official - even if the one being "asked" is on the "john" in the men's room (which looked too clean, by the way!!!) and one official got killed by Mitchell Gant (Clint Eastwood) after telling him that his "papers were not in order".
The plane - a MiG-31 Firefox - looked like a craft that could have come from a sci-fi movie like "Star Wars" or "Star Trek". The First Secretary looked like someone who could "croak" at any minute just like the old hard-liners did back in the early 1980s beginning with Brezhnev and some of the other old "Bolsheviks" that followed who were beyond "expiration" prior to Gorbachev's rise to power that led to the fall of the Soviet Union itself nine years after the movie was released.
As a Cold War veteran myself, serving overseas in England at the time of its release, I was in my early twenties and for someone at that age the entire movie would be exciting to watch, and I had watched it several times. I was led to believe, "Did they really do that to people regardless if they're Russian or not minding their own business as they were walking the streets of Moscow?" or "Were the hotel rooms overlooking Red Square with the honor guards of the Red Army marching in full view that big and immaculate?" I later believed that the film and the book went a little overboard as I got older. Moscow, in a way, looked like as if it were a city in the West and not like it actually was back then.
I had to laugh at one portion of the film, and that was the Russian immigration official Gant encounters at the airport after he arrives in Moscow who tries to act really tough, "Are you threatening me?" This was rather silly.
Good movie, but some bad acting!!! |
| Rating | | | Date | June 14, 2005 | | Summary | Great Early 1980's cold war action movie | Content
| Being an avid Clint Eastwood fan, I purchased this movie without ever reading the description, I figured - Eastwood's in it - It's got to be worth buying! Well let me tell you, this DVD is worth every penny. Eastwood plays an Air Force vet who makes perfect cover as a spy to steal a high tech jet. The performances of the people helping him along the way through the Soviet Union make a convincing performance, as well as the KGB actors who are hunting him down. Imagery is superb; I would cream my pants as a spy in the USSR!
Bottom Line: Great Action Movie for it's Time! Eastwood fans, it's a must-have! |
| Rating | | | Date | June 02, 2005 | | Summary | Clint Eastwood the Spy | Content
| Clint Eastwood has starred in a variety of roles over his career. The character we are most familiar with is macho and self-assured. Occasionally Clint has taken on unusual roles, such as disc jockey, singer and photographer. While this movie would appear to be made for a typical Clint Eastwood role, the conflicted character with mental problems that Clint plays is one of his most unusual roles; a role that Clint struggles to pull off.
Clint plays Mitchell Gant, an Air Force pilot who suffered a terrible experience in Viet Nam after his capture by the North Vietnamese. Visions of that incident continue to haunt Mitchell whenever he is in highly stressful situations. Mitchell is also the best pilot in the world, and is extremely familiar with Soviet military aircraft and tactics. Thus, he is a potentially ideal choice to travel to the Soviet Union and steal the super secret Mig-31, also known as Firefox.
Mitchell is enticed into taking on this mission by a combination of appealing to his abilities and suggesting that the land he is living on might be made available to him permanently. Mitchell is quickly placed into training for the mission. For the next hour and a half you get the impression that Mitchell is not in control of his life, either physically or mentally. Physically he barely understands what is happening around him as people move him from one place to another. Mentally he continues to have flashbacks and fugues that distract him.
The best part of the movie begins with Mitchell's entry onto the Soviet base where the only two prototype Mig-31's exist. Clint Eastwood finally gets to play the macho character for which he is known, with the exception of one lapse in the shower. The best scene in the movie, in my opinion, is when Mitchell steals the Mig-31 from its hangar. I have never seen anyone start a military aircraft as quickly as Mitchell starts the Mig-31.
The final portion of the movie is a cat and mouse game between Mitchell and the Air Force and Navy of the Soviet Union. Mitchell does his best to trick the Soviets into thinking he is going somewhere other than his intended destination. He must also use his limited fuel to reach a refueling station. Otherwise he will run out of fuel and crash into the sea. To add some spice to the movie is the second Firefox prototype, which is quickly loaded with weapons and sent to chase Mitchell down.
This movie suffers from a number of problems. The most significant problem is that the flashbacks Mitchell has are more distracting than illuminating, and quickly become annoying. The flashbacks added little to the plot and just as little to our understanding of Clint's character.
Another, nearly as serious, problem is the stock footage of aircraft used early in the movie. We see an aircraft mysteriously change between an F-5, an F-4 Phantom and an F-105 Thunderchief (I think those were the transitions). Though such transitions are common on television shows, a military advisor should have been available to correct this basic error for a movie.
Another problem is the dated special effects. The Firefox mockup is reasonably good, but once the Firefox is in flight it generally lacks reality. This movie was made in 1982, after the incredible special effects developed for a famous series of science fantasy movies, and better special effects were possible.
Another problem with this movie is the pacing. For most of the first three-fourths of the movie the movie just plods along, with only brief moments of action.
Strangely, with as many problems as this movie has, I like it. It has enough entertainment value that I keep watching it. However, I struggle recommending this movie to anyone but a hardcore Clint Eastwood fan or someone who likes cold war spy movies, even mediocre ones.
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| Rating | | | Date | May 20, 2005 | | Summary | a funny piece of cold war cheese | Content
| Now this movie is one of he most ridiculous films about USSR I ever seen. Most russians (like me) could die from laughter while watching that one. The scenes in Soviet Union are simply hilarious. The uniforms look like WW2 British Army, the cars are mostly from the 60's (why the hell KGB agents would drive a black governments Chaika from the 60's?), the metro looks nothing like the truth plus it has a great hotel-style mensroom! I mean we moscovites are proud of our metro but this is too much. USSR looks like some stupid Evil Emprire out of Star Wars with a nice mix of Nazi Germany with KGB men asking for "papers" each 5 minutes. The funniest thing is Clint never even cared about the actual russian translation - bumaga is russian means just paper not documents! All russian language used in the film (both spoken and written) is so bad that I could not understand a word. I guess real Gant would last 3 minutes with such a language not to mention the whole story of him getting in the plane is so unbelievable that I guess KGB was pretty much insulted by the way they were portrayed in the film! Now don't get me wrong I'm not a communist, but the political reality of the early 80's USSR was ... to say politely VERY different from that Nazi/Stalinist regime in the movie. Imprisoned jewish scientists - gimme a break! From one side it's histericaly funny, from the other - a bit frightening that americans back then really believed in that Evil Empire George Lucasy stereotypes. |
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