TV • PAGE 27
THE BULLETIN • MARCH 25 - 31, 2021
BY JAY BOBBIN
Harrison Ford pilots ‘Air Force One’ solidly
“Get off my plane!”
For many viewers, that legendary line defines “Air Force One,” the 1997 action hit that became another
feather in the resume of Harrison Ford. Being presented by Showtime on Tuesday, March 30, the Wolfgang
Petersen-directed adventure presents Ford as the kind of president Americans need in a time of duress.
And Ford’s President James Marshall certainly knows from duress: The military veteran’s official airplane is
commandeered by terrorists posing as a news crew (great security procedures there) to mastermind a comrade’s
release from prison, with Gary Oldman as a thoroughly convincing leader of the bad guys. His rage is palpable
when he’s made to believe the president has left the plane via an escape pod (the real Air Force One reportedly
doesn’t have one), but in fact, Marshall is hiding in the aircraft’s belly, improvising a counterattack as he goes.
Our stalwart if vulnerable hero has good reason for conquering the invading enemies, since their hostages
include his wife and daughter (Wendy Crewson, Liesel Matthews). Also among the captives are various
members of the president’s staff, some represented by such fine actors as William H. Macy and Paul Guilfoyle
... but there’s also a traitor among them who’s secretly in cahoots with the terrorists.
While the battle aboard Air Force One is unfolding in the air, the vice president – played by Glenn Close
(sorry, Kamala Harris, she got there first) – is trying
to help as much as she can from the ground. She
has to withstand cabinet members who want the
president’s power rescinded under the circumstances,
with Dean Stockwell as an especially zealous official
who warns Close that history will remember her for
what she does. Or doesn’t do.
A typically excellent Jerry Goldsmith score
captures the majesty of the presidential office as well
as the heroism displayed in the situation, and not
surprisingly, terrific aerial stunts also are part of the
recipe here. Those go right up to the final scene,
with a midair transfer the only way to save those
aboard Air Force One, rapidly losing altitude as a
result of all that has transpired. (In real life, Ford has
gained added fame for being a pilot himself.)
For a number of years, a Harrison Ford movie
opening in late summer was deemed as sure a bet at
the box office as there was, given his wide audience
draw. “Air Force One” was one of those attractions,
and not only did it meet expectations then, it has
endured since as a first-rate example of its genre.
Almost 25 years later, it still flies very high.
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