It was Ford in a landslide. Nope, not Ford as in Gerald who lost to Jimmy Carter, but Ford as in Harrison who walked away with our Movie Smackdown presidential poll, taking 26.4% of the votes in a ten-man race.
Ford played President James Marshall in the 1997 film, “Air Force One.” Marshall has just gone to Moscow where he’s told the entire world he will not negotiate with terrorists. Then, on the flight home, Russian neo-nationalists hijack Air Force One forcing an ugly decision on Marshall: give in to terrorist demands or sacrifice not only the country’s dignity, but the lives of his wife and daughter. Well, there is one thing in his favor. He’s a military guy, a winner of the Medal of Honor, and he’s going to fight back.
Apparently we liked this version of the Marshall Plan a lot because when given ten of the top performances by an actor as a president to choose from, our Movie Smackdown voters gave a clear and convincing mandate to Harrison Ford.
Air Force One received generally positive reviews from critics, with an overall approval rating of 78% on from “Rotten Tomatoes.” It’s very over-the-top (the real president was fooling around with interns when it came out) but in that crowd pleasing, pop-corn munching way that really works. And it wasn’t just popular in America. It grossed a total of $315-million worldwide, nearly half of the money coming from overseas.
Real-President Bill Clinton saw the film twice and gave it good reviews. Technically, though, Clinton said that key elements of the film’s plane, such as the escape pod and the rear parachute ramp, did not reflect actual features of Air Force One. In the audio commentary, director Wolfgang Petersen opined that the film “Air Force One” would probably force the real “Air Force One” to adopt such measures. If anyone knows if the film influenced reality in this way, leave a comment, we’d love to know.
The secret to why we remember this film and Ford’s role so fondly is the Marshall character. He thinks on his feet, he’s able to brawl if he needs to, and we hope that he fights half as fiercely for America as he does for his family. Contrast this to the President in “Independence Day” which takes this Action-Hero President character to the ultimate Earth-Saving super-sizing. Ford’s character takes the performance up to a millimeter away from credibility but he grounds it and it works.
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards; one for Best Film Editing, the other for Best Sound. It didn’t win either but it sure cleaned up in our election.
“Air Force One” is the winner. By a landslide. Hail to the Chief!
Actually the thought process by that president left some things to be desired. He failed to realize that his goals of dealing with terrorism could lead to the dilemma he faced.
On the other hand, the strength of President David Palmer shone, despite his administration’s failure to live up to his ideals.
President Palmer’s cool analysis of problems showed the way for people to address potential problems.
What do you think?
I love Harrison Ford. I have seen many movies of Harrison ford such like as one of my most favorite movie series is “Indiana Jones” and much more great movies by Harrison. Air Force One is superb Action Thriller movie.
i’d voted for Harrison Ford too, he is just a very good actor! his my dad’s favorite actor nad mine too. i love the movie Air Force One too. yay!