I first came across this movie after recording it off the TV one Christmas in the early nineties. I watched it not knowing anything of the plot or the links to its original novel by Craig Thomas first published in 1977. I liked it but never put it anywhere near his other great movies such as the Dirty Harry series, Spaghetti Weston trilogy or one off singles like Heartbreak Ridge.    

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As the years have gone by they may not have been kind the predictable plot or the now clichéd Cold War characters but the majority of the special effects have stood up well as have the cockpit scenes that contribute much to the finale and it’s become one of my many favourite Eastwood movies.

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The plot follows quite faithfully to its novel origins and involves a former United States Air Force Major called Mitchell Gant being ‘volunteered’ to fly the fastest and most sophisticated plane on the face of the earth, the MiG31, NATO code name ‘Firefox’.

The problem is…it’s in Russia…and he’s got to steal it.

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With the help of an established team called the S.I.S. headed by a Kenneth Aubrey, played by marvellously by Freddie Jones, there has been a network carved out for Gant to train in the U.S. the U.K. and be smuggled undetected into Russia. But Gant is a troubled Vietnam Vet and former prisoner of war who has been out of the game for some time and the only things going his way are that he speaks fluent Russian, fits the flight suit and can fly a plane like the devil himself.

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I enjoy the thriller storyline of trying to get Gant to a successfully proximity to the plane, meeting along the way the great actors Warren Clarke, Ronald Lacey and Nigel Hawthorne, but upon its release there were rumblings from the critics that this was slow and tedious as we knew he got to plane why not start from there… Okay fine then let’s just jump straight to Mount Doom and chuck the ring in, shout “Iceberg!” as soon as the titles have faded or start with the chestburster in scene one shall we…Critics…I love them but I couldn’t eat a whole one.

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Once the MiG 31 is finally in the air everything is turned up to eleven with showing of the aircrafts capabilities for our enjoyment while evoking the Russian First Secretary’s disdain. The cockpit scenes to me look the most authentic outside of an actual movie star really flying a fighter with the use of movement, lighting and projection effects, you feel Clint’s stress levels rise, fall and then spiral out of control like the jet he’s he trying to get back to US soil.

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There is a sequel in book form only, which is set directly after the first one and is also as good as its predecessor and it’s a shame it was never optioned but that plane had flown as it was released in 83 a year after the movie release.

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