In the Line of Fire
It shouldn’t have taken his passing for me to finally start reviewing Wolfgang Petersen’s films on Sonic Cinema, especially considering the run he had starting with this film in 1993, and through to “Troy” in 2004. That’s how “Repertory Revues”/”A Movie a Week” has rolled, though, and his assassination thriller seemed like the correct one to continue with (after reviewing “The NeverEnding Story” last year), because this marks the 30th anniversary of one of the best summers Hollywood has ever produced.
One of the strengths that Petersen displays in his handling of “In the Line of Fire” is how he shows his characters mentally being challenged more than physically. While there are certainly action scenes in this, or “Das Boot,” or “Air Force One” and “Outbreak,” what we find ourselves so riveted by is how the scenarios that play out onscreen compel our protagonists to think before they act. Frank Horrigan, Clint Eastwood’s Secret Service agent, cannot allow himself to be goaded into action by Leary, John Malkovich’s would-be assassin, less he take himself out of the game Leary is playing. When he is- first because a flu impairs his judgement, and again when he’s aggressive with a bellman- Frank is sidelined, and he has to bring something to the table if he wants to be dealt in. But watch the way Petersen and cinematographer John Bailey use the camera in their moments on opposite ends of a telephone call, as Leary is trying rattle Frank by continually bringing up how he was unable to save Kennedy in 1963. The dialogue in Jeff Maguire’s screenplay is heavy on exposition, but the performances are what give it meaning. This is one of Eastwood’s very best performances.
Everything in this film builds to the inevitable climax between Frank and Leary, where Frank gets another chance to save a president from an assassin’s bullet. Even the opening, where Frank and his partner, Al (Dylan McDermott), are meeting counterfeiters gives us an idea of whom Frank is, and how cavalier he can be. He’s got an arrogance to him that Leary rattles. One of the strongest aspects of the film is how omnipresent Leary is, all the while Frank- and the audience- are in a race to figure out who he is. We can tell he’s serious, but what we cannot tell is why. Why does he want to assassinate the president? Is it political? Is he doing it for someone else? Having him be relatively unknowable in his motives for much of the movie leaves a lot of room for the film to build up our expectations of the character, and how this is going to play out. It makes all the sense in the world that Malkovich was nominated for an Oscar for this performance, and he gives Leary weight that is important as the character faces off against Frank.
There’s more to “In the Line of Fire” than just Eastwood and Malkovich, though. As a fellow Secret Service agent, Rene Russo builds off of the type of character she played in “Lethal Weapon 3” to make for a feisty, flirty counterweight to Frank. We get a great collection of character actors in John Mahoney, Tobin Bell, Fred Thompson, Gary Cole and John Heard in important parts. And Ennio Morricone’s score is exciting, lovely and filled with tension. The main piece of the puzzle is Petersen’s direction, which keeps the film moving at a blistering pace (aided by Anne Coates’s editing) that doesn’t let up until the very end. Hollywood really did understand how to make a sharp thriller, didn’t they?
