Cliffhanger (film)
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| Cliffhanger | |
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 Cliffhanger movie poster |
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| Directed by | Renny Harlin |
| Produced by | Renny Harlin Alan Marshall |
| Written by | John Long Michael France Sylvester Stallone |
| Starring | Sylvester Stallone John Lithgow Michael Rooker Janine Turner Leon Paul Winfield and Ralph Waite |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 28 1993 (USA) |
| Running time | 113 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $65,000,000 (est.) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Cliffhanger is a 1993 action film directed by Renny Harlin and starring Sylvester Stallone and John Lithgow. Stallone plays a climber, who becomes embroiled in a failed heist set in a U.S. Treasury plane flying through the Rocky Mountains. The film was a huge hit when it was released, making more than $250 million worldwide.
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[edit] Plot
In the opening scene, hotshot mountain climber and rescue worker Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone) meets with his friends Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker) and Jessie Deighan (Janine Turner) on a narrow peak in the Rocky Mountains. While moving from one mountaintop to another via a steel cable, Hal's girlfriend Sarah's harness breaks and she is left dangling over a deep chasm. While the others frantically come up with a solution, Gabe straps himself in and goes out to save Sarah, but fails.
Months later, Gabe returns to town for the first time since Sarah's funeral. Overcome with guilt over having lost Sarah, Gabe has returned only to pack up his remaining possessions so he can leave permanently. However, a radio distress call comes in to the local rescue center where Hal and Jessie still work. Hal heads off to find the stranded climbers while Jessie pleads with Gabe to join Hal's rescue attempt. Battling his inner demons, Gabe meets Hal on the mountain, where the latter, still angry with Gabe for failing to save Sarah, lashes out and almost throws Gabe off the cliff.
The rescue turns out to be a fake; the two climbers are taken prisoner by ruthless thieves led by Eric Qualen (John Lithgow), who seeks to recover three suitcases containing $100 million in uncirculated US currency belonging to the United States Department of the Treasury. With the aid of turncoat Treasury agent Richard Travers (Rex Linn), Qualen and his associates attempt to steal the suitcases via a daring air-to-air transfer, but the transfer is foiled and the three suitcases are lost among the mountains. The thieves' plane loses power during the attempt and crashes. The suitcases holding the money have beacon locators, but the thieves need expert help locating them in the mountainous terrain, thus prompting them to summon the unwitting Gabe and Hal to their aid.
The group locates the first of the three cases, and Gabe is tethered to a rope and ordered to scale a steep wall to retrieve it. Gabe frees himself from the rope, and the group begins firing up the cliff, causing an avalanche which kills one of Qualen's men. Seeing the money flutter down from the top of the cliff, Qualen presumes Gabe dead and orders the group to proceed to the second case.
Walker survives the avalanche and makes his way to an abandoned cabin where he finds Jessie, who was airlifted into the area earlier. Together, they reach the second case only moments before Qualen and his mercenaries arrive. They find the case empty (except for a single $1,000 bill with the words "Want to Trade?" written on it) and split up to find Gabe. A fight ensues between Gabe and one of the thieves, resulting in the latter plummeting into the darkness. The thieves, with Hal still as their guide, make their way to the abandoned cabin for the night while Gabe and Jessie throw the money into a fire and lay down to sleep.
The following morning, Gabe and Jessie attempt to beat the thieves to the remaining case. Qualen flags down and commandeers a rescue helicopter while Travers, Hal, and the last remaining mercenary track the case. Once within a reasonably close distance to the case, Travers leaves the mercenary to kill Tucker, only to find that Gabe has beaten him to the case once again. Gabe kills Travers while Hal manages to dump the remaining mercenary,(Delmar) off a cliff. Meanwhile, Jessie, who signaled the rescue helicopter thinking it to be a fellow rescue team member, is taken hostage by Qualen.
Communicating by radio, Qualen and Gabe make a deal to exchange Jessie for the money Gabe collected from the third case. Qualen releases Jessie, but Gabe throws the bag of money into the helicopter's rotors. In the following confusion, Qualen's helicopter falls precariously against the side of the mountain, suspended by a steel cable. Gabe and Qualen fight atop the dangling wreck. Gabe manages to jump off as the wreckage plummets several thousand feet, carrying Qualen with it. The film ends as Gabe, Hal, and Jessie are found by federal agents and rescued.
[edit] Production
Carolco had originally signed Sylvester Stallone to appear opposite John Candy in a comedy directed by John Hughes about feuding neighbors. When the project was dropped, Stallone was persuaded to appear in Cliffhanger.
Carolco had originally signed Renny Harlin to direct Gale Force, a “Die Hard-in-a-Hurricane” action movie. The special effects proved too difficult at the time, so he was persuaded to direct Cliffhanger.
Three writers claimed that Cliffhanger was their idea. To avoid jeopardizing the film's release, they were paid $250,000 each to drop the case.
The movie's most breathtaking scenes were shot in the Cortina d'Ampezzo area of the Dolomites, Italy.
Cliffhanger is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the costliest aerial stunt ever performed. Stuntman Simon Crane was paid $1 million to perform the aerial transfer scene, where he crossed between two planes at an altitude of 4,572 m (15,000 ft).
The parachute that the basejumper opens, on his escape from the villains, features the design of the Finnish flag, Renny Harlin's native country (he features the Finnish flag in most of his movies).
The Denver Mint featured in the film as the producer of the cash stolen by Qualen and his associates actually only produces coins. $100 Million from the Denver Mint would weigh 2,500 tons.
Also late Wolfgang Güllich, widely regarded as one of the most skilful, daring and popular rock-climbers of all time, performed as a climbing double of Stallone.
[edit] Reception and Distribution
The film was generally praised by critics, receiving a 76% on Rottentomatoes.com. It was also credited with reviving Stallone's career. The commercial success of the film was seen as Sylvester Stallone's "comeback" film, that re-established him as a bankable action star after having a string of commercial and critical failures. This was Sylvester's most successful film at the time until Rocky Balboa (2006).
However, the film was nominated for Worst Picture in the 1993 Golden Raspberry Awards.
The film is generally disliked by rock climbers for its unrealistic portrayal of rock climbing. Most criticized is the feature of the bolt-gun which fires bolts directly into rock, forgoing the usual rock-drilling and bolt-hammering used in rock-climbing. Also, this ignores certain material properties of rock that should cause the bolt-gun's impact site to shatter and explode with flaky projectiles. The bolt gun is considered the most serious of the film's technical inaccuracies.
The film was originally rated NC-17 by the MPAA on account of its violence. Several short cuts were made to the bloody shootout at the beginning and to Travers' death; originally he was shot in the shoulder by the bolt gun, spins around and is blasted with the shotgun by Tucker, but this was changed to Walker firing the gun three times.
For its British cinema release, the film was edited by one minute, then by a further twenty-five seconds on video and DVD. Chief victim was the scene where Delmar plays football with Tucker's head. Other cuts included language and stronger moments of violence.
The scene where Hal's girlfriend, Sarah, falls to her death, was spoofed in the movies Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Spy Hard.
This is the only Tri-Star-distributed Carolco production which the former studio has retained the rights to (and therefore not owned by Carolco successor StudioCanal), and thus Sony Pictures remains responsible for worldwide home video and television distribution.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Sylvester Stallone | Gabe Walker |
| John Lithgow | Eric Qualen |
| Michael Rooker | Hal Tucker |
| Janine Turner | Jessie Deighan |
| Matt Landry | Sgt. John "Hellfire" Curley |
| Rex Linn | Richard Travers (Treasury Agent) |
| Caroline Goodall | Kristel (Jetstar Pilot) |
| Leon | Kynette |
| Craig Fairbrass | Delmar |
| Gregory Scott Cummins | Ryan |
| Denis Forest | Heldon |
| Michelle Joyner | Sarah Collins |
| Max Perlich | Evan |
| Paul Winfield | Walter Wright |
| Ralph Waite | Frank |
| Trey Brownell | Brett |
