Cliffhanger (film)
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Cliffhanger is a 1993 action movie 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 upon the Rocky Mountains.
The film was nominated for Worst Picture in the 1993 Golden Raspberry Awards and is considered unrealistic in many aspects by the climbing community. However, the film was a hit when it was released, making more than $250 million worldwide.
Cliffhanger is also 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).
Taglines:
- Hang on!
- The height of adventure.
Plot
Gabe Walker (played by Sylvester Stallone), a climber, loses his confidence after a rescue goes wrong, resulting in the death of his friend's girlfriend. Gabe is then called back to perform a final rescue by his ex-girlfriend and overcomes his inner demons to help the bitter ex-friend with the rescue.
During the rescue, the two climbers are taken prisoner by ruthless thieves, lead by Eric Qualen (John Lithgow), who stole (but subsequently lost) $100 million belonging to the US Treasury. These thieves carried out a daring airplane-to-airplane transfer of the funds; but, during the transfer, a gun battle among them led to the loss of the money and the crash of the planes. The suitcases holding the money had beacon locators. Because the money was lost in mountainous territory, the rescue climbers are taken prisoner and coerced into locating the money.
The movie features an interesting device called the bolt-gun, which fires bolts directly into rock, forgoing the usual rock-drilling and bolt-hammering used in rock-climbing. At the same time ignoring 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 usually cited as one of the film's most serious technical inaccuracies.
The movie's most breathtaking scenes were shot in the Cortina d'Ampezzo area of the Dolomites, Italy.
Cast
- Sylvester Stallone .... Gabe Walker
- John Lithgow .... Eric Qualen
- Michael Rooker .... Hal Tucker
- Janine Turner .... Jessie Deighan
- Rex Linn .... Richard Travers, Treasury Agent
- Caroline Goodall .... Kristel, Jetstar Pilot
Trivia
- Three writers claimed that Cliffhanger was their idea. To avoid jeopardizing the film's release, the three writers were paid $250,000 each to drop the case.
- 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.
- The scene where Hal's girlfriend, Sarah, falls to her death, was spoofed in the movies and Spy Hard.
- 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 soccer with Tucker's head. Other cuts included language and stronger moments of violence.
- The commercial success of the film was seen as Sylvester Stallone's "comeback" film, in that it reintroduced him as a box office action star, after having done some less than successful films.
External links
- [Cliffhanger] at the Internet Movie Database
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