In The Line Of Fire (1993)

There was a lot of love given to The Fugitive last year, tied to the fact that it was 30 years since it was released and it received the 4K disc treatment, and I am one of many people happy to see it. I have always loved that film, but seeing all the praise it was receiving last year kept making me wonder why In The Line Of Fire wasn’t getting the same treatment. Although a very different movie in many ways, it also feels like the other great all-star thriller from 1993.

John Malkovich plays a man who intends to assassinate the President Of The United States. He is smart, he has a background that helped him form a particular set of skills, and he is very determined to see his plan through to the very end. Things get more interesting for him when he realises that he can engage in a battle of wits with a Secret Service agent named Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood). Frank has spent his time in the service of numerous Presidents, and he was there on the day that JFK was assassinated. Did he hesitate at the moment he was supposed to act selflessly? He may just get a chance to live through that moment again, a chance to figure out if he can take a bullet for someone under his protection.

Written by Jeff Maguire (that’s it, just Jeff, no need for a team of writers interfering with the work), In The Line Of Fire is just top-tier entertainment from start to finish, plotted well enough to keep viewers from overthinking the implausibilities, making use of a great cast of characters, and maintaining a brilliant game of cat and mouse that has you wondering if you will get a happy or downbeat ending.

Director Wolfgang Petersen proves to be a great choice to steer the ship. In fact, you could easily argue that Petersen had an amazing little run between the early 1980s right up to the year 2000 where he basically did no wrong, although I say this without having rewatched Outbreak since I owned it on VHS. He mixes the old-fashioned star casting and interplay with set-pieces that benefit from his ability to step up the tension, and there are one or two scenes that wander very close to outright horror territory.

Eastwood is frankly superb in a lead role that allows him to both be the tough guy and remember that he is no longer a spring chicken. It’s a performance full of wry humour, worldly wisdom, and inherent courage. Malkovich, always an intense screen presence, gives us one of the villains for the ages, someone who is smart and determined and also not entirely in the wrong to have such a major axe to grind. Every scene that has Malkovich talking on the phone with Eastwood is much more electrifying than any moment simply depicting people on the phone should be. Rene Russo is a welcome addition, playing another agent who catches the eye of Oor Clint, and Dylan McDermott is the typical trope of the younger partner who ends up in a lot more danger than he can handle. Others who get some screentime include John Mahoney, Gary Cole, Fred Thompson, John Heard, and both Tobin Bell and Steve Railsback appear for a few minutes.

After my latest rewatch of this, I facetiously stated that In The Line Of Fire jogged alongside a Presidential motorcade so that Se7en could run. I still think there’s a grain of truth in that, considering how Clint’s character becomes such an important part of Malkovich’s endgame, but the best thing about this film is that it makes use of so many familiar elements while very much being its own thing. When it comes to smart and entertaining mainstream thrillers, this one really hits the mark.

9/10

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