Broken Arrow (1996 film)
Broken Arrow | |
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Directed by | John Woo |
Written by | Graham Yost |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Peter Levy |
Edited by |
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Music by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 108 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $50 million |
Box office | $150.2 million |
Broken Arrow is a 1996 American
Plot
Major Vic "Deak" Deakins and Captain Riley Hale, pilots from
A USAF team led by Chief Master Sergeant Rhodes is sent to find the missing warheads, and a "Broken Arrow" situation is declared. The team locates the warheads in a canyon, but is ambushed by mercenaries. Rhodes tries to disable the warheads, but is killed by the other search team survivor, Master Sergeant Kelly, who is a mole for Deakins. Deakins arrives with Pritchett, the mercenaries' financier. They plan to blackmail the United States government with the threat of detonating the warhead in a populated area.
Hale is arrested by park ranger Terry Carmichael, but convinces her to help him track down Deakins. Deakins' mercenaries commandeer a search-and-rescue helicopter to kill Hale, but Hale and Carmichael manage to bring it down, forcing Deakins' men to continue in Humvees.
Hale and Carmichael carjack the Humvee carrying the warheads, escaping to a nearby abandoned copper mine. Hale starts to disable one warhead, but Deakins reveals via radio that he has programmed it so that Hale's attempts to disarm it will cause the bomb to activate. Hale and Carmichael take the armed warhead down the shaft, where the mine is deep enough to contain the nuclear blast. Deakins's team arrives and secures the second warhead. After a gun battle deep in the mine, Deakins shortens the countdown of the armed warhead while leaving Hale and Carmichael trapped. However, they escape via an underground river just before the bomb detonates. The resulting nuclear electromagnetic pulse downs an approaching NEST helicopter, allowing Deakins to escape. Deakins then kills Pritchett, having grown tired of his complaints. Carmichael and Hale track the mercenaries to a motorboat used for transporting the warhead down the river. While trying to steal the boat, Carmichael is forced to hide onboard, while military forces rescue Hale.
Hale deduces that Deakins intends to use a train to transport the warhead. Colonel Max Wilkins disobeys orders to help Hale. Stowing away on the train, Carmichael tries to sabotage the warhead, but is caught by Deakins, who arms it. Catching up on a helicopter, Hale saves Carmichael before Deakins can kill her. A gunfight ensues, killing Wilkins and causing the helicopter to crash, with most of the mercenaries dying in the aftermath.
Deakins has prepared a remote control that can either disarm or detonate the warhead and prepares to leave on his own getaway helicopter. Hale sabotages the helicopter's fuel pump, causing it to explode and leaving Deakins and Kelly stranded with the ticking bomb. With his plan falling apart, Deakins decides to shorten the countdown timer out of spite. Kelly orders Deakins at gunpoint to disarm the weapon. Hale sneaks up on them during their bickering and kicks Kelly out of the boxcar to his death before engaging in a gun battle with Deakins.
Carmichael detaches the section of the train with the bomb, but gets into a shootout with the engineer. The engineer is killed and falls on the train brakes, allowing the detached boxcars to catch up. Deakins still has the remote detonator, so he forces Hale to drop his gun and challenges him to a fight. Hale eventually overpowers Deakins, acquires the remote detonator, disarms the warhead, and leaps out of the train. Carmichael also jumps from the train before the detached boxcars catch up and collide. The hurtling warhead flies through him into a stack of oil barrels, causing the train to derail and the barrels to explode, killing Deakins.
After the explosion, Hale and Carmichael embrace and formally introduce each other for the first time.
Cast
- John Travolta as United States Air Force Major Vic "Deak" Deakins
- Christian Slater as United States Air Force Captain Riley Hale
- United States Park ServicePark Ranger Terry Carmichael
- Delroy Lindo as United States Air Force Colonel Max Wilkins
- Frank Whaley as Giles Prentice
- Bob Gunton as Mr. Pritchett
- PararescuemanMaster Sergeant Kelly
- Jack Thompson as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Kurtwood Smith as Secretary of Defense Baird
- Vondie Curtis-Hall as United States Air Force Pararescueman Chief Master Sergeant Sam Rhodes
- Daniel von Bargen as United States Air Force General Creely
Music
The original music score was composed by Hans Zimmer. An expanded double-disc limited set of the music score was released by La-La Land Records in February 2011.
The score is considered to be one of Zimmer's best action scores by fans and film critics. The opening track, "Rope-A-Dope", also known as "Deakin's Theme", has been widely used in other films and media, including
While looking back at the score, Zimmer said: “It was "big man" music. The guitar sound as well. I always thought Ennio [Morricone] wanted to work with Duane Eddy. So I just got the real Duane Eddy. In the score, you'll hear him plucking away. And it was great fun.“ He concludes by: “My intent was just make the film fun, when there's no real story to tell.“[6]
Production
In July 1993, it was reported that
Principal photography began on April 26, 1995. Some filming took place in and around the mountain areas of
In July 1995, a number of elaborate train cars were sent to the location in Lewistown, including several custom-built cars. Six weeks of filming on the forty mile track were required to capture all the stunts, helicopter action, gun battles, high falls and special effects sequences. Production photography was completed on August 28, 1995.
John Travolta was originally the choice to portray Riley Hale (finally played by Christian Slater), but was chosen instead to portray Major Vic Deakins. Travolta was paid $7 million for his role.[10]
Release
Broken Arrow was No. 1 at the North American box office on its opening weekend grossing $15.6 million.[11] It stayed on top for a second week and ultimately had a domestic gross of $70,770,147 and an international gross of $79,500,000, for a total worldwide gross of $150,270,147.[12]
Reception
Based on 35 reviews collected by the film review aggregator
The review of this movie on Siskel & Ebert & the Movies represents the only time that Roger Ebert convinced Gene Siskel to change his mind about his final judgment of a film. Siskel initially gave the film a marginal "thumbs up" but changed it to a "thumbs down" after hearing Ebert's criticisms.[16] Ebert called it "a slow, talky action thriller that plays like a homage to the Fallacy of the Talking Killer." This fallacy "occurs when all the bad guy has to do is pull the trigger, and his problems are over. Instead, he talks, and talks, until his target escapes from his predicament." Ebert queried the "purpose of a digital readout on a bomb. Who will ever see it, except in a mad bomber movie?" and summed up the film saying that it all "comes down to two guys fighting on a burning train for a channel-surfer".[17]
See also
References
- ^ "Broken Arrow". Turner Classic Movies. United States: Turner Broadcasting System. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ "Hans Zimmer tracks". Han Zimmer.
- ^ "Review of Soundtrack for Broken Arrow". Filmtracks.com.
- ^ Burlingame, Jon (December 27, 1997). "Why Get a New Score If a Used One Will Do?". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Broken Arrow score notes". From The Balcony. 24 April 2014.
- ^ "Hans Zimmer Interview". Archived from the original on 2008-07-16.
- ^ "Chernin unveils Fox slate". Variety. Archived from the original on October 18, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
- ^ "Future Films". Variety. Archived from the original on June 2, 2024. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
- Wikidata Q123575108.
- ^ "The Lucky Seven Club". Variety. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
- ^ Brennan, Judy (February 19, 1996). "Arrow' Flies High as Oscar Nods Boost 'Babe,' 'Sense'; Box office: The action adventure is No. 1, with 'Muppet Treasure Island,' 'Happy Gilmore' dueling for second". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
- ^ "Broken Arrow (1996)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 7, 2010.
- ^ "Broken Arrow (1996)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
- ^ "Broken Arrow Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on April 27, 2010. Retrieved January 7, 2010.
- ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
- ^ Berardinelli, James (February 22, 1999). "A Thumb Falls Silent: A Short Tribute to Gene Siskel". Reelviews.net. Retrieved January 7, 2010.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (February 9, 1996). "Review of Broken Arrow". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
External links
- Broken Arrow at IMDb
- Broken Arrow at Rotten Tomatoes
- Broken Arrow at AllMovie
- Broken Arrow at Box Office Mojo