Firefox
                              
Director: Clint Eastwood
Year: 1982
Rating: 6.0
I had skipped this Clint Eastwood film all these years because I thought it was a Top Gun bit of nationalistic bravado, and though it certainly has touches of that, it is mainly a spy film which is much more my sort of thing. It is fairly unbelievable. Mainly that the premise has Russia developing a superior stealth jet fighter that your brain can tell it what to do by thinking it. My brain would likely be asking for a Big Mac and fries. Russia hasn't developed anything better than America since the Sputnik. The only things they do better than the rest of the world is public drunkenness. But it is nice to be able to boo Russian incompetence again. I expect they will be making appearances as villains again in many films to come. Of course, MAGA will be rooting for the Russians. Eastwood directs and acts in this and though fairly rough and clunky, it is solid enough. It is hard for it to keep the suspense going since the posters and ads had Eastwood in a cockpit - so we know he gets that far.



He is Gant, once a top fighter pilot but now living in the wilderness with occasional flashbacks to Vietnam that paralyze him for periods of time. Hmmm. But this is the guy America wants to sneak into Russia, steal the super duper Firefox in a super secure base and fly it out of Russia with the Russians trying to bring him down. Really? This is the best they could find? Yes! Because he is Clint Eastwood! It really is ridiculous but then there are probably not many top pilots who can think in Russian. He comes into Russia with a fake passport, fake moustache and an alias. The customs officials give him that Larry David Curb Your Enthusiasm look when he doesn't believe someone - but they let him through.



He meets up with a few Russian dissenters who drive him to the base. With security following them all the way. Should we stop them? No, let's see where they are going. How about now? No, they aren't going anywhere. Clearly, he was one official shot after the movie ended. There were no doubt others. Not the best or the brightest. Gant gets inside the base by handing out American cigarettes and walks up to the plane, gets in, waves goodbye and takes off into the wild blue yonder. Clearly, the Russian military hasn't improved much since then.  I almost watched this a few weeks ago when I got it mixed up with Angelinas Jolie's Foxfire. I started watching and this bearded man is out running with a helicopter flying in and I kept thinking that guy sure looks like Clint Eastwood. I had no idea he was in an Angelina Jolie film. Best of all in this film Clint has no time for romance. Hard to fit a woman into the cockpit. In fact, I don't think there is a female in this film.