In the Line of Fire (1993)
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
An enjoyably slick if not unfamiliar thriller (by Jeff Maguire) in which the fiendishly brilliant psycho-killer repeatedly taunts the cop to man-to-man confrontation. As Secret Service agent Horrigan, Eastwood is as outspokenly independent as ever: at odds with superiors, caught in a teasing, argumentative romance with colleague Lilly Raines (Russo), and determined to do his job. This time, however, he's haunted by the past (30 years ago he failed to stop the bullet that killed Kennedy) and when he learns that a would-be assassin (Malkovich) has plans for the current Presidential elections, professional duty provides the opportunity for personal redemption or personal failure. Directing each set-piece for all he's worth, Petersen highlights the plot with vivid details and invests several of the action sequences with moral/psychological dimensions. He's helped no end by Malkovich, and by his lead, whose fine, easy performance extends even to tears.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Producer: Jeff Apple
Cast: Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich, Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott, Gary Cole, Fred Dalton Thomas, John Mahoney full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 129 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.



What do you think?
Post your review now