Review of Firefox (1982) by Jim M — 04 Jun 2011

Soviet Russia: British Intellegence has learned that against all odds the Soviets are nearing completion of a new Fighter, the MiG-31 Firefox. Firefox will be the most advanced warplane on Earth, supersonic with a new stealth technology that makes her nearly invisable to radar and a weapons system controlled by it pilots thoughts. Britain and the US decide that the must acquire the prototype by infiltrating the Soviet research base with the help of a network of dissident Jews, and flying Firefox out of Russia. They recruit USAF Maj. Mitchell Gant, a veteran of Vietnam suffering post-traumatic stress, and thus begins a desperate gambit to maintain the delicate balance of world power.

Playing more of a spy thriller then Clint Eastwoods usual fare. Eastwood directs Firefox without some of the excess that will later mark his career (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil I'm looking at you). Eastwood has never been one to stay in his comfort zone here playing Gant as damaged goods and resisting the urge to make him too much an action hero instead opting for more suspensful feel (will Gant hold it together long enough to fly Firefox). Look for Kenneth Colley as Colonel Kontarsky, the Soviet commander hunting the spy network (you also might recgonize Colley as one of the Imperial Admirals in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi). The biggest standouts are surprisngly secondary characters played by Warren Clarke, Ronald Lacey and Nigel Hawthorne as the dissident Jews. Men born in the Communist paradise but persucuted because of their heritage. A deceint spy thriller, not Eastwoods best but far from his worst.