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Guy Movie of the Week, 4/24/00: In the Line of Fire
by Kerry Douglas Dye

published 4/24/00

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Kerry Douglas Dye is LeisureSuit.net's Manhattan-based Senior Editor.



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Subj: Re: Lookinfg for specially movie
www.imdb.com

-- The Editors Respond
May 20, 2003 at 5:56PM

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In the Line of Fire (Wolfgang Petersen, 1993):
In the Line of Fire
Clint Eastwood: There's some good self-parody in this one, because Eastwood's so damn old. He's playing a Secret Service agent named Frank Horrigan who was present at the Kennedy assassination but missed his opportunity to save the President's life. Now an assassin is gunning for the current President, and Horrigan is determined to stop him.

Horrigan gets himself put on the Presidential protection detail, but practically has a heart attack when he has to run along side the limousine. If Clint Eastwood was too old for this action role, it's depressing to think that this movie came out almost 10 years ago. (Assuming 7 is almost 10.)

Wolfgang Petersen: He directed, and he's a great director. He's made terrific movies like Air Force One and Das Boot (which I'm not allowed to see again until I get my DVD player). He also made Outbreak, alas, but that was a hopelessly fucked up production and couldn't have been his fault. He's got A Perfect Storm coming out this summer, which has a kick-ass trailer.

In the Line of Fire is one of his top-notch efforts, and it's one of the most entertaining thrillers of the 90's. Better than The Fugitive, which came out around the same time.

Rene Russo: She plays a colleague's of Frank's and his love interest. I liked her when I first saw her, kicking butt in Lethal Weapon 3, and in this, but around the time of Tin Cup I started hating her. First, there was the fact that she sucked big time in Tin Cup--it's a pretty good movie, but Russo can't do comedy, and every scene she was in sucked hairy dick. Then there was the fact that she appeared on Leno talking about . . . certain bodily functions that a lady just shouldn't talk about. Now I get icked out just looking at her. (Probably says more about me than it does about her, but whatever.)

John Malkovich: I had an acting teacher who hated John Malkovich because he thought dude always took showy roles. This is probably true, but, when you get right down to it, dude's damn good. Compare him to, say, Gary Oldman, who takes showy roles and then overplays them to the point of obnoxiousness (The Professional, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Fifth Element), and Malkovich starts looking a lot better.

And frankly, after he did the self-parody in Being John Malkovich he won my eternal respect. He may have an ego, but it's the right kind of ego. In In the Line of Fire, he plays the aspiring assassin, and he's really cool and scary.

Dylan McDermott: He plays Frank's partner. I first saw Dylan McDermott on Pay-Per-View in 1988 in a picture called The Blue Iguana, which somehow never managed to become a classic. He also used to be on a TV show called "The Practice", which may still be on the air. An ex-girlfriend once made me watch an episode, and in the episode Lara Flynn Boyle wants to have sex with McDermott, so she grabs his dick at a party.

This was a couple of years ago, but if anyone knows if Lara Flynn Boyle subsequently did anything else to Dylan McDermott's dick, or grabbed anyone else's dick, or did anything else to anyone's dick, please let me know. I think she's really hot.


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Name: The Editors Respond
Subject: Re: Lookinfg for specially movie
-- May 20, 2003 at 5:56PM
www.imdb.com

Name: Alfredo
Subject: Lookinfg for specially movie
-- May 17, 2003 at 10:21AM
I want to know all western old movies made by Clint Eastwood in the 50's & 60's

Name: Chris
Subject: now, now
-- Aug 1, 2000 at 11:41PM
I said "more great films," not just more films, you twat!

(normally I don't use such language, but you were a bit quick w/ your middle finger there)

Name: mgotlib
Subject: Re: jeez
-- Jul 31, 2000 at 2:45PM
Actually, I've already studied and passed the bar exam, no thanks to m Clint Eastwood movies which were a total waste of precious brain space.

By the way -- you are right, overall, Eastwood probably turned out more movies than Nicholson and Hoffman. Nevertheless, quantity does not equal quality. Any Indian or Hong Kong actor has made more movies then Eastwood but that doesnt make them great actors.

As for Clint's ability to express emotion with his raised eyebrow, can you tell which emotion is being expressed by my raised middle finger? Well, then I must be a master thespian :)

Name: not mgotlieb
Subject: jeez
-- Jul 27, 2000 at 7:29PM
Ms. Gotlieb,

Y'know, your personal preferences aside, Eastwood is really quite an incredible actor. Perhaps he doesn't have the range of a Dustin Hoffman (picture Clint in pantyhose, or as an autistic man), but the man can express more emotion in the twitch of an eyebrow than most actors can with their entire body. He is a master of understatement in a way that Nicholson, much as I love the guy, can never be. And Kerry's right when he says that Eastwood's likely turned out more great films than Hoffman or Nicholson.

Shouldn't you be studying for the bar exam or something?

Name: Kerry Douglas Dye Responds
Subject: Re: Jack Nicholson
-- Apr 26, 2000 at 5:11PM
So now you've got a VCR and an award statuette bolstering your argument.

I know when I'm out of my league.

Name: HatingEastwoodInBroo klyn
Subject: Re: Jack Nicholson
-- Apr 26, 2000 at 4:41PM
> when did Jack Nicholson suddenly become a master thespian?

Somewhere between his first and third Oscar.

Name: HatingEastwoodinBroo klyn
Subject: Clint Eastwood
-- Apr 26, 2000 at 4:35PM
I never said I ONLY saw his stuff on TV, I do have cable, and even a VCR, a little known invention we Philistines are just discovering. Here's the short list of Clint Eastwood movies I have seen without commercial interruptions:
Dirty Harry, Fistfull of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, Play Misty for Me, Lady Godiva, Tarantula, The Good, the Bad..., Magnum Force, Pink Cadillac, Enforcer, Never Say Goodbye, Thunderbolt and (something), Star in the Dust, Any Which Way You Can, Honkytonk Man, Unforgiven, Absolute Power, True Crime, the Perfect World, White Hunter Black Heart, Tightrope, The Oulaw Josey Wales, Bridges of Madison County, Dead Pool, and in the Line of Fire, hmmm, what am I missing?

Of all his directorial works -- kudos for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which was especially good because he didnt star in it :) Yours, etc.

P.S. Jack is da Man.

Name: Kerry Douglas Dye Responds
Subject: Re: Clint Eastwood
-- Apr 26, 2000 at 4:07PM
Although while I'm on the subject, when did Jack Nicholson suddenly become a master thespian?

Name: Kerry Douglas Dye Responds
Subject: Re: Clint Eastwood
-- Apr 26, 2000 at 4:07PM
I'd expect better from you, Johnny. So I've got one person who's only seen his stuff on TV, and one person who "admittedly" hasn't seen his earlier stuff, and they're dissing him.

Could someone who's seen pictures like The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, White Hunter Black Heart, and Tightrope help me out here? I'm surrounded by Philistines.

Name: Johnny5Ace
Subject: Clint Eastwood
-- Apr 25, 2000 at 10:28PM
Gosh, I've got to agree. I think Clint Eastwood's acting and directing are pretty sucky.

I like "In The Line of Fire," and admittedly have not seen a lot of his earlier stuff. But from what I've seen--not the most dynamic auteur. Highly overrated. And as good as he's been, it's kind of sacrilege to compare him to Hoffman (Dustin or Jordan) and Nicholson.

Name: Clint Eastwood
Subject: Re: In the Line of Fire
-- Apr 25, 2000 at 4:51PM
FYI, I have seen virtually every Clint Eastwood movie since as you may have been informed I watch "too much TV" and have seen virtually any U.S. movie made in the past 50 years. Perhaps, one's artistic or acting ability is a matter of taste and opinion. You have yours, I have mine. You are free to feel that Clint Easwood's acting surpasses Dustin Hoffman in "the Graduate" or "Rainman" or Jack Nicholson's in "One Flew over the Cookoo's Nest". I am free to disagree. Yours truly, Ms. Ignorant.

Name: Kerry Douglas Dye Responds
Subject: Re: In the Line of Fire
-- Apr 25, 2000 at 6:50AM
Wow, in all your prolific posts, this is by far the most ignorant thing you've ever said.

In a 40-year career as an actor and, significantly, a director, Eastwood has turned out a canon of terrific films (more great ones than, I dare say, either Dustin Hoffman or Jack Nicholson).

I'm guessing you've seen very few of them ... what, did you catch Pink Cadillac on cable a couple years ago and make up your mind he was a bum?

Feel free to pontificate about the career of Sandra Bullock, but before you comment on an artist of importance, you might want to know what the hell you're talking about.

Name: mgotlib
Subject: In the Line of Fire
-- Apr 24, 2000 at 11:28PM
Can someone please please tell Clint Eastwood to retire? His movies sucked 10 years ago and they suck even more now. Who came up with the idea that he is a great actor anyway? and Why? Because he said "Go ahead, make my day?". If you cant get him to retire please ask him to take some acting lessons from Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman. Thanks

Name: sherrie
Subject: gmotw
-- Apr 24, 2000 at 8:58PM
This sounds like an interesting flick. I'll have to check it out. However I really don't think you can compare John Malkovich to anyone. He just is.


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