''Flight of the Intruder'' is a 1991
war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...
directed by
John Milius
John Frederick Milius (; born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. He was a writer for the first two ''Dirty Harry'' films, received an Academy Award nomination as screenwriter of ''Apocalypse Now'' (1979), a ...
, and starring
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...
,
Willem Dafoe
Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Willem Dafoe, various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for ...
, and
Brad Johnson. It is based on the
novel of the same name by former
Grumman A-6 Intruder
The Grumman A-6 Intruder is an American twinjet all-weather attack aircraft developed and manufactured by American aircraft company Grumman Aerospace and operated by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.
It was designed in response to a 1957 ...
pilot
Stephen Coonts
Stephen Coonts (born July 19, 1946) is an American spy thriller and suspense novelist.
Early life, education, and military career
Stephen Coonts grew up in Buckhannon, West Virginia, a small coal mining town. Following high school graduation, h ...
. The film received negative reviews upon release, and as of 2022 is Milius's final theatrical release as a director.
Plot
Lieutenant Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton (
Brad Johnson) and his bombardier/navigator and best friend Lieutenant Morgan "Morg" McPherson (
Christopher Rich) are flying a Grumman A-6 Intruder during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
over the
Gulf of Tonkin
The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern ...
towards
North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
. They hit their target, a 'suspected truck park', which actually turns out to be trees. On the return to carrier, Morg is fatally shot in the neck by an armed Vietnamese peasant. Landing on the
USS ''Independence'' with Morg dead, a disturbed Jake, covered in blood, walks into a debriefing with Commander Frank Camparelli (
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...
) and Executive Officer, Commander "Cowboy" Parker (
J. Kenneth Campbell
J. Kenneth Campbell (born July 22, 1947) is an American film, stage, and television actor who has been cast in over 80 roles. He was born in Flushing, Queens, Flushing, New York (state), New York. Campbell studied acting under theatrical fight dir ...
). Camparelli tells Jake to put Morgan's death behind him and to write a letter to Sharon, Morg's wife. New pilot Jack Barlow (Jared Chandler), nicknamed "Razor" because of his youthful appearance, is then introduced.
Lieutenant Commander Virgil Cole (
Willem Dafoe
Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Willem Dafoe, various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for ...
) arrives on board and reports to Camparelli, who later tells Jake's roommate Sammy Lundeen (Justin Williams) to take Jake, Bob "Boxman" Walkawitz (
Tom Sizemore
Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr. (; born November 29, 1961) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his supporting roles in films such as ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man'' (1991), ''Passenger 5 ...
) and "Mad Jack" (
Dann Florek
Ezekial Dann Florek (born May 1, 1950) is an American actor and film director. He is best known for his role as New York City Police Captain Donald Cragen on NBC's '' Law & Order'' and its spinoff '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', and Dav ...
) to fly into
Subic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Subi ...
the next day and help Jake unwind. Jake goes to see Sharon, but she has already departed. He runs into a woman named Callie Troy (
Rosanna Arquette
Rosanna Lisa Arquette (; born August 10, 1959) is an American actress. She was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film ''The Executioner's Song ( ...
), who is packing Sharon's things, and they have a small, tense encounter. After an altercation with civilian merchant sailors in the Tailhook Bar, Jake runs into Callie again. After they reconcile, dance and spend the night together, she reveals her husband was a Navy pilot himself and was killed on a solo mission over Vietnam.
Jake returns to the carrier, where Camparelli confronts him regarding the bar incident, and Cole reports in Jake's favor. Cole and Jake are paired on "
Iron Hand" A-6Bs loaded with
Standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
and
Shrike
Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in four genera.
The family name, and that of the largest genus, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also know ...
anti-radiation missile
An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be t ...
s for
SAM suppression. During the mission, after a successful strike, they encounter and manage to evade a North Vietnamese
MiG-17
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 w ...
.
Jake suggests to Cole that they bomb
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
, which would be a violation of the restrictive
rules of engagement
Rules of engagement (ROE) are the internal rules or directives afforded military forces (including individuals) that define the circumstances, conditions, degree, and manner in which the use of force, or actions which might be construed as pro ...
(ROE) and could get them
court-martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
ed. Cole initially rejects the idea. On the next raid, Boxman hits the suspected target, but is shot down by another SAM and killed. The North Vietnamese in Hanoi gloat on TV over the downing of U.S. aircraft. Cole then agrees with Jake's plan to attack Hanoi, deciding to hit "SAM City," a
surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
depot.
To secure their mission, they coercively enlist the aid of the Squadron Intelligence Officer, who has been caught urinating in the commander's coffee decanter, being the Phantom Shitter who's secretly repeated this deed throughout the first half of the movie. He warns Jake and Cole that there's no chance of succeeding in their mission, but he is soundly ignored.
Sent to bomb a power plant in the vicinity of Hanoi, they drop two of their
Mark 83 bomb
The Mark 83 is part of the Mark 80 series of low-drag general-purpose bombs in United States service.
Development and deployment
The nominal weight of the bomb is 1,000 lb (454 kg), although its actual weight varies between 985  ...
s, keeping eight for the missile depot and set a new course for Hanoi for their independent bombing mission. Arriving at SAM City, on their first pass, their armament computer malfunctions and they are forced to bomb 'by hand' (guesswork), and after barely surviving a barrage of enemy fire, their bombs fail to release. The two come back around, rerun the route, successfully drop their bombs and manage to obliterate the missile depot in a spectacular display of secondary explosions. Upon returning to the carrier, Camparelli angrily chastises the pair for their independent mission and informs them of their impending court martial at the
U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay
Naval Base Subic Bay was a major ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility of the Spanish Navy and subsequently the United States Navy located in Zambales, Philippines. The base was 262 square miles, about the size of Singapore. Th ...
. During the preliminary hearing, Cole and Grafton are criticized for their actions, and informed that their naval careers are essentially over.
The charges are dropped the next day when
Operation Linebacker II
Operation Linebacker II was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by U.S. Seventh Air Force, Strategic Air Command and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 against targets in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) during the final period of ...
is ordered by President
Richard M. Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
, and the unauthorized mission is covered up. The next day, Camparelli grounds Jake and Cole while the rest of the carrier's A-6 and
A-7
A7, A.7, A 7, A07 or A-7 may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* A7, the A dominant seventh chord used in many rock songs, see dominant seventh chord
* A (musical note)
* ''A7'' (mixtape), by SCH, 2015
* Avenged Sevenfold, a hard rock/meta ...
crews conduct a daylight raid to destroy anti-aircraft emplacements: the tangible, lucrative targets they've longed to attack. Camparelli is hit by a
ZSU-23-4 ''Shilka'' AA tank and crash lands, his bombardier dead. Sammy Lundeen is hit and has to head for the ocean. Razor is ordered by Camparelli to disengage and obeys. Jake and Cole, defying orders, man their Intruder, launch and fly one more time to assist Camparelli. They destroy the ZSU, but are forced to eject from their heavily damaged aircraft. After bailing out, Jake lands near Camparelli's crashed Intruder and runs to cover with Camparelli. Separated from Jake, Cole is mortally wounded in hand-to-hand combat with an enemy soldier. On the radio, he lies to Jake, telling him he has already gotten away. Moments later, a pair of U.S. Air Force
A-1 Skyraider
The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly known as the AD Skyraider) is an American single-seat attack aircraft in service from 1946 to the early 1980s. The Skyraider had an unusually long career, remaining in front-line service well into the Jet Age ...
s ("Sandy") appear and provide cover.
Cole instructs the lead Sandy to drop ordnance on the spot he has marked with smoke. He is killed along with a few dozen
NVA soldiers. Cole's final voice transmission to Sandy is: "Alpha Mike Foxtrot"! (meaning "Adios, mother f___!") Jake and Camparelli retreat into the woods, pursued by a sniper. A
"Jolly Green Giant" helicopter picks up the two men, and the Skyraiders make one final
napalm
Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated al ...
run to finish the job.
Later, recovering from his injuries, Jake joins his crew and Camparelli, all in their Navy whites, on deck to prepare for entry at a port of call. Jake and Camparelli reconcile their differences, and the movie ends in rolling credits.
Cast
*
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...
as Commander Frank "Dooke" Camparelli
*
Willem Dafoe
Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Willem Dafoe, various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for ...
as Lieutenant Commander Virgil "Tiger" Cole
*
Brad Johnson as Lieutenant Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton
*
Rosanna Arquette
Rosanna Lisa Arquette (; born August 10, 1959) is an American actress. She was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film ''The Executioner's Song ( ...
as Callie Troy
*
Tom Sizemore
Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr. (; born November 29, 1961) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his supporting roles in films such as ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man'' (1991), ''Passenger 5 ...
as Bob "Boxman" Walkawitz
*
J. Kenneth Campbell
J. Kenneth Campbell (born July 22, 1947) is an American film, stage, and television actor who has been cast in over 80 roles. He was born in Flushing, Queens, Flushing, New York (state), New York. Campbell studied acting under theatrical fight dir ...
as Lieutenant Commander "Cowboy" Parker
* Jared Chandler as Lieutenant Junior Grade Jack "Razor" Barlow
*
Dann Florek
Ezekial Dann Florek (born May 1, 1950) is an American actor and film director. He is best known for his role as New York City Police Captain Donald Cragen on NBC's '' Law & Order'' and its spinoff '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', and Dav ...
as Lieutenant Commander Jack "Mad Jack" / "Doc"
* Madison Mason as C.A.G.
*
Ving Rhames
Irving Rameses Rhames (born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles as IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the ''Mission: Impossible'' film series and gang kingpin Marsellus Wallace in ''Pulp Fiction''. He also ap ...
as Chief Petty Officer Frank McRae
*
Christopher Rich as Lieutenant Morgan "Morg" McPherson
* Douglas Roberts as "Guffy"
*
John Corbett
John Joseph Corbett Jr. (born May 9, 1961) is an American actor and country music singer. On television, he is best known for his roles as Chris Stevens on '' Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), Aidan Shaw on ''Sex and the City'' (2000–2003 ...
as "Big Augie"
* Scott N. Stevens as Hardesty
*
Justin Williams
Justin Craig Williams (born October 4, 1981) is a
Canadian-American former professional ice hockey right winger. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Philadelphia Flyers, Carolina Hurricanes, Los Angeles Kings, and Washingto ...
as Lieutenant Sammy Lundeen
Politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
and actor
Fred Thompson
Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Tennessee f ...
has an uncredited role as a
JAGC Captain during the court-martial sequence, reflecting his real-life profession as an
attorney.
David Schwimmer
David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor, director and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom '' Friends'', for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Prime ...
has a bit part as a Squadron Duty Officer. David Wilson, a military advisor to the production, appears as an officer in the flight briefing.
Production
Original novel
The US Naval Institute, which publishes ''Proceedings'', the professional journal of the US Navy, had a success publishing the first original novel in its 112-year history with ''
The Hunt for Red October
''The Hunt for Red October'' is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984, by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutt ...
''. They were flooded with manuscripts and decided to publish as a follow up ''Flight of the Intruder'' by Stephen Coonts. Coonts was a Denver lawyer who had flown during the Vietnam War; he was discharged in 1977 after nine years of active duty, including two combat cruises aboard the ''Enterprise'', 1600 hours in Intruders and 305 carrier landings, 100 of them at night. He had sent the book to 36 publishers, 30 of whom refused to look at it, four who rejected it and two that he was waiting to hear back from.
Coonts says he made up the central thrust of the film. "There was no secret bombing. It comes out of the character's deep-seated sense of frustration with the course of the war."
The book became a best seller, due in part to an endorsement from
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...
and President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
(who had liked ''Red October'') and was a selection for the Book of the Month Club. Paperback rights were sold for $341,000. "I wasn't expecting anything like this," said Coonts,
The book spent over six months on the best seller list and sold over 230,000 copies in hardback. Coonts signed a contract with Doubleday to write another novel about pilot Jake Grafton, ''
Final Flight''. The Naval Institute Arm sent Coonts a letter asking for a licensing fee to use the character again.
Development
Film rights were bought by producer
Mace Neufeld
Mace Alvin Neufeld (July 13, 1928 – January 21, 2022) was an American film and television producer.
Life and career
Neufeld was born July 13, 1928, in New York City, New York (state), New York, the son of Margaret Ruth (married and maiden name ...
, who had filmed ''The Hunt for Red October''. A script was written and
John McTiernan
John Campbell McTiernan Jr. (born January 8, 1951) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his action films, especially ''Predator (film), Predator'' (1987), ''Die Hard'' (1988), and ''The Hunt for Red October (film), The Hunt for Red ...
was originally going to direct ''Intruder'' but dropped out and eventually served as an executive producer. The Russian sequences in the film of ''October'' had been rewritten at
Sean Connery
Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...
's request by
John Milius
John Frederick Milius (; born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. He was a writer for the first two ''Dirty Harry'' films, received an Academy Award nomination as screenwriter of ''Apocalypse Now'' (1979), a ...
, and Milius was signed to direct ''Intruder''.
"It was such an internal examination of that life and what it takes to fly," said Milius of the novel. "There was such wonderful reality on life aboard a naval carrier and life in Vietnam. I loved the whole idea of what those guys do."
Milius rewrote the original script. According to Sam Sayers, who worked on the film as technical adviser, "I never saw the first script, but I understand there were scenes of pilots smoking pot and that kind of nonsense. It was unrealistic - ''
Top Gun
''Top Gun'' is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an a ...
'' in Vietnam. Milius just went back to the book. It's the reason he wanted to make the film."
"Most books don't seem to survive, but this was an excellent transition," said Coonts. "It takes 12 hours to read the book on tape, and it's certainly abridged - 13 flights in the book are scrunched down to four, and the role of the girl (played by Rosanna Arquette) is smaller. But the themes of the film are the same as the book."
"I'm not interested in debating the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
," said Milius, adding he was interested in "what happens to people, in this case the professionals who fought it, and their reactions as human beings," and "the institutions that people belong to and give themselves to that are larger than themselves... It certainly is no more patriotic than ''
The Right Stuff'', but it's in the same vein."
"One of the things I like about the military, and why I'd have loved to be an officer in the Navy, is that the (moral) code is very simple," added Milius. "I come from a business where there's a preponderance of literature on the lack of morality - and I don't find it terribly entertaining, that atmosphere, in fact I find it rather weak."
The lead roles of the pilots were given to
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...
and Brad Johnson; Johnson had just played a key role in
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
's ''
Always
Always may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Always'', a 1985 film directed by Henry Jaglom
* ''Always'' (1989 film), a 1989 romantic comedy-drama directed by Steven Spielberg
* ''Always'' (2011 film), a 2011 South Korean film, also known as '' ...
'' (1989). Milius talked to
Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (; born Dreyfus; October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for starring in popular films during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''Jaws'' (1975), ''Close Encounters of the T ...
about playing the squadron commander.
Rosanna Arquette
Rosanna Lisa Arquette (; born August 10, 1959) is an American actress. She was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film ''The Executioner's Song ( ...
had the female lead. Gere dropped out and was replaced by Willem Dafoe; Danny Glover played the squadron commander. The movie included an early role for
Tom Sizemore
Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr. (; born November 29, 1961) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his supporting roles in films such as ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man'' (1991), ''Passenger 5 ...
.
Danny Glover spent five days aboard the aircraft carrier USS ''Independence'' for research, which he said made him appreciate the story more. "It's about the camaraderie and the bond of trust that exists between men under stress," said Glover. "The camaraderie and trust I've seen among the men here, many only 18 or 20 years old, in peacetime, has got to be that much stronger under conditions of conflict, especially if they don't feel they're supported from up above."
Shooting
Filming began in November 1989 on location in Hawaii.
''Flight of the Intruder'' was made with complete U.S. Navy cooperation, with eight Naval Air facilities at the disposal of the Paramount production team.
The
USS ''Independence'' (CV-62), provided for two weeks of filming in November 1989 and A-6E Intruders from
VA-165 "Boomers" were used. Members of VA-165 spent two weeks on the ''Independence''. The film crew kept the ship's fire party busy with numerous small electrical fires started by their lighting equipment. The Navy had script approval and was reimbursed for costs associated with the film: an estimated $1.2 million. "It's very stirring to push off on an aircraft carrier," said Milius. "It's a chance to live out my fantasies."
The ship seen on guard station in the background as Grafton threw Morg's fuzzy dice overboard after his memorial service was the
USS ''William H. Standley'' (CG-32). Naval Air Station Barbers Point Hawaii Hangar 111 (
HSL-37 and VC-1 hangar) housed the A-6 Intruders during filming in Hawaii. The battleship
USS ''Missouri'' can be seen behind Camparelli during the court martial sequence. Also two scenes were shot at Naval Station Long Beach, California.
Future U.S. Senator
Fred Thompson
Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Tennessee f ...
had a major speaking part during the court-martial sequence, portraying a U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps captain. As a favor to his friend, John Milius,
Ed O'Neill
Edward Leonard O'Neill (born April 12, 1946) is an American actor and comedian. His roles include Al Bundy on the Fox Network sitcom '' Married... with Children'', for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes, and Jay Pritchett on the awar ...
was originally cast in the movie in a small uncredited role, but when the film was screened for test audiences, his appearance led to laughter, as audience members associated him with his ''
Married... with Children'' character,
Al Bundy
Al Bundy is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television series '' Married... with Children''.
Played by Ed O'Neill, Bundy is a misanthropic, working-class father of two who is portrayed as a somewhat tragicomedic figur ...
. The director recast his character and reshot those scenes.
Milius described the movie as one of the "worst experiences" of his career:
That was Paramount with the Paramount control, and they tried to control every aspect of it. I'd spent more money than I'd ever spent before, because they told me how much I was going to spend on it. They didn't let me control it. I would have made that movie for at least $5 million less.
Before the film was released, Milius did a draft of ''
Clear and Present Danger
''Clear and Present Danger'' is a political thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and published on August 17, 1989. A sequel to ''The Cardinal of the Kremlin'' (1988), main character Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence in t ...
''.
Aircraft used
''Flight of the Intruder'' required early variants of the A-6 Intruder, the A-6A conventional bomber and A-6B equipped with specialized electronics and weapons for
suppression of enemy air defenses missions. All operational A-6s at the time of filming, however, had been updated to the A-6E without the TRAM targeting equipment, or KA-6D standards. The A-6 featured in the crash scene was a detailed
mock-up
In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale model, scale or physical model, full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''protot ...
patterned from an actual aircraft but with a foreshortened rear fuselage. The large-scale (1/160) miniature of Hanoi and "Sam City" was recreated to serve as the backdrop for rear projection work.
Other aircraft included a
Sikorsky SH-3 "Sea King" rescue
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
in various action sequences, with brief appearances of U.S. Navy aircraft such as the
North American RA-5C Vigilante,
Vought A-7 Corsair II
The LTV A-7 Corsair II is an American carrier-capable subsonic light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV).
The A-7 was developed during the early 1960s as replacement for the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. Its design was ...
,
Grumman C-2 Greyhound
The Grumman C-2 Greyhound is a twin-engine, high-wing cargo aircraft designed to carry supplies, mail, and passengers to and from aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. Its primary mission is carrier onboard delivery (COD). The aircraft p ...
and
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bow ...
, as well as a
MiG-17
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 w ...
in North Vietnamese markings. Two privately owned
Douglas A-1 Skyraider
The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly known as the AD Skyraider) is an American single-seat attack aircraft in service from 1946 to the early 1980s. The Skyraider had an unusually long career, remaining in front-line service well into the Jet Age ...
s also flew in the rescue sequence.
[Farmer 1990, p. 62.]
Differences from the novel
In the novel, the A-6 Intruder pilots operate from the fictional aircraft carrier USS ''Shiloh''. Grafton enlists his new bombardier Cole and Abe Steiger (the squadron intelligence officer) to attack the headquarters of the Communist Party in Hanoi; however, Steiger is unable to find any information on Communist Party Headquarters among the targeting materials available aboard the ''Shiloh''.
[Coonts, S (1986). Flight of the Intruder. Pocket Books. p. 279.] They ultimately decide to attack the National Assembly building as requesting targeting information about Communist Party Headquarters would raise unwanted attention and suspicion.
In the novel, Callie had not been previously wed (nor was she a mother). In another departure from the film, Grafton and Cole are shot down during a twilight
SAM suppression raid. Major Frank Allen, an Air Force
A-1
A1, A-1, A01 or A.1. may refer to:
Education
* A1, the Basic Language Certificate of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
* Language A1, the former name for "Language A: literature", one of the IB Group 1 subjects
* A1, a ...
pilot and member of the rescue operation to recover Grafton and Cole, is shot down. Dying and unable to free himself from his aircraft, he calls in a strike on his location, not Cole. The novel ends with Cole and Grafton being rescued. Cole is eventually transferred to Naval Hospital Pensacola, Florida, for treatment of his wounds while Grafton reflects on his progress towards his naval service and gets lost in a state of limbo regarding his career.
Reception
The film was meant to be released on July 13, 1990, but it was delayed in order to shoot a new ending. Neufeld said the studio did not want the film to compete with two other military-aircraft themed films, ''
Memphis Belle'' and ''
Air America''. Also he wanted to film an additional scene aboard the ''
USS Ranger
USS ''Ranger'' may refer to the following ships of the United States Navy:
* was an 18-gun ship sloop built in 1777 and commanded by John Paul Jones. She was captured by the British in 1780 and renamed HMS ''Halifax''.
* was a schooner mounting a ...
'' in San Diego with Danny Glover and Brad Johnson. "We worked around the navy's schedule," said the producer. "After all, you just don't put in an order for one of these things to come into port." The film was eventually released in January 1991. It coincided with the beginning of
Operation Desert Storm
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
. "I have no idea how the box office will be affected," said Neufeld. "Hopefully the film will rise or fall on its own merits."
Box office performance
The film earned $5,725,133 in its first weekend on 1,489 screens, making it the fourth most popular film in the US. Its final theater gross was $14,587,732, failing to recoup its $30 million budget.
Critical response
''Flight of the Intruder'' earned mostly negative reviews upon its release, with many reviewers noting inconsistencies in plot and continuity errors in the final edit, as well as the low-budget special effects. On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds a 25% approval rating based on 12 reviews, with a rating average of 4.80/10. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
called the film a "mess", noting that "Some scenes say one thing, some say another, while the movie develops an absurd and unbelievable ending and a final shot so cloying you want to shout rude suggestions at the screen." In a 2019 interview, Stephen Coonts, the author on the book on which the film was based gave two reasons for the poor quality of the film. Firstly, his book being poorly suited for adaption into a film, and secondly micromanagement from the US Navy, which was providing access to its ships and aircraft for the film.
Video game
''Flight of the Intruder'', a video game based on the original novel, was released for personal computers in 1990 and re-released for the
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
around the same time as the film. Developed by
Rowan Software, Ltd. and published by
Spectrum Holobyte, the game allowed players the choice of flying either the Grumman A-6 Intruder or the
F-4
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bo ...
from
aircraft carriers
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
against targets in the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
.
In popular culture
The theme music of ''Flight of the Intruder'' was later used as the opening theme of the Belgian TV humorous talk show/game show series ''
Schalkse Ruiters
''Schalkse Ruiters'', translated as "Roguish Horsemen", was a Flemish humoristic TV talk and game show, broadcast on the TV channel Eén between late 1996 and early 1998. The program was a cross between a comedy show, a talk show, a game show and ...
''.
Notes
References
Bibliography
* Farmer, James H. "Making 'Flight of the Intruder'." ''Air Classics'', Volume 26, No. 8, August 1990.
* Segaloff, Nat. "John Milius: The Good Fights".
McGilligan, Patrick. ''Backstory 4: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1970s and 1980s''. Berkeley, California: University of California, 2006. .
External links
*
*
*
NY Times: ''Flight of the Intruder Overview''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flight Of The Intruder
1991 films
American aviation films
Films about shot-down aviators
Films directed by John Milius
Films produced by Mace Neufeld
Films scored by Basil Poledouris
Films set in the 1970s
Films shot in Hawaii
Films shot in Savannah, Georgia
Vietnam War aviation films
Vietnam War films
Films about the United States Navy
Films based on American novels
Films with screenplays by John Milius
Films set in Hanoi
Films set on aircraft carriers
Comedy television theme songs
Television game show theme songs
Television talk show theme songs
1990s English-language films
1990s American films