The Rock (film)

''The Rock'' is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and written by David Weisberg and Douglas S. Cook. The film stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris, with William Forsythe and Michael Biehn co-starring. In the film, the Pentagon assigns a team comprising an FBI chemist and a former SAS captain with a team of SEALs to break into Alcatraz, where a rogue general and a rogue group of Marines have seized all the tourists on the island and have threatened to launch rockets filled with nerve gas upon San Francisco unless the U.S. government pays $100 million to the next-of-kin of 83 men who were killed on missions that the general led and that the Pentagon denied.

''The Rock'' was dedicated to the memory of co-producer Don Simpson, who died five months before its release. The film received positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for Best Sound at the 69th Academy Awards. It was also a financial success, earning box-office receipts of over $335 million against a production budget of $75 million, and became the fourth highest-grossing film of 1996.

Plot

Disillusioned Brigadier General Francis Hummel and his second-in-command Major Tom Baxter lead a rogue group of U.S. Force Recon Marines against a heavily guarded naval weapons depot to steal a stockpile of 16 VX gas-loaded M55 rockets, ultimately losing one of their men in the process. The next day, along with newly recruited Captains Frye and Darrow, Hummel and his men seize control of Alcatraz Island, taking 81 tourists hostage. Hummel threatens to launch the rockets against San Francisco unless the U.S. government pays him $100 million from a military slush fund, which he will distribute to his men and the families of Recon Marines who died on covert missions under his command, but whose deaths were not compensated.

The Department of Defense and FBI develop a plan to retake the island using a U.S. Navy SEAL team led by Commander Anderson, the FBI's top chemical weapons specialist, Dr. Stanley Goodspeed, and the only inmate ever to escape Alcatraz: John Mason. FBI Director James Womack bribes Mason with a pardon (which Womack subsequently destroys), and Mason is set up in a hotel. He escapes, resulting in a car chase with Goodspeed through the streets of San Francisco as Mason seeks out his estranged daughter, Jade. They meet, but she accuses him of escaping again when Goodspeed arrives; he covers for Mason by telling Jade that Mason is aiding the FBI.

The team successfully infiltrates Alcatraz, but Hummel's men are alerted to their presence and ambush them in a shower room. Anderson and all of the SEALs are killed, leaving only Mason and Goodspeed alive. Goodspeed wants to finish the mission and attempts to strong-arm Mason into helping. Mason, seeing his chance to escape custody, disarms Goodspeed. Mason changes his mind about helping Goodspeed when the Marines, having found the weapons and radio missing from Anderson's second-in-command, start using bombs to ferret out the survivors.

Mason and Goodspeed eliminate several teams of Marines and disable twelve of the fifteen rockets by removing their guidance chips. Hummel threatens to execute a hostage if they do not surrender and return the chips; Mason destroys them before surrendering to Hummel to try reasoning with him and stall for time. Goodspeed disables another rocket but then gets captured. With the incursion team lost, the backup plan is initiated: an airstrike by F/A-18Cs with thermite plasma, which will neutralize the poison gas but also kill everyone on the island.

Mason and Goodspeed escape, and Mason explains why he was held prisoner: as a former British SAS captain and MI6 operative, he was captured after stealing a microfilm containing details of the United States' most closely guarded secrets. Knowing he would be "suicided" if he returned it, he spent the last thirty years imprisoned without trial for refusing to hand it over.

When Hummel's deadline for the ransom passes, he is urged by his men to fire a rocket. Although he does, he redirects it to detonate at sea. When confronted by Darrow and Frye, Hummel explains the rocket threat was an elaborate bluff, as he had never intended to harm innocent civilians. He declares the mission over and orders them to exit Alcatraz with some hostages and the remaining rocket to cover their retreat while he assumes blame. Darrow and Frye, realizing they will not be paid their $1 million apiece, mutiny against him. They declare themselves mercenaries, and a firefight ensues; Baxter is killed, and Hummel is mortally wounded, but the latter manages to tell Goodspeed where the last rocket is before dying.

Darrow and Frye proceed with the plan to fire on San Francisco. Goodspeed seeks out the rocket while Mason deals with the remaining Marines. As the jets approach, Goodspeed disables the rocket before killing Darrow and Frye. Though he signals that the threat is over, one jet drops a bomb. No hostages are injured, but the blast throws Goodspeed into the bay, and Mason rescues him.

Goodspeed reports a successful mission but lies that Mason died during the blast; he admits to Mason that Womack tore up the pardon and offers him a way off the island and cash in his hotel room. Mason reveals the location of the microfilm as he and Goodspeed part ways. Sometime later, Goodspeed and his newlywed wife Carla hastily drive away from a church in Kansas after having retrieved the microfilm, which features evidence of John F. Kennedy's real assassin.

Cast

Production

Jonathan Hensleigh participated in writing the script, which became the subject of a dispute with the Writers Guild of America. The spec script (by David Weisberg and Douglas Cook) was reworked by several writers, but other than the original team, Mark Rosner was the only one granted official credit by guild arbitration. The rule is that the credited writing team must contribute 50% of the final script (effectively limiting credits to the screenplay's initial authors, plus one re-write team). Despite their work on the script, neither Hensleigh nor Aaron Sorkin was credited in the film. The director Michael Bay wrote an open letter of protest, in which he criticized the arbitration procedure as a "sham" and a "travesty". He said Hensleigh had worked closely with him on the movie and should have received screen credit. Quentin Tarantino was also an uncredited screenwriter.

Los Angeles-based British screenwriting team Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais were brought in at Connery's request to rewrite his lines, but ended up altering much of the film's dialogue. It was Nicolas Cage's idea that his character would not swear; his euphemisms include "gee whiz." Bay had worked closely with Ed Harris to develop his character as concretely as possible, later adding a sympathetic edge to Hummel.

There were tensions during shooting between director Bay and Walt Disney Studios executives who were supervising the production. On the commentary track for the Criterion Collection DVD, Bay recalls a time when he was preparing to leave the set for a meeting with the executives when he was approached by Sean Connery in golfing attire. Connery, who also produced the film, asked Bay where he was going, and when Bay explained he had a meeting with the executives, Connery asked if he could accompany him. Bay complied and when he arrived in the conference room, the executives' jaws dropped when they saw Connery appear behind him. According to Bay, Connery then stood up for Bay and insisted that he was doing a good job and should be left alone.

Most of the film was shot on location in the Alcatraz Prison on Alcatraz Island. As it is governed by the National Park Service, it was not possible to close down Alcatraz, and much of the filming had to accommodate tour parties milling around. The scene in which FBI Director Womack is thrown off the balcony was filmed on location at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The filming led to numerous calls to the hotel by people who saw a man dangling from the balcony. The film's closing scene was shot outside the historic Sacred Heart Mission Church in Saticoy, California.

At one point, Arnold Schwarzenegger was to have played the role of Goodspeed. Schwarzenegger turned the role down because he did not like the script.

Controversy

Censorship

In the original UK DVD release, the scene in which Connery throws a knife through Scarpetti's throat and says "you must never hesitate" to Cage was cut, although the scene was shown on British television. Consequently, a later scene in which Connery says to Cage, "I'm rather glad you didn't hesitate too long," lost its impact on viewers who had not seen the first scene. Other cuts included the reduction of multiple gunshot impacts into Gamble's feet in the morgue down to a single hit; a close-up of his screaming face as the air conditioner falls onto him; a sound cut to Mason snapping a Marine's neck and two bloody gunshot wounds (to Hummel and Baxter), both near the end of the film.

Iraqi chemical weapons program

A scene from the film was the basis for incorrect and false descriptions of the Iraqi chemical weapons program. Britain's Secret Intelligence Service was led to believe Saddam Hussein was continuing to produce weapons of mass destruction by a false agent who based his reports on the movie, according to the Chilcot Inquiry

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