Cliffhanger

Ah the summer movie! The movies that are style over substance, mindless entertainment, the movie equivalent of fast food, while this is often the case; its not always the case. The summer movie even through it seems like it has been around for awhile is relatively young. The summer movie can be traced back to one seminal film-Jaws (1975). I'm not going to get into the history of Jaws because that is well documented in a large number of books, dvds, etc., but I will explain how Jaws set the stage for the summer movie. Jaws like a lot of summer movies was based on a well-known property a novel written by Peter Benchley. It went wildly over schedule and over budget. The primary reason for this was because the movie was shot on the ocean with a mechanical shark that had been built for fresh water and not salt water. In 1975 there was only season to release a potential blockbuster movie and that was the fall. Summer back then was considered the dumping ground for movies like winter is now. The studio releasing Jaws (Universal) decided to see if they could change that in order to make a profit on Jaws. In order to do this they instituted two practices that are now commonplace with summer movies-a wide release (440 theaters) and heavy adverting on tv. Both of these practices played a big hand in Jaws becoming a blockbuster. In fact Jaws was the first film to gross a $100 million dollars and was for a brief time the highest grossing movie of all-time. When Star Wars come out a few years later and over took Jaws as the highest grossing film the summer movie season was officially born. The summer of 1993 is the year that the summer movie hit it stride as 7 films all well known and well received by both the public and the critics were released.  I believe 1993 is best year of summer movies and is the summer movie equivalent of 1939. If you are a movie fan than it common knowledge that 1939 is considered to be the greatest year for film. This makes sense because that year had a lot of films that are considered classics (Gone with the Wind, The Wizard Of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach) that also had some of the greatest movies star ever in them (Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne).  I know it seems that I'm doing the inverse of 1939 but like the ballyhooed 1939 movies the summer films of 1993 films has some striking similarities. In both cases these movies have actors/actresses who are well known to the average person along with the movies that they appeared in in those years are well known to the average person. The most obvious parallel is that both years were dominated by a single film that were each based on a best selling novel. These films tend to overshadow the other films because of the level of success each film enjoyed but a closer examination will show that were still other compelling enjoyable films that deservedly commanded the spotlight. Sit back, relax as I take you back to the best year of summer films-1993.  

The first of the impressive films that come out in summer of 1993 was Cliffhanger. This is a summer movie at its finest. This is one the most enjoyable movies I have seen.  I love this film. A key reason why this film was so successful and why I like it so much/remember it fondly is that it has one of the greatest trailers in film history. In 1993 there was no internet so it was harder to promote a film on national/global scale. About the best way to do that back then was the to air an ad during a major sporting event like the Super Bowl which this film did. After that trailer aired it turned Cliffhanger into a must see. The trailer also did something that is really hard for a trailer to do it effectively sold the film without giving too much of the film's plot away. This trailer should be required viewing for anyone who putting a film's trailer together. Cliffhanger has a relatively simple plot that is expertly told. The plot is a group of thieves "attempt to steal $100 million dollars in uncirculated $1,000 bills belonging to the U.S. Treasury Department which are in three suitcases via a daring air-to-air transfer but the transfer is foiled by an undercover FBI agent and the three suitcases are lost among the mountains. The suitcases holding the money have beacon locators  but the thieves need expert help locating them in the mountainous terrain." This movie is jam packed with some of the most remarkable action sequences ever seen. The good thing about these action sequences is that they advance the plot they're not just done to distract the audience or for the sake of action.The most intense of these sequences is the opening one which is reminiscent of the opening sequence of a Bond film in that it has little direct bearing to the plot but in this case does provide an interesting back story to the main plot. The sequence is HalTucker (Michael Rooker) who is a mountain climber and rescue ranger is stranded on a narrow peak in the Rockey Mountains, called "The Tower" with a knee injury. He has brought along his girlfriend Sarah who is an inexperienced mountain climber. Along come 2 other climbers and rescue rangers Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone) and Jessie Deighan (Janine Turner) to rescue them. Hal and Sarah are to be rescued by getting into a helicopter via  a steel wire. Hal does this with no problem. Sarah harness breaks and she is left dangling over a deep chasm. Jessie can't save her because she flying the helicopter & Hal can't because of his injury. So Gabe goes out to save Sarah, but is unsuccessful; her gloved hand slips through Gabe's and she falls to her death.
This description does no justice to how harrowing this sequence is. Other strengths of this film are beautiful cinematography (it was shot in the Italian Alps even through it set in the Rockies) and really good pacing courtesy of director Renny Harlin. Another of the film's strengths is the acting. Say what you will about the film's star,  Sylvester Stallone, you have to respect the fact that he's been really successful in really cutthroat business (Hollywood) for four decades. He's really good in this film and a key reason why it was so successful. This film is an anomaly among Stallone's films in that it was it was hit and didn't get a sequel/start a franchise.  This film should have lead Janine Turner become a bigger deal because she was really good and she has really chemistry with Stallone. Rooker as always was really good and so were most the villains.The exception being the lead villain played John Lithgow. A big reason why he wasn't very good as the villain is that he has a very bad British accent. It is surprising that he was asked/decided to do a British accent and its equally surprising that he's so bad at it.   The film was hit at the box office grossing $255 million and did goodish with the critics (69% per Rotten Tomatoes-I think it should have been much higher). There has been talk of remake but I hope that it never happens because remake more than likely would suck and its highly doubtful that a remake could as good.