Alan Rapp

• Title: Firefox
• IMDb: link

Based on the novel Craig Thomas, and set during the Cold War, 1982’s Firefox stars Clint Eastwood as a former Air Force pilot tasked with an impossible mission to steal a prototype aircraft in Bilyarsk. Despite his post-traumatic stress, Mitchell Gant (Eastwood) is chosen for his unique qualifications: his piloting ability, his similar size to the Russian pilot (Kai Wulff) the Firefox is designed for, and his ability to speak and think in Russian (as the plane’s weapon systems are controlled by thought).

Sent to Moscow undercover as a heroin dealer, who needs to be shadowed by the KGB initially for the cover to hold, it becomes obvious to Gant fairly early in his adventure that he is in far over his head long before he makes it to the secret base where the Firefox is kept. Half Cold War spy film and half action-thriller, Firefox holds up pretty well 35 years later as Gant’s journey keeps him one-step ahead of the KGB thanks to a group of Jewish dissidents and sympathizers that will give their lives to get Gant to the plane and allow him to do the rest.

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