Cliffhanger

1993 Action/Adventure

In Cliffhanger, Sylvester Stallone plays Gabe Walker, a member of a mountain-climbing rescue team. Gabe is haunted by an incident from his past when he couldn't save the girlfriend of his best friend, Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker), from falling to her death. As the story begins, Gabe has left mountain-climbing rescue work and has set up business in Denver. He returns to the mountain rescue office to persuade his lover, Jessie (Janine Turner), to quit and come back to Denver with him. While he is begging Jessie to head out to Denver, things are happening in the skies overhead. A gang of professional crooks headed by psychotic Eric Qualen (John Lithgow) has hijacked a U.S. Treasury plane carrying millions of dollars. But the plane crashes, and the bad guys find themselves stranded on top of a mountain with the money (put into three cases) scattered around the wreckage and with no way to get down off the pinnacle to retrieve the cases. They put in a phony distress call that is received by the mountain rescue team. Gabe agrees to take part in one last rescue attempt, and they head up to help rescue the thieves. But Qualen has plans for the rescuers -- to force them to climb through the dangerous snow-covered peaks to find the three suitcases of cash. more..

Director: Renny Harlin

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner, Craig Fairbrass

Reviews

  • All of the performers are upstaged by the film's breathtaking backdrop, and by the fast and furious way Renny Harlin, the director, approaches action sequences.

    Elvis Mitchell - The New York Times

    19 January 2013

  • Movies like this are machines for involving us and thrilling us. Cliffhanger is a fairly good machine.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    19 January 2013

  • Cliffhanger offers us breathtaking mountain scenery, some occasionally gripping action sequences, and a lot of gags--mostly unintentional and mostly courtesy of Sylvester Stallone.

    - TV Guide

    19 January 2013

  • Despite the don't-look-down Olympian settings, Cliffhanger's spirit is brutal and earthbound.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    19 January 2013

  • After a tense, terrific, stomach-turning opening that may have moviegoing acrophobes recalling Vertigo, the film soon becomes the latest screen variation on cat-and-Mighty Mouse.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Top Box Office Films

    ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards (1994)

  • Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing

    Academy Awards (1994)

     
  • Best Foreign Film

    Awards of the Japanese Academy (1994)

     
  • Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Feature Film

    Cinema Audio Society (1994)

     
  • Best Action Sequence

    MTV Movie Awards (1994)