In the Line of Fire

1993 Mystery & Suspense

Clint Eastwood delivers one of his finest performances, as a secret service agent haunted by his past in Wolfgang Petersen's taut thriller In the Line of Fire. Eastwood plays Frank Horrigan, a secret service agent who keeps thinking back to November 22, 1963, when, as an agent hand-picked by President Kennedy, he became one of the few agents to have lost a president to an assassin. Decades later, psychotic Mitch Leary (John Malkovich) is stalking another president (Jim Curley) running for re-election. He has spent long hours studying the psyche of Frank Horrigan, and he taunts Horrigan (feeling that there is a bond between them), telling him of his plans to kill the president. After his conversation with Leary, Horrigan makes sure he is assigned to presidential protection duty. Horrigan has no intention of failing his president this time around, and he is more than willing to take a bullet. But everything goes Leary's way -- he is smart and cagey and the president's aides refuse to alter the itinerary. As the election draws closer, Horrigan's chances to catch Leary look to be less and less a possibility, and he begins to doubt his own abilities -- both now and in the past, when Kennedy was murdered. more..

Director: Wolfgang Petersen

Starring: Clint Eastwood,John Malkovich, Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott, Gary Cole

Reviews

  • It's movie making of the high, smooth, commercial order that Hollywood prides itself on but achieves with singular infrequency.

    Vincent Canby - The New York Times

    26 April 2013

  • The director is Wolfgang Petersen ("Das Boot"), who is able to unwind the plot like clockwork while at the same time establishing the characters as surprisingly sympathetic.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    26 April 2013

  • The result is a finely tuned suspense thriller, though executives who have recently laid off trained killers may experience some discomfort.

    - TV Guide

    26 April 2013

  • In truth, every part of this film trades so heavily on Eastwood's presence that it is impossible to imagine it with anyone else in the starring role.

    Kenneth Turan - Los Angeles Times

    26 April 2013

  • In the Line of Fire is a terrific action movie with good performances and a smart script that occasionally falters for trying too hard but, on the whole, takes us on psychological journeys that few of us have had opportunities to experience.

    Marjorie Baumgarten - Austin Chronicle

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Top Box Office Films

    ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards (1994)

  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role

    Academy Awards (1994)

     
  • Best Supporting Actor

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1994)

     
  • Best Edited Feature Film

    American Cinema Editors (1994)

     
  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role

    BAFTA Awards (1994)