MovieChat Forums > Firefox (1982) Discussion > A movie of two halves

A movie of two halves

posted 19 years ago by martin23579
14 replies | jump to latest

I thought the first part of this was brilliant. A real cold war thriller, seeing Clint for once not being the tough guy who knows no fear, sneaking around in a communist country.

However, I thought the end fight/battle sequence was terrible and ill fitting with the first half. I couldn't help but feel they were trying to compete (cash in) with the 'empire strikes back' in effects and style, which is of course, ludicrous to attempt.

Not bad on the whole, just not what it could've been.

[–] cool guy69 19 years ago

I agree that the first half or so is better, but the second half with all the flying can't be an Empire Strikes Back ripoof, since all those scenes were in the book which was published in 1977. Though I'm sure the suits at the studio found it convinent that it resembeled the Star Wars movies in that respect, so I half agree it was a cash-in.

[–] martin23579 19 years ago

I know it was originally from a book and I don't think it was a deliberate attempt at inserting a fight sequence that wouldn't have been there had it not been for the 'empire strikes back' as such, just that they must have used 'empire...' as a template for the style of sequence they used. Like anything that is hugely succesful, you often see it's influence cropping up in various places, with various degrees of success.

I didn't notice first time around all those years ago, only after a recent viewing on dvd did it really strike me as similar.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] cool guy69 19 years ago

Yeah, the ice-filled valleys and voice-over did scream Star Wars.

[–] brook_garrettson 19 years ago

Mr. Dykstra who did the flying scenes in Firefox also did them for Star Wars...

[–] Halmyre 17 years ago

And of course we all know that the scenario for the last twenty minutes of Star Wars was an entirely original idea.

[–] anfinke 18 years ago

It is similar because that was the only way to film those kind of special effects in those days. I don't consider it a rip off at all. I still prefer models over cgi.

[–] joekiddlouischama 18 years ago

I couldn't agree more. Eastwood was just following the arc of the novel, but perhaps he should have re-written it to keep the focus on character and moody atmosphere rather than special effects wizardry. If so, Eastwood could have created a dark Cold War classic, even if the film didn't fare as well at the box office.

[–] cool guy69 18 years ago

"I couldn't agree more. Eastwood was just following the arc of the novel, but perhaps he should have re-written it to keep the focus on character and moody atmosphere rather than special effects wizardry. If so, Eastwood could have created a dark Cold War classic, even if the film didn't fare as well at the box office."

This movie would probably be my all-time favorite movie if Eastwood could've pulled it off like that. Not sure how it could've been done, though.

[–] joekiddlouischama 18 years ago

Yeah, such a change would have required some enormous revisions and it would have been a risky move to throw away the special effects/action elements. If Eastwood were making that movie today, I think that he might attempt such a revision, but it would require some extraordinary writing.

[–] tomcat69w 18 years ago

I went to see this appx. 24 years ago when it first came out. About a third of the way in, I fell asleep, only to awaken in time for the theft and the scenes that followed. I now have it on vhs and intend to stay up and watch it, (if I can get past that middle section), and hopfully see it straight through for the first time ever. Even in 1982 all of us guy's thought Old Clint,...HAHAHA,...he's tryin' to 'cash' in on the Star Wars movie's. I have The original Star Wars Trilogy on vhs and the newer ones on dvd. But I never saw but two Star War's movies in the theater except for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Will let ya'll know if I was 'able' to stay awake this time. HA!

The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get!

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] rogerbleep 17 years ago

i agrea, the 1st half was realy dark and gripping then it just flips into an action movie with 1 linners dropped in to give the script some humor, i gave this movie an alternate ending lol http://youtube.com/watch?v=oDrPkJrW5zc&feature=PlayList&p=BC04293DEEA62C4F&index=0

[–] S_Leone 10 years ago

class!