Executive Decision

"Five miles above the earth, an elite team of six men must make an air to air transfer, in order to save 400 lives on board a 747...and 40 million below."

1996 2h 12m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 1,076

ActionAdventureDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Terrorists hijack a 747 inbound to Washington D.C., demanding the release of their imprisoned leader. Intelligence expert David Grant suspects another reason and he is soon the reluctant member of a special assault team that is assigned to intercept the plane and hijackers.

“Five miles above the earth, an elite team of six men must make an air to air transfer, in order to save 400 lives on board a 747...and 40 million below.”

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Cast

Kurt Russell
David Grant
Steven Seagal
Lt. Colonel Austin Travis
Halle Berry
Jean
John Leguizamo
Rat
Oliver Platt
Cahill
Joe Morton
Cappy
David Suchet
Nagi Hassan
BD Wong
Louie

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Stuart Baird
Writers: John Thomas, Jim Thomas
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $55M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

30 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

250+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Stuart Baird, shot by Alex Thomson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Stuart Baird shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal and Halle Berry carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Five miles above the earth, an elite team of six men must make an air to air transfer, in order to save 400 lives on board a 747...and 40 million below.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Stuart Baird directs. Alex Thomson behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Stuart Baird cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $55M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
230 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3250+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Stuart Baird, shot by Alex Thomson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Stuart Baird shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal and Halle Berry carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Five miles above the earth, an elite team of six men must make an air to air transfer, in order to save 400 lives on board a 747...and 40 million below.".
9IMDB entry: tt0116253 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 23 themes, including "rescue", "airplane", "panic", "bomb".

The technical file

Cinematography: Alex Thomson
Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: Stuart Baird
Production design: Terence Marsh
Costume design: Louise Frogley
Makeup / hair: Dennis Liddiard
VFX supervisor: Peter Donen
Sound: David E. Campbell
Stunt coordinator: Dick Ziker
Runtime: 132 min · 2h 12m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $55,000,000
Box office: $121,969,216
Return: 222% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Executive Decision (1996)

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Stuart Baird

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What people are saying

Wuchak2023-06-04
★ 7/10
Suspense at 33,000 feet with Kurt Russell An intelligence analyst (Russell) inadvertently joins a special forces operation to save a Boeing 747-200 hijacked by terrorists before it is used to attack DC. Steven Seagal plays the mission commander, Halle Berry a flight attendant and Oliver Platt an aeronautics engineers, amongst other notables. “Executive Decision” (1996) is an airliner-in-trouble flick from the angle of “Under Siege” (1992) directed by the editor of “Die Hard 2” (1990). I bring up the latter because this one’s very similar except that it takes place in the air rather than an airport. I didn’t expect to like it because it’s basically “Die Hard” on a plane and I didn’t think a worthwhile movie could be made with such a cramped setting, but work it does. Sure, a lot of the runtime involves rescuers strategizing in the bowels of the airbus using hi-tech equipment, like hidden cameras, but the creators respect the intelligence of the viewer and there are several innovative bits along with great suspense. It was obviously prescient of 9/11, filmed six years prior to that infamous attack. The movie runs 2 hours, 13 minutes, and was shot in SoCal at Norton Air Force Base, San Bernardino, but also Chino Airport, Mojave Desert (crash scene), Sierra Madre (Chechen Mafia House). The wedding kidnapping sequence was shot in San Juan, Puerto Rico. GRADE: B

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