In the Line of Fire

"An assassin on the loose. A president in danger. Only one man stands between them…"

1993 2h 8m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 1,888

ActionDramaThrillerCrimeMystery

Synopsis

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Veteran Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan is a man haunted by his failure to save President Kennedy while serving protection detail in Dallas. Thirty years later, a man calling himself "Booth" threatens the life of the current President, forcing Horrigan to come back to protection detail to confront the ghosts from his past.

“An assassin on the loose. A president in danger. Only one man stands between them…”

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Cast

Clint Eastwood
Frank Horrigan
John Malkovich
Mitch Leary
Rene Russo
Lilly Raines
Dylan McDermott
Al D'Andrea
Gary Cole
Bill Watts
Fred Thompson
Harry Sargent
John Mahoney
Sam Campagna
Gregory Alan Williams
Matt Wilder

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Writers: Carl Aldana, Jeff Maguire
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

Made its money back 4.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, shot by John Bailey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich and Rene Russo carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "An assassin on the loose. A president in danger. Only one man stands between them…".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0107206 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Wolfgang Petersen directs. John Bailey behind the camera. Ennio Morricone scores. Anne V. Coates cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 4.4× over at the box office.
233 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, shot by John Bailey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Ennio Morricone. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Anne V. Coates shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich and Rene Russo carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "An assassin on the loose. A president in danger. Only one man stands between them…".
8IMDB entry: tt0107206 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 15 themes, including "assassin", "central intelligence agency (cia)", "usa president", "the white house".

The technical file

Cinematography: John Bailey
Original score: Ennio Morricone
Editing: Anne V. Coates
Production design: Lilly Kilvert
Costume design: Erica Edell Phillips
Makeup / hair: Sherri Bramlett
Stunt coordinator: Buddy Van Horn
Runtime: 128 min · 2h 8m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $40,000,000
Box office: $177,000,000
Return: 443% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: In the Line of Fire (1993)

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Wolfgang Petersen

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Community reviews

What people are saying

r96sk2022-01-23
★ 7/10
I wish it was paced better, but <em>'In the Line of Fire'</em> still makes for a good time. Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich is a great line-up and both are entertaining in this, the latter is just terrific at playing a loopy bad guy. There's a fair few well known peeps behind them, including John Heard and Gary Cole - it's a fairly strong cast. The story is an interesting one, though given that you'd expect the film to move along at a better pace but it kinda just walks through its 128 minute run time. It's not a drag or anything, but I definitely wasn't on the edge of my seat unfortunately. It's still a film I'd recommend, though.
Filipe Manuel Neto2022-11-24
★ 7/10
Action, entertainment and verisimilitude together in a film that is better than many others, more regularly remembered. This is a conventional American-style action film, where everything revolves around the unassailable and sacrosanct figure of the President. There are loads of films like this, such as “Air Force One” or “Olympus Has Fallen”, which may help to explain why it ended up so forgotten, despite being nominated for three Oscars (Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay). It's not a new film, but it guarantees action and entertainment, and looks very appealing to televisions and home market. In this case, the script focuses on the threat of a madman who is willing to do anything to assassinate the American president, and on the attempts of a veteran Secret Service agent to discover and prevent him. In a film where the plot does not reserve any surprises or innovation, predictability can be a problem. In fact, there's nothing here that we haven't seen before. However, everything is done very competently and the commitment of all those involved is quite evident. The whole story is fairly well written and, apart from a few minor flaws, comes across as solid and credible. Wolfgang Petersen's direction also makes a decisive contribution to the positive outcome of the final product. The cast contains several well-known names, but, unsurprisingly, it is Clint Eastwood who secures the lead role. And once again, the veteran shows us all the charisma he has. He really manages to balance his usual tough guy image with a fragility that his age accentuates and justifies. John Malkovich also did a good job. It's not the best of his career, but it was honest, credible and done with great professionalism. Rene Russo is the female standout, but in a movie with so much testosterone, she has little to do other than appear tough enough to keep up with those men and be the love interest of one of them. Technically, the film has several points of merit that deserve to be highlighted and analyzed. When I read a little about this film (I have this habit, to be able to understand certain details and clear up some doubts that arise when watching), I discovered that there was, on the part of the production, a concern with the details. To make things more credible, they even asked the Secret Service for advice. And whenever a film production takes into account the relevance of details to the verisimilitude of the film, we have a duty to commend such efforts. Cinematography is the dominant standard in films of the time, and the sets and costumes are also what was imagined. There are many well-executed action scenes, and some good special effects and visuals. Editing is also very good.
CinemaSerf2026-01-01
★ 7/10
A veteran of the Kennedy assassination, US Secret Service agent “Horrigan” (Clint Eastwood) now finds himself in contact with the menacing “Leary” (John Malkovich) who has made it clear he has an axe to grind with the current incumbent of the Oval Office. Of course, “Horrigan” alerts his bosses but with a knife-edge election looming, nobody is interested in hunkering down and hoping the threat goes away. It doesn’t help that the would-be killer is an ex-CIA man who is a master of disguise and skilled in plotting and planning covert schemes, so the agent and his colleagues “Lilly” (Rene Russo) and “Al” (Dylan McDermott) - whom his nemesis will have no problem disposing of should they get in his way, have their work cut out for them. Much of this is fairly processional at the start, but once the cat and mouse game starts in earnest then both Eastwood and the on-form Malkovich really do bring to life a superior thriller peppered with quite a bit of humanity and even a sense of sympathy for both men. One who has been dumped by a system he swore to protect and another who was neglected by it when he failed. There’s plenty of action, and in the end I wasn’t sure what I wanted to occur. It’s a bit more thoughtful than I had expected, and well worth a gander.