In the Line of Fire (1993)

	Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen	COUNTRY USA Genre Thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE I skuddlinjen RUNNING TIME 128 minutes
	Produced by: Jeff Apple
	Written by: Jeff Maguire

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Secret Service Agent Frank Horrigan	Clint Eastwood	½
Mitch Leary	John Malkovich	½
Secret Service Agent Lilly Raines	Rene Russo
Secret Service Agent Al D’Andrea	Dylan McDermott
Secret Service Agent Bill Watts	Gary Cole	-
White House Chief of Staff Harry Sargent	Fred Dalton Thompson	-
Secret Service Director Sam Campagna	John Mahoney	-
Secret Service Matt Wilder	Gregory Alan Williams	-
Marty Mendoza	Tobin Bell	-
Pam Magnus	Patrika Darbo
Professor Riger	John Heard	-

Review

A taut and at times electrifying thriller with political and psychological dimensions directed by the late German filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot) and written by Jeff Maguire. Clint Eastwood stars as a veteran Secret Service agent who is haunted by his failure to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963, and John Malkovich is the crazed former CIA agent obsessed with killing the current president and gaining notoriety. The film is carried by the cleverly written and constructed cat-and-mouse game between the two, with Malkovich revelling in what is arguably the most boisterous and virtuoso performance of his career. His meticulous and eloquent Mitch Leary complements Eastwood's tightlipped Frank Horrigan perfectly. And the crisp, ominous cinematography gives the film a Hitchcockian quality and lifts the duel between them to hyperrealistic proportions. There's also a semi-flaccid romantic sub-plot with Eastwood and Rene Russo which may not have stood the test of time equally well.