Broken Arrow (1996 film)
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- This page refers to the 1996 film "Broken Arrow". For other uses of the term, see Broken Arrow.
Broken Arrow is a 1996 American action motion picture starring John Travolta as Major Vic Deakins with Christian Slater as Captain Riley Hale. The plot is rather simplistic, about Deakins and a terrorist group trying to steal two nuclear bombs. The nuclear bombs are loaded on the stealth bomber which Deakins and Hale fly, so Deakins attempts to kill Hale, jettison the bombs, and crashland the plane. The rest of the film focuses on Hale's attempts to stop Deakins and the terrorists, assisted by a female park ranger (played by Samantha Mathis).
The screenplay was written by Graham Yost and was directed by John Woo. Broken Arrow was released on Friday, February 9, 1996 and although it was disappointing to die-hard fans of the director John Woo's other films, it was modestly successful.
One major factual inaccuracy is the description of the stealth bomber as the "B-3". This can only have been intentional as the B-2 Spirit entered service three years before the film was released; perhaps this is a reference to the much-talked about "secret" successor to the current Spirit bomber in service.
Another factual inaccuracy is the film's name itself. In official United States military nuclear incident terminology, a PINNACLE - BROKEN ARROW is "an accidental event involving nuclear weapons or nuclear components but does not create the risk of nuclear war". The actual term for "the seizure, theft, or loss of a nuclear weapon or nuclear component" is PINNACLE - EMPTY QUIVER.
Broken Arrow is noted for its impressive soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer.
Tagline: Prepare to Go Ballistic
Contents |
Characters
Despite being a straightforward action movie, the film gives great focus to the relationship between Deakins and Hale. There have been many hypotheses on the nature of the relationships between them, some being:
- At the beginning of the film Hale represents apathy while Deakins represents gumption and initiative. The first scene of the film depicts Hale losing a boxing fight to Deakins. Deakins later tells him that he beat Hale because Hale didn't have the will to win. When Hale mentions that he wasn't accepted to the "Aurora" project because he doesn't have enough fighter time to qualify, Deakins tells him that he's never willing to fight for anything and that this will be his downfall. Deakins, however, shows initiative and boldness. First, by smoking in General Boone's office, then by stealing the nuclear warheads and finally, by activating one of the warheads in an underground mine, just to convince everyone that he's got the guts to set off a nuke. Throughout the film, Deakins' and Hale's personalities gradually shift. Hale shows initiative by going after Deakins and the nukes instead of making contact with the Air Force and informing them of what happened. He tries to foil Deakins' plans by attempting to destroy both nukes in the underground mine. Near the end, he goes by himself after Deakins and the last nuke, not only to secure the nuke but also to save the park ranger that was unintentionally implicated in this incident. In the end, the film closes a circle with the beginning, presenting a scene of another boxing fight between Deakins and Hale. This time, Hale has the determination and will to win. He manages to overcome Deakins, escape the train before it explodes and disarm the nuke. Deakins' last action, however, is not of audacity but of apathy. Not being the motivated and complete man he was at the beginning, he simply stands still as the train's inertia sends the nuke through his body and train is blowing up.
- Deakins and Hale represent two different types of personality disorders: narcissistic and dependent . This seems to justify the fact that they both don't manage to progress in the army (Hale being rejected to the "Aurora" project and Deakins being 20 years in the army and still not making Colonel). Deakins is depicted is tremendously narcissistic (Deakins' words: "I'm always right.") while Hale is depicted as extremely dependent on the will and actions of other people (In response to Deakins' question whether Hale is going to continue his army service, Hale's words: "As long as they'll have me."). Throughout the film, Deakins is depicted as having a God complex. He believes that he's somewhat special, he lacks empathy and he has a tendency to take advantage of others to achieve his own goals. Hale, however, shows some dependence upon the park ranger, gets immensely furious when his plan against Deakins fails and goes to excessive lengths to try to confront and take down Deakins.
Trivia
- Second of a trilogy of films produced by Mark Gordon and written by Graham Yost. The others are Speed and Hard Rain.
- According to an interview with Premiere magazine, the original screenplay took place largely at night. Graham Yost was urged to change this as the film would have cost $150 million and if a member of the crew had fallen into a valley, he wouldn't have been found until morning.
- Terminator 2 writer William Wisher did an uncredited rewrite of the script.
- Halle Berry auditioned for the role of Terry Carmichael, but was turned down by the producers who told her that there are no black park rangers. In an interview with Michael Parkinson for the BBC, Berry recalled her anger and asked how the producers knew there were no black park rangers.
- The name of Harry Knowles' website “Ain't it Cool News” is derived from a line in this film.
Box office
US Gross Domestic Takings: US$ 70,770,147
- + Other International Takings: $79,500,000
= Gross Worldwide Takings: $150,270,147
Memorable lines
- Vic Deakins: Would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear weapons?
- Giles Prentice: I don't know what scares me more--losing nuclear weapons, or that it happens so often you actually have a term for it.
- Vic Deakins: Shit! Fuck! He's gonna do it. Let's get him.
- Vic Deakins: [activating the nuke in spite of his inability to escape alive] Fuck'em if they can't take a joke.
- Riley Hale: You're crazy! Vic Deakins: Yeah. Ain't it cool?!