Line #37 Film/Firefox


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/firefox-movie_4878.jpg]]
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3	->''"You must think in Russian."''
4	-->-- '''Dr. Baronovich'''
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6	The 1982 [[TheFilmOfTheBook film adaptation]] of Craig Thomas' 1977 novel, the first real techno-thriller, produced and directed by (and starring) Creator/ClintEastwood. The [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]] has developed a new superplane, the [=MiG=] 31, [[ReportingNames called by the Americans]] "Firefox". It's capable of Mach 6, can't be detected on radar and has weapons launched by thought (but in Russian of course).
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8	There are some [[AdaptationalDeviation differences from the novel]],[[note]]Most notably, no requirement to "think in Russian" to control the plane's weapons in the novel[[/note]] but Thomas fans like the adaptation and Thomas himself dedicated his sequel book ''Firefox Down'' to Eastwood.
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10	Note that there is in fact, an actual [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiG-31 MiG-31]] (NATO reporting name [[VideoGame/MetalGear Foxhound]]) and that it reached service in the same year as the movie reached theatres. It's far less capable than its movie counterpart: the only thing it can do well is [[FragileSpeedster go really fast]].
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12	In the novel, when a character points out the Belenko defection, and resultant false alarm, as a reason not to panic about the "Firefox", another tells him that their information is that the plane is seriously as good as feared.
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14	Predates by two decades and has nothing at all to do with the web browser UsefulNotes/MozillaFirefox. Also not to be confused with {{Foxfire}}.
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16	----
17	!!This movie contains examples of:
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19	* ActivationSequence: We see the full start-up of the Firefox from cold and dark to flight-ready twice (Gant is still turning on systems on the plane as he takes off from Bilyarsk!)
20	* AdaptationNameChange: The drug smuggler whose identity Gant assumed to get into Russia was Alexander Orton in the novel, but Leon Sprague in the film.
21	* AerialCanyonChase: Part of the climatic dogfight involves both MIG-31s flying at supersonic speeds through a canyon.
22	* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: Gant is infiltrating the Soviet Union as a common smuggler, in the hope that this will attract less attention from the KGB.
23	-->"If you tip-toe past the dragon, it might just raise an eyelid and sniff at you. But if you awaken it..."
24	* TheCanKickedHim:
25	** Gant ambushes the real Firefox pilot, Col. Voskov, in the pilot's bathroom, and then spends as much time as he can hiding in there.
26	** Earlier Gant suffers a PTSD attack and hides in a public toilet booth to recover. A KGB agent hears him moaning and hammers on the door, demanding his identification papers. The distraught Gant panics and kills him after the KGB man (falsely, as it turns out) claims his papers are not in order.
27	* ChekhovsGun:
28	** A literal example, the rearward-defense pods. Not flares but aerial ''mines'', which he uses to great effect on the second Firefox, destroying it.
29	** In the hangar scene, the camera lingers a little too long on the second Firefox.
30	* ChekhovsGunman: Remember the test pilot he refused to kill while infiltrating the base? It comes back to bite Gant later towards the end when the pilot in question takes the second prototype on a spin.
31	* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Gant wears a black flight suit and helmet, the pilot of the second Firefox wears an orange suit and white helmet.
32	* CompositeCharacter
33	** In the book, Gant ''does'' kill the test pilot at the base, and a different test pilot pursues him in the second prototype.
34	** Two Jewish mechanics involved in stealing the plane are combined into Dr. Semelovsky.
35	* CoolPlane: The titular aircraft is pretty much ''The'' CoolPlane of Hollywood, with speed, stealth, and maneuverability that leaves pretty much the entire NATO arsenal in the dust.
36	* CoversAlwaysLie: The cover makes it look like this is a wacky over-the-top '80s action flick and while that may be true for the second half, the first half is more of a subdued espionage thriller a la the Jason Bourne films.
37	* DarkestHour: Gant manages against all odds to get Firefox to the refueling point on dry tanks, and sees only an [[OhCrap empty ice floe]]. He figures he's going down in the Arctic Ocean for the last time, when suddenly he spots the refueling vessel: a submarine.
38	* DeadpanSnarker: A conversation between the First Secretary and Gant.
39	-->'''First Secretary:''' Are you enjoying your ride, Mr. Gant? You like our new toy?\
40	'''Gant:''' Could be improved.\
41	'''First Secretary:''' Ah. Your expert opinion, Mr. Gant?
42	* DirtyCommunists: A narration, by a dissident, of a few KickTheDog moments are awkwardly tacked in just so you know stealing their plane is the right thing to do.
43	-->'''Dr. Baronovich:''' Mr. Gant, you are an American. You are a free man. I am not. There is a difference. If I am resentful of the men in Washington who are ordering my death, then it is a small thing when compared with my RESENTMENT of the KGB.
44	* DodgeByBraking: A full four years before it was done in ''Film/TopGun''.
45	* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Having identified Gant, Pirabin on the phone with Col. Kontarsky telling him about Gant and both quickly realize why he's here and it's ''not'' to do a "close inspection".
46	* FictionalDocument: The exchange of memos between two SIS agents at the beginning, developing the plan to steal the aircraft.
47	* FromBadToWorse: [[spoiler: From the Soviet perspective it certainly is. They’ve built the most advanced aircraft ever. But exploited political prisoners to design it resulting in resentment causing them to conspire to have it stolen by their mortal enemy. Then after an American pilot is able to steal it from their base their backup prototype is destroyed and their top pilot is killed in their attempt to retrieve it. By the end both planes are gone and the scientists who designed it are dead. Even if they have the design schematics it’s doubtful they’ll be able to recreate it. On top of that their enemy now has it. To say that many heads are going to roll is a massive understatement.]]
48	* GenreShift: the first half is a dramatic espionage story. Once the plane is in the air it becomes much more of an action movie, especially the dogfight
49	* GoOutWithASmile: After watching Gant fly away in the plane they've been working to steal, Pavel smiles, then shoots himself.
50	* GrandTheftPrototype: The core of the storyline is the theft of the Firefox.
51	* HeroicSacrifice: Pretty much every single [[TheMole double agent]] dies getting Gant to the plane.
52	* HonorBeforeReason: The Soviet pilot has Gant as a sitting duck after he’s forced to use his landing gear to stabilize his plane. But rather than easily finish him off he allows him to live and regroup since Gant had done the same for him earlier.
53	* IdiotBall: Gant's explicitly warned to watch his speed going through the Ural mountains to avoid tripping listening posts. What does he do? Opens the [=MiG-31=] up to SR-71 speeds. Everything turns into a blur, but immediately blows the "head-south-go-north" gambit up in his face.
54	* IOweYouMyLife: Gant has a chance to kill Col. Voskov but [[HeroicSpirit refuses to kill a helpless, innocent man]]. In the Firefox-vs-Firefox dogfight later, Voskov returns the favor.
55	* ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest: Before he goes to Russia, Gant is handed an ordinary looking radio. He's then told it's a navigational device meant to guide Firefox to a secret refueling point -- and that if he loses it in Russia, he's dead. It doesn't figure in the plot until he's well into his flight at which time he pulls it out and uses it as intended.
56	* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: Gant is yanked out of his isolated, PTSD-soaked life and thrust straightaway into a [[FishOutOfWater spy mission.]]
57	* KillTheCutie: The young Vietnamese girl in the flashback is killed in a bombing, and is also the source of Gant's PTSD.
58	* LeftHanging: The film ends with Gant destroying the second Firefox, but no confirmation whether he manages to escape the USSR. The book sequel ''Firefox Down'' reveals that [[spoiler:the Firefox sustained heavy damage in the dogfight and Gant is forced to abandon it in a frozen lake in Finland, with Priabin and the KGB in pursuit]].
59	* MeaningfulName: A '''Mi'''koyan '''G'''urevich ('''[=MiG=]''') aircraft - stolen by '''Mi'''tchell '''G'''ant.
60	** MIG is also a Russian word that means "in a moment" and is a slang term for speed, referencing the Firefox's top speed of Mach 6.
61	* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Gant manages to escape with the first prototype, but the second prototype is destroyed in the climactic final battle and all of the lead developers are killed helping Gant steal the original, wasting all of the USSR's efforts to build the aircraft in the first place. No mention is made of the blueprints one way or the other, however.
62	* OhCrap: Col. Kontarsky gets three in a row:
63	** Once when he and his aide realize Gant is going to steal the Firefox.
64	** Again when he catches Gant in the plane itself.
65	** Finally, as the First Secretary's car pulls up, JUST as the Firefox begins taking-off.
66	* OneSizeFitsAll: Notably averted. The special flight suits that allow the Firefox pilots to withstand the plane's acceleration are custom tailored. Part of the reason why Gant was selected for the mission despite being retired was that he was the same size as one of the test pilots, and thus could steal and use his suit.
67	* OneWordTitle: Also a {{Portmantitle}}, and VehicleTitle. Firefox refers to the codename of the plane the plot centers on made by, and the name is made by fusing "Fire" and "Fox".
68	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When the very stoic General Vladimirov finally has enough of the First Secretary and unloads on him about how his arrogance and stupidity is hurting their chances to get the plane back.
69	** Applies as well to the First Secretary after getting a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from Vladimirov. While such insubordination would normally get one sent straight to the Gulag, or death, First Secretary realizes how dire the situation is for him as well and decides to ignore the outburst and instead focus on the issue at hand.
70	* TheOnlyOne: Gant is pulled out of retirement and sent on the mission because he's the only person the CIA could find who (1) was an expert fighter jet pilot, (2) could speak fluent Russian, and (3) could fit one of the custom-tailored flight suits the Russians had made for the actual test pilots.
71	* {{Portmantitle}}: Also a OneWordTitle and VehicleTitle. Made by fusing "Fire" and "Fox".
72	* PunchClockVillain: Dmitri Priabin is just a dutiful investigator doing his job, and his KickTheDog moments from the book are cut. [[spoiler:In the sequel he becomes the main antagonist, in charge of pursing Gant and recovering the abandoned Firefox]].
73	* RepeatCut: The same shot from a different angle is used when the Firefox rolls out of the hangar (this is made clear when looking at the guard rolling away from the plane's landing gear).
74	* RetiredBadass: Mitchell Gant is a former Air Force Major and Vietnam Veteran, now retired and living on a ranch in Alaska.
75	* RidingIntoTheSunset: After successfully shooting down Voskov and the second Firefox, Gant, finally in the clear, flies off into the sunset. [[NoEnding Roll credits]].
76	* ScienceCannotComprehendPhlebotinum:
77	** The aircraft's immunity to detection by radar is never explored in the movie, and only touched on in the novel:
78	--->'''Baranovich:''' I understand that the antiradar capacity is not mechanical at all… It is something - perhaps a skin, even a paint, of some kind… so that the radar-beam flows over the surface of the aircraft, and passes on, nothing having registered… but I can’t tell you how it is done… That part of the project has been developed elsewhere.
79	** [[spoiler:In the sequel, ''Firefox Down'', it loses this capability after being retrieved from sinking into a lake.]]
80	* ShellShockedVeteran: Gant, in spades. He's afflicted with PTSD throughout the movie, based on his experiences in Vietnam.
81	* ShootTheBuilder: Downplayed. The scientists building the CoolPlane are destined for a [[TheGulag gulag]] once it's finished, partially because they're dissidents being forced to build it in the first place. They are all slain by the compound's guards in response to the diversion they perform for Gant to steal the Firefox.
82	* ShownTheirWork: A lot of the Firefox flying scenes are laughable by today's computer-generated standards, but the dogfight was excellent. Specifically, Gant is forced to whipstall the Firefox to avoid a pair of missiles, triggering a PTSD episode. Voskov escorts him down, but does not deliver the fatal blow (see IOweYouMyLife above). He recovers from the stall by deploying his landing gear, adding drag and slowing him down, and allowing him to pull up.
83	* SituationalSociability: Gant spends the first half of the movie traumatized and completely out of his depth as he enters the Soviet Union and uses his contacts to infiltrate the base. But the moment he gets in the plane he’s in his comfort zone and his demeanor changes completely. He spends the entire flight, even the dogfight for the most part, cool as a cucumber and completely confident.
84	* SkilledButNaive: Gant's an ace Vietnam-era pilot but has no clue about playing spy games. As a result, he and TheMole leave a trail of bodies behind them.
85	* SovietSuperscience: The titular aircraft itself is far, far beyond anything fielded by the west, which prompted the plan to steal it in the first place.
86	* SparedByTheAdaptation: But only temporarily - in the original novel, Gant killed Voskov in his quarters at the airfield, and the second prototype was piloted by [[AdaptedOut Colonel Tretsov]].
87	* SuperPrototype: Two of them, actually.
88	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
89	** Gant has untreated PTSD and no intelligence training beyond the three month crash course they gave him to prep him for the mission. Between the two he makes a number of mistakes during the insertion phase of the mission, which alerts the KGB that something is going on.
90	** All the dissidents who help Gant [[spoiler:are murdered by the Soviets or commit suicide to avoid capture; no Hollywood-esque heroic rescue for them]].
91	* TitleOnlyOpening: Apart from the [[EstablishingShot "Alaska" caption]].
92	* TranslationConvention: The movie goes back and forth between this and JustAStupidAccent. It is stated that Gant had a Russian mother and is fluent in the language. When he is speaking to Russians, we are meant to assume TranslationConvention because he sounds just like Clint Eastwood speaking English. When the Russians speak back (or are speaking to each other), they have over the top hammy Russian accents. The only time this is justified in the film is when the Soviet premier contacts Gant when he is in the Firefox. As he knows Gant is American, he speaks to him in accented English. It would've made much more sense to leave out the hammy Russian accents in all of the other scenes.
93	* UnderestimatingBadassery: For a while, Voskov dogfights Gant by refusing to give him a clear shot for his aerial mines, but then assumes Gant doesn't know to use them and switches to conventional dogfight tactics. At the end of the dogfight, Gant finally remembers how to fire an aerial mine and destroys the second prototype.
94	* VehicleTitle: Firefox refers to the codename of the SuperPrototype CoolPlane the plot centers on.
95	* VillainRespect: After Gant recovers from his stall during his dogfight with Voskov, the latter flies next to Gant and salutes him before resuming their dogfight.
96	* WhamLine: When Gant learns the details of his mission.
97	-->'''Buckholz:''' We have three months to train you. It's getting you there that's the problem.\
98	'''Gant:''' Oh? Where is it?\
99	'''Buckholz:''' [[spoiler:Russia. You've got to STEAL it.]]
100	* WhamShot: Our first look at the Firefox itself.
101	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The Scientists forced into developing the plane know this is their fate once the project is complete. Rather than go quietly into the goodnight they conspire to have the plane stolen by the US.

Context Film / Firefox