| Patriot Games | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Phillip Noyce |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | Patriot Games byTom Clancy |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Donald McAlpine |
| Edited by | |
| Music by | James Horner |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 117 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $45 million |
| Box office | $178.1 million |
Patriot Games is a 1992 Americanaction thriller film directed byPhillip Noyce and based onTom Clancy's 1987novel of the same name. It is asequel to the 1990 filmThe Hunt for Red October, part of aseries of films featuring Clancy's characterJack Ryan, but with different actors in the leading roles.Harrison Ford stars as Jack Ryan andAnne Archer as his wife, andJames Earl Jones reprises his role as Admiral James Greer. The cast also includesSean Bean,Patrick Bergin,Thora Birch,Samuel L. Jackson,James Fox, andRichard Harris.
During production, Clancy repeatedly voiced his displeasure with his understanding of the script, in particular details of technical items to be shown onscreen and the 49-year-old Ford conflicting with his vision of Jack Ryan's age, but publicly stated his satisfaction once he actually saw a cut of the film a few weeks before it was released.
The film premiered in theaters in the United States on June 5, 1992, byParamount Pictures, and spent two weeks as the No. 1 film, grossing $178.1 million worldwide at the box office. It received a generally positive reception from critics. It was followed byClear and Present Danger (1994), with Ford, Archer, Jones and Birch reprising their roles.
FormerCIA analyst Jack Ryan now teaches history at theUnited States Naval Academy. InLondon with his physician wife Cathy and their young daughter Sally, Ryan witnesses and intervenes in a terrorist kidnapping attempt on Lord William Holmes, the BritishMinister of State for Northern Ireland and a cousin to the Queen. Ryan is wounded but disarms one terrorist and fatally shoots two others, then subdues Sean Miller. Among those killed is Miller's younger brother. All belong to a radicalIRA splinter cell led by Kevin O'Donnell. Shortly after the incident, IRA operatives attempt and fail to assassinate O'Donnell, considering him and his followers too radical.
Miller is tried and convicted. As he is being transported toprison, O'Donnell and his comrades ambush the police convoy, killing the guards and freeing Miller. Fleeing toNorth Africa, O'Donnell plans the next attempt on Lord Holmes. Miller vows to avenge his brother's death, and O'Donnell allows him, O'Donnell's lover, Annette, and several others to travel to the US to assassinate Ryan. Meanwhile,British police have determined that aninformant has been tipping off the terrorists and are surveilling a book shop owner who is an IRA operative.
Back in Maryland, Ryan is informed—in short order, that Cathy is pregnant again, and about Miller's escape. He brushes off the bad news, figuring a wanted fugitive wouldn't have the nerve to travel all the way to the United States. Soon after, he narrowly survives an assassination attempt by Miller's accomplices near the academy, while Miller simultaneously targets Cathy while she drives home, causing her car to crash, seriously injuring Sally.
Ryan's former CIA superior, Vice Admiral James Greer, asks Ryan to rejoin the agency to help capture the terrorists. While investigating, Ryan recalls glimpsing a red-headed woman during the attacks on him and also Lord Holmes. Ryan approachesSinn Féin representative Paddy O'Neil for information. O'Neil denies IRA involvement and denounces the attacks, but refuses to betray any fellow Irishmen. Ryan threatens to sabotage O'Neil's American fundraising efforts by showing images of his hospitalized daughter to the media. O'Neil eventually relents and identifies the red-haired female accomplice as an Englishwoman (Annette). Finding her will lead to Miller. Satellite analysis indicates that Miller and O'Donnell are at a terrorist training camp inLibya. TheSpecial Air Service raid the camp, killing everyone, though Miller, O'Donnell, and their cohorts have already fled to North America to coincide with Lord Holmes's visit there.
While Lord Holmes is at the Ryan residence to present Ryan'sKCVO medal, a severe thunderstorm apparently knocks out the house's power. Ryan notices the boat-house lights are still on, and he is unable to radio anyDSS agents or state troopers guarding the premises. He deduces the house's power was deliberately cut and suspects an imminent attack. Ryan realizes that Holmes's assistant, Watkins, is the informant and forces him to reveal information. Outside, O'Donnell, Miller, and their team have killed all of the house's security personnel, then infiltrate the house. After Ryan and his Naval Academy associate, Lt. Commander Robby Jackson, eliminate several terrorists, Miller pursues Ryan, accidentally killing Watkins in the process. Ryan lures O'Donnell, Miller, and Annette into pursuing him on open water in their waiting speed boats. Upon realizing it is a ruse, O'Donnell demands they return and complete their mission to abduct and ransom Holmes. Miller, crazed with revenge against Ryan, refuses, then fatally shoots O'Donnell and Annette. He leaps aboard Ryan's boat where a struggle ensues; Ryan kills Miller and jumps overboard just before the burning boat crashes into jutting rocks and explodes. AnFBIHostage Rescue Team arrives, rescuing Ryan.
In the final scene, during breakfast, Cathy's doctor calls saying the yet-to-be born baby is healthy, but the credits roll before the audience knows whether it's a boy or girl.
Viacom tried to option the rights for anABC television adaptation ofPatriot Games after the release of the novel in 1987. However, Tom Clancy got into a legal dispute over whether he had retained the character in his deal for theU.S. Naval Institute to publish the previous novel in the seriesThe Hunt for Red October.[2] In 1988, during the pre-production of the film adaptation ofThe Hunt for Red October,Paramount Pictures issued another lawsuit claiming that it had purchased the rights to the character of Jack Ryan with its $455,000 contract to adaptThe Hunt for Red October and that the ABC adaptation could not move forward. Although Tom Clancy's attorney Robert Yodelman disputed Paramount's claim to full character rights, the lawsuit led to the project's cancellation.[3] After the release ofThe Hunt for Red October, Paramount Pictures paid $2.5 million for the rights toPatriot Games andClear and Present Danger.[4]
The actors who played Jack and Caroline Ryan inThe Hunt for Red October,Alec Baldwin andGates McFadden, did not appear in the film. Baldwin was in negotiations to reprise his role, but committed to perform inA Streetcar Named Desire onBroadway after filming onPatriot Games was delayed by two months.[5][6] In 2011, Baldwin claimed the role was recast due toDavid Kirkpatrick forcing him to choose between performing inA Streetcar Named Desire or agreeing to an open-ended clause relating to dates for the first sequel.[7] Baldwin further claimed this occurred after a famous actor, widely believed to be the film's eventual star Harrison Ford, offered to play Ryan. Ford was favored by both the studio and the directorJohn McTiernan due to a large debt the studio owed to him fromHarold Becker's unproduced action-historical filmNight Ride Down, a film set around aBrotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters strike in the 1930s, which was cancelled due to theearly 1990s recession, and cost-cutting script changes Ford disagreed with.[a] McTiernan had originally desired Ford in the role in the first film and confirmed that "there was a great deal of scheming that went on to push Alec out of that part."[15] Kirkpatrick responded to Baldwin's claims by saying that negotiations with him to reprise the role had already broken due to his insistence on script approval.[11] Ford signed a $9 million three-picture contract to play Ryan after Baldwin's departure.[4][5][13]
McTiernan initially wanted to followThe Hunt for Red October by directing an adaptation ofClear and Present Danger using a script written byJohn Milius.[16][17] After the studio opted to adaptPatriot Games, he declined to direct because of hisIrish-American background.Walter Hill,Kevin Reynolds, andJohn Badham were considered to replace McTiernan. Badham was almost hired but asked for too high a fee, andPhillip Noyce was chosen instead. Donald Stewart returned from the first film to co-write the script with W. Peter Iliff.[4]
In the original novel, the assassination attempt was made on thePrince of Wales and many members of theBritish royal family appeared as important characters. They were replaced with fictitious characters in the screenplay, with Prince Charles being replaced by Lord Holmes, a nonexistent cousin ofQueen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.[16][18]
Shooting began on November 2, 1991. The budget was initially $28 million, but was raised to $40 million byBrandon Tartikoff. The movie was filmed on location in areas around London, atRoyal Naval College, Greenwich, and atPinewood Studios.[6] Scenes were also filmed at theU.S. Naval Academy inAnnapolis, Maryland.[19] Jack Ryan's home was filmed on theCalifornia coast and made to look like it was in Maryland.[20]
The scenes set at a terrorist camp in Libya were filmed in the desert nearBrawley, California. To make the attack on the camp appear as infrared footage, actors wearing black body suits were filmed from a helicopter and the resulting video images were reversed in post-production.[21]
Patriot Games was the first movie to be allowed to film at theGeorge Bush Center for Intelligence, CIA Headquarters.[22]
Filming also took place atAldwych tube station (closed 1994), which was then only being used for weekday peak hour service, for a sequence later in the film.[23]
Test audiences in April 1992 responded negatively to the original ending, which had Jack Ryan and Sean Miller fighting underwater. The ending was re-shot with a more explosive finale.[24][25] The reshoots increased the film's production budget to $45 million,[26] and with the marketing budget included, the cost to the studio was $65 million.[4] While reshooting the scene, Harrison Ford accidentally hit Sean Bean with a boat hook; Bean has a scar over his eye as a result.[27]
Before seeing the film, numerous differences between the script and the novel caused Clancy to distance himself from the film production.[25] Clancy was unhappy with details of technical items scripted to be shown onscreen, and complained about the age of then-49-year-old Ford, as compared to the 34-year-old Baldwin, to portray his vision of Ryan.[4][28] During production he asked for his name to be taken off the film. He complained that the final attack scene was "unrealistic" and that he had not been shown any rushes. He said he was not sure a film ofClear and Present Danger would be made, as the script forPatriot Games meant it "will turn out so bad."[29] However, after meeting with Tartikoff and actually seeing a cut of the film, which did not – in fact – contain the details that Clancy mistakenly thought were going to be in the film, Clancy was "impressed with how the movie depicted the CIA's intelligence-gathering process", and stated that he looked forward to working with the studio on the adaptation ofClear and Present Danger.[28]
| Patriot Games: Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film score by James Horner | ||||
| Released | June 9, 1992 | |||
| Length | 45:10 | |||
| Label | RCA Records | |||
| Jack Ryan soundtrack chronology | ||||
| ||||
On June 9, 1992, the original motion picture soundtrack was released by theRCA Records music label. The film's musical score was composed byJames Horner and contains musical references to works byAram Khachaturian (Adagio from "Gayane" Suite) andDmitri Shostakovich(Symphony No. 5, 3rd mvt.). A music video is shown in an early scene featuringClannad's song "Theme from Harry's Game", originally made for anITV drama aboutThe Troubles in 1982. All other vocal performances featured on the soundtrack were performed byMaggie Boyle.[30]
In 2013, a 2-disc expanded soundtrack album was released by La-La Land Records. Limited to 3000 copies, the album contains over 50 minutes of previously unreleased music (including cues byWolfgang Amadeus Mozart andJohn Philip Sousa).[31]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 72% of 103 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Patriot Games doesn't win many points for verisimilitude, but some entertaining set pieces—and Harrison Ford in the central role—more than compensate for its flaws."[32]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[33] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average score of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[34]
Roger Ebert called it "absorbing" and commented that Harrison Ford "once again demonstrates what a solid, convincing actor he is".[35] Chris Hicks of theDeseret News mentioned how director Noyce gave the film "flourish and tension" while star Harrison Ford injected "a commanding sense of decency and humanity to the role of CIA analyst Jack Ryan, making it his own."[36]
There was controversy associated with the specifics of a negative review byJoseph McBride, inVariety.[37] McBride, of Irish descent, wrote that it was "fascistic, blatantly anti-Irish", and that the likely opening weekend box office draw of Harrison Ford would quickly be eliminated when "downbeat word-of-mouth spreads like wildfire."[38] In response, the editor-in-chief ofVariety,Peter Bart, sent a letter toMartin S. Davis, chairman of Paramount, which—while not apologizing for the review being negative—stated that it was unprofessional for McBride to impose his political opinions into the film review.[37] While some staff atVariety were disapproving of the letter, others confirmed that they were "embarrassed" by McBride including his political views.[37]
Patriot Games grossed $83.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $94.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $178.1 million, against a budget of $45 million.[26] It debuted at No. 1 for the weekend of June 5, 1992,[39] repeated in the top spot in its second weekend, and spent its first six weeks in the Top 10 at the box office.[40]
