Firefox
Firefox theatrical poster
Directed by	Clint Eastwood
Produced by	Clint Eastwood
Written by	Alex Lasker Wendell Wellman
Starring	Clint Eastwood Freddie Jones
Music by	Maurice Jarre
Cinematography	Bruce Surtees
Editing by	Ron Spang Ferris Webster
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	18 June 1982
Running time	136 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$21,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Firefox is a 1982 Warner Brothers film with Clint Eastwood as director, producer, and star. It was based on a novel by Craig Thomas. Image File history File links Firefox. ... This article is about the actor/producer/director. ... This article is about the actor/producer/director. ... Freddie Jones (born September 12, 1927) is a British character actor. ... Maurice Jarre (born in Lyon, France, September 13, 1924) is a French composer and conductor. ... Bruce Surtees (27 July 1937, Los Angeles, California, USA) is an Academy Award and Emmy Award nominated American cinematographer best known for his extensive work in Clint Eastwood films, mostly westerns of the 1970s and early 1980s. ... Ferris Webster (April 29, 1912–February 4, 1989), an American film editor, was nominated for Academy Awards for his work on The Blackboard Jungle (1955), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and The Great Escape (1963). ... “WB” redirects here. ... is the 169th day of the year (170th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Warner Bros. ... This article is about the actor/producer/director. ... Firefox is a fiction novel written by Craig Thomas, published in 1978. ... for other people of the same / or similar name Craig Thomas Craig David Thomas (born 24 November 1942) is a Welsh author of thrillers, notably the Mitchell Gant series. ...

Russian filming locations were not possible, and the producers selected Vienna and other locations in Austria to simulate many of the Eurasian story locations. The film was shot on a $21 million budget. For other uses, see Vienna (disambiguation). ...

Tagline: The most devastating killing machine ever built. His job... steal it!

Plot

The film details a joint British-American plot to steal a highly advanced Soviet fighter aircraft (MiG-31, NATO code name "Firefox") which is capable of Mach 5, is invisible to radar, and carries weapons controlled by thought. Eastwood stars as Maj. Mitchell Gant, a Vietnam veteran who infiltrates the Soviet Union, aided by his ability to speak Russian and a network of dissidents and sympathizers. Gant later finds he needs to think in Russian in order to control Firefox's weapons system. Gant makes his way to the fictional Bilyarsk air base, where two prototypes of the Firefox have been built. His goal is to fly one back to the United States for analysis. However, the KGB is already hot on his tail. CCCP redirects here. ... An A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-86 Sabre, P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fly in formation during an air show at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of fictional aircraft. ... An F/A-18 Hornet breaking the sound barrier. ... For other uses, see Radar (disambiguation). ... Mitchell Gant is a fictional US Air Force Major and who stole the Russian MiG-31 Firefox fighter prototype in the novel and movie of the same name. ... This article is about the KGB of the Soviet Union. ...

Cast

• Clint Eastwood Mitchell Gant
• Freddie Jones Kenneth Aubrey
• David Huffman Buckholz
• Warren Clarke Pavel Upenskoy
• Ronald Lacey Semelovsky
• Kenneth Colley Colonel Kontarsky
• Klaus Lowitsch General Vladimirov
• Nigel Hawthorn Pyotr Baranovich
• Stefan Schnabel First Secretary
• Thomas Hill General Brown
• Clive Merrison Mahor Lanyev
• Kai Wulff Lt. Colonel Voskov
• Dimitra Arliss Natalia
• Austin Willis Walters
• Michael Currie Captain Seerbacker

This article is about the actor/producer/director. ... Freddie Jones (born September 12, 1927) is a British character actor. ... Professor David A. Huffman (August 9, 1925 - October 7, 1999) was a pioneer in the Computer Science field. ... Warren Clarke (b. ... Ronald Lacey (June 18, 1935 - May 15, 1991) was born in the suburbs of London. ... Kenneth Colley is a British actor. ... Sir Nigel Hawthorne, CBE (5 April 1929 – 26 December 2001) was a renowned English actor. ... Stefan Schnabel (born February 2, 1912, Berlin, Germany; died March 11, 1999, Rogaro, Italy) was an actor best remembered for having portrayed Dr. Stephen Jackson for sixteen years on the CBS soap opera The Guiding Light, on which he appears from 1965 - 1981. ... Thomas Hill (born 31 October 1917 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian actor who has starred in film and on television. ... Clive Merrison (born 15 September 1945) is an English actor of film, television, stage, and radio. ... Austin Willis (1917-April 4, 2004) was a Canadian actor and television host. ... Michael Currie is an American actor who starred in many films and on television. ...

Production

The film was based on the creation of a "mythical" super fighter: the MiG-31 Firefox. The original Firefox from the novel was (cosmetically) nearly identical to the MiG-25, of which it was an advanced version. The real MiG-31 Foxhound is also almost identical in appearance to the MiG-25 and generally regarded to be an enhanced version of the original. The more intimidating version seen in the movie (somewhat resembling a scaled-down XB-70 Valkyrie) was created specifically for the film. In the sequel novel, Firefox Down, the Firefox's appearance is described as matching the one in the film. .^[1] The Mikoyan MiG-31 (Russian: ) (NATO reporting name Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor developed to replace the MiG-25. ... The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was conceived for the Strategic Air Command in the 1950s as a high-altitude bomber that could fly three times the speed of sound (Mach 3). ... Firefox Down is a novel by author Craig Thomas. ...

Special effects supervisor John Dykstra pioneered a new technique for shooting the complex flying sequences. Reverse bluescreen involved coating the model with phosphorus paint and photographing it first with strong lighting against a black background and then with ultraviolet light to create the necessary male and female mattes to separate the foreground model and the background footage. This enabled the shiny black model to be photographed flying against a clear blue sky and gleaming white snow (compare with traditional bluescreen technique on The Empire Strikes Back).^[1] Special effects (abbreviated SPFX or SFX) are used in the film, television, and entertainment industry to create effects that cannot be achieved by normal means, such as depicting travel to other star systems. ... John Charles Dykstra (born June 3, 1947 in Long Beach, California, United States) is a special effects supervisor and pioneer in the development of the use of computers in film making. ... Reverse bluescreen is a special effects technique pioneered by John Dykstra for shooting the flying sequences in the film Firefox. ... Matte refers to the following: the surface surrounding a framed picture, between the picture itself and the frame; usually made from coloured card a surface with a non-glossy finish (also matt or mat) a filmmaking technique a smelted sulfide material in extractive metallurgy a form of the name Matthew... The bluescreen setup. ... Movie poster Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is the sequel to the first released Star Wars movie, and the second film released in the original trilogy. ...

Although the movie was released in 1982, the angled nose area has some surprising similarities to the U.S. F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter revealed in 1988. Possibly even more significant is that in Firefox Down the Firefox is submerged in a lake for much of the novel, but when it is brought back to the surface it shows up on radar; a common criticism of the F-117 is that when it gets wet, it has an increased radar signature.^{[citation needed]} The Firefox also carries its weapons internally, similar to the F-102 Delta Dagger, F-106 Delta Dart, and F-22 Raptor. This article is about the stealth fighter. ... The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger fighter aircraft was part of the backbone of the United States air defenses in the late 1950s. ... The Convair F-106A Delta Dart was the primary all-weather interceptor aircraft for the United States Air Force from the 1960s through the 1980s. ... F-22 redirects here. ...

The MiG-31 Firefox, as seen in the movie

In addition to the Firefox, several real-world aircraft are featured in the film, listed below in order of first appearance: Image File history File linksMetadata MiG-31_Firefox. ... Image File history File linksMetadata MiG-31_Firefox. ...

• MH-53 Pave Low
• F-105 Thunderchief
• F-4 Phantom II
• A-1 Skyraider
• F-5E Tiger II
• F-111 Aardvark
• T-38 Talon
• Tupolev Tu-154
• Tupolev Tu-16
• Mil Mi-24

The cockpit of the Mi-24 helicopter gunships used the mock-up from the movie Blue Thunder, while the submarine special-effect footage is taken from Ice Station Zebra. The Sikorsky HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giant is a USAF version of the CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter for long-range combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopters. ... The Republic F-105 Thunderchief, commonly known as the Thud by its crews, was a single-seat supersonic fighter-bomber used by the United States Air Force. ... “F-4” redirects here. ... The Douglas A-1 (formerly AD) Skyraider was a U.S. single-seat attack bomber of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. ... The F-5A/B Freedom Fighter and F-5E/F Tiger II are part of a family of widely used light supersonic fighter aircraft, designed and built by Northrop in the United States, beginning in 1960s. ... The General Dynamics F-111 is a medium-range strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and tactical strike aircraft designed in the 1960s. ... The Northrop T-38 Talon is a widely used US-built supersonic jet trainer. ... The Tupolev Tu-154 (NATO reporting name: Careless) is a Soviet medium-range trijet airliner, equivalent to the Boeing 727. ... Tupolev Tu-16 3-view The Tupolev Tu-16 (NATO codename: Badger) was a twin-engine jet bomber used by the Soviet Union. ... The Mil Mi-24 (NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship and low-capacity troop transport produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and operated from 1976 by the Soviet Air Force, its successors, and over thirty other nations. ... The term gunship is used in several contexts, all sharing the general idea of a light vessel armed with heavy guns. ... For other uses, see Blue Thunder (disambiguation). ... This article is about the film. ...

Fictional MiG-31

The first mentioned trait of the Firefox is its speed capabilities: Mach 5. The Firefox's most remarkable system is a weapons console controlled by the pilot's thoughts. Sensors in the pilot's helmet detect his neural impulses and relay the commands to the fighter. Thus the pilot can launch his AA-6 Acrid missiles without pressing a button. The moment he detects an enemy, he is already sending a missile toward it. The catch to that is that the command has to be thought in Russian, the language in which it was designed. // A brain-computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain-machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a human or animal brain (or brain cell culture) and an external device. ... R-40, MACS, Zhukovski, 1999. ...

The Firefox is also a stealth fighter, although this term is not used in the movie. Undetectable by radar, the Firefox can be targeted only by the heat of its enormous engines. To counter this, the Firefox carries a number of rear-firing explosives to neutralize pursuing missiles. The Firefox's armament is rounded out by a pair of 23 mm cannons. Stealth can refer to several things: Look up stealth in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Popular culture

Craig Thomas was so impressed with the movie and Clint Eastwood's portrayal that first editions of his sequel novel Firefox Down carry a dedication to Clint Eastwood stating: "For Clint Eastwood - pilot of the Firefox". Firefox Down is a novel by author Craig Thomas. ...

In 1983, the film was converted into a laserdisc game of the same name by Atari, and is the only such game made by the company. Firefox is a single player arcade laserdisc game based on the 1982 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. ... This article is about the corporate game company. ...

See also

• JHMCS

This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• Firefox at the Internet Movie Database
• Detailed online resource focusing on the technical and design aspects of this fictional aircraft

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