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Clear and Present Danger (film)

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Clear and Present Danger
Film poster
Directed byPhillip Noyce
Written byNovel:
Tom Clancy
Screenplay:
Donald Stewart
Steven Zaillian
John Milius
StarringHarrison Ford
Willem Dafoe
Anne Archer
Miguel Sandoval
Joaquim de Almeida
James Earl Jones
Edited byNeil Travis
Music byJames Horner
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
August 3, 1994
Running time
141 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Budget$65,000,000

Clear and Present Danger is a 1994 film directed by Phillip Noyce, based on the book of the same name by Tom Clancy. It is a 1994 sequel to the 1992 film Patriot Games and was followed by a 2002 sequel The Sum of All Fears.

It is the last film to feature Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan and James Earl Jones as Admiral Greer, and the final one directed by Phillip Noyce.

As in the novel, Jack Ryan is appointed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Acting Deputy Director and discovers that he is being kept in the dark by colleagues who are conducting a covert war against drug lords in Colombia.

Plot

A United States Coast Guard patrol boat stops a suspicious yacht, finding an American businessman and his family have been murdered by several men operating the craft. The murdered man happens to have been a close friend of the President of the United States. President Bennett (Donald Moffat) learns that the man was murdered because of his ties to the Cali Cartel, having skimmed over $650 million from the cartel. The President tells James Cutter (Harris Yulin), his National Security Advisor, that Colombian drug cartels represent "a clear and present danger" to the U.S., indirectly giving Cutter unofficial permission to take down the men responsible for his friend's death.

Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is appointed Deputy Director (Intelligence) when his friend, mentor, and boss Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones) is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Upon his appointment Ryan is asked to go before the United States Congress to request increased funding of $70 million for ongoing CIA intelligence operations in Colombia. Congress approves the funding, with Senator Mayo (Hope Lange) receiving Ryan's word that no troops or black-ops will be used. Needing to keep an unwitting Ryan out of the loop, Cutter turns to CIA Deputy Director for Operations Robert Ritter (Henry Czerny), who secures a document giving him permission to act as he sees fit to take down the cartel. Ritter assembles a black-ops team with the help of John Clark (Willem Dafoe), a secret field operative. Clark and his team travel to Colombia and begin destroying the various cartel gangs, their equipment and hidden drug lab facilities.

The head of one of the drug gangs, Ernesto Escobedo (Miguel Sandoval), is enraged at having lost over $600 million as a result of the freezing of assets, and has his intelligence officer, Félix Cortez (Joaquim de Almeida), take care of the problem. Cortez, a former colonel of Cuban military intelligence, has an unwitting contact inside the U.S. government — Moira Wolfson (Ann Magnuson), a secretary to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Emil Jacobs. Félix feigns romantic interest to discover that Jacobs is visiting Colombia to negotiate with the local attorney general concerning the frozen money. Unaware of these covert dealings, Ryan finds himself caught in the middle of an assassination attempt on Jacobs, which only Ryan survives. Cortez travels to the U.S. and kills Moira to cover his tracks. Cortez's real motivation is to cause distrust among the leaders of the cartel (as none of them know who ordered the ambush of the FBI Director). Cortez believes he can assume control of the cartel following the gang war that will result.

In retaliation for the assassination of Jacobs, Cutter orders the bombing of a villa where the cartel's leaders are supposed to meet. The bombing is mostly successful, killing a large number of the cartel leaders and fooling the media and other observers into thinking that the destruction was caused by a car bomb set by a rival drug lord. Escobedo and Cortez avoid the bombing, but innocent women and children are killed in the action, much to Cutter's dismay. The situation is exacerbated when Ryan and Cortez independently discover that the United States was responsible for the bombing.

Cortez brokers a deal with Cutter. Cortez will assassinate Escobedo and take over the cartel, then reduce drug shipments to the U.S. and allow American law enforcement to arrest some of his workers at regular intervals so as to make the U.S. appear to be winning the drug war. In exchange, Cutter will shut down all operations in Colombia and allow Cortez to capture and kill Clark's soldiers. Cutter agrees and orders Ritter to get rid of all evidence of their operations and cut off the troops in Colombia from all support.

Ryan is told about the meeting between Cutter and Cortez. He hacks into Ritter's computer account and discovers Ritter's and Cutter's work in Colombia. Ritter notices Ryan's presence on the computer while he deletes all of the files, and the two men confront each other. Ritter tells Ryan that he has written permission from the President to do anything necessary to defeat the Cali Cartel, and so does Cutter. Jack will be the scapegoat for what has happened since he doesn't have that protection and was responsible for the funding from Congress that made the Colombian operations possible.

Greer succumbs to cancer. As the funeral takes place the black-ops team is ambushed in Colombia. Ryan goes to Colombia to find John Clark and save the soldiers. Ritter and Cutter find out about this and tell Clark that Ryan was responsible for the operations' shut-down. Clark almost kills Ryan before Ryan convinces him that Ritter and Cutter are responsible.

Clark hires a local retired American pilot and Ryan buys an aging Bell 412 helicopter. They fly to where the soldiers were attacked and find the squad's scout/sniper, Domingo Chávez (Raymond Cruz), who tells them that two of his unit members are imprisoned and the rest are dead. Ryan visits Escobedo's mansion and tell him what Cortez has been doing. Enraged, Escobedo accuses Cortez of treachery. One of Cortez's men kills Escobedo and henchmen, but is shot by Chávez. Ryan, Clark and Chávez rescue the prisoners, kill Cortez and escape.

Ryan confronts the President, who tries to convince Ryan that he now holds "a chip in the big game" — by being in the loop of what happened, Ryan can use the President for special favors; Admiral Greer would be the scapegoat instead. Ryan tells the President that he intends to blow the whistle at a Congressional Oversight Committee session despite the damage it could do to his career. He walks out of the Oval Office and begins his testimony to Congress.

Cast

Differences between the book and film

The film deviates significantly from the original book version. Perhaps the greatest deviation from the book is in the film's portrayal of the American politicians, notably Moore, Ritter, and Cutter. In the film, all three are unsympathetic characters, whereas in the book, only Cutter is the villain — both Ritter and Moore are portrayed sympathetically, and are essentially tied down by Cutter into abandoning the SHOWBOAT teams. When Moore and Ritter learn of Ryan's plan to rescue the soldiers, they offer him aid and support.

The film also takes a few cinematic shortcuts: people die instead of suffering more complex consequences for their actions. Additional differences from the book:

  • Almost all of the Coast Guard's storyline was removed. The Coast Guard captured the Colombian murderers, faked an execution, and got them to confess. Later on, the Coast Guard ship served as the landing platform for the helicopter after everyone escaped.
  • In the film, Clark says he only wants 12 soldiers, one team. In the book there were four teams.
  • Chávez's unit patch in the film shows that he's in Special Forces, whereas he's actually 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division in the book.
  • In the film, Chávez is portrayed as a sniper, in the book, he is the point man.
  • In the book, Moira Wolf/Wolfson unsuccessfully attempts suicide, then is given a new job without classified access; in the film, Cortez kills her by breaking her neck.
  • In the book, Cortez is handed over to his former Cuban-Intelligence colleagues, at Guantanamo Bay, in front of Moira; in the film, he is shot.
  • In the film, Jack Ryan seemed to be the last survivor of the ambush, carrying Dan Murray's dead body with him. In the book, Ryan and Murray weren't even part of that convoy. The only one to be killed in both the book and film was FBI Director Emil Jacobs.
  • In the book, the ambush was solely rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks and one of the suspects was captured by the Colombian army; in the film the ambush involves a protracted shoot-out.
  • In the book, Cortez was unaware of the ambush until after it happened; in the film, Cortez is shown planning the ambush.
  • In the book, it was called "Operation SHOWBOAT." It wasn't until after the ambush in Colombia where "RECIPROCITY" was put into play. In the film, it was called "Operation RECIPROCITY" throughout.
  • In the book, an A-6 Intruder dropped the bomb on the house, not an F/A-18 Hornet. In addition, Clark and his partner Larson (omitted from the film) were the ones who laser-designated the house, not Clark and Chávez.
  • The computer-duel between Ryan and Ritter was not in the book. Ryan actually broke into Ritter's safe, took the files, and confronted Judge Moore about it, who openly admitted the cover-up.
  • In the book, Jack Ryan couldn't make it to the funeral because he was on his way to Colombia. In the film, he was at Greer's funeral.
  • In the book, Jack Ryan's friend Robby Jackson flew him to Colombia via F-14 Tomcat jet. In the film, he arrives in Colombia by airline to meet Clark. In addition, Dan Murray went to Colombia with Jack in another F-14, whereas in the film Jack went alone.
  • In the book, there were numerous soldiers that escaped the ambush, including First Sergeant Julio "Oso" Vega, who eventually became a Rainbow Operator with Chávez's team in Rainbow Six. In the film, Chávez was the only one to escape when his team was ambushed while Oso and Ramírez are captured, but rescued later by Ryan and Clark.
  • In the book, Escobedo is handed over to his former associates, whom he has betrayed; in the film, Sipo (Cortez's lieutenant) shoots him.
  • In the book Cutter committed suicide after he learned that the FBI, tipped off by Clark, was on his tail. In the film, Cutter is still alive at the end.
  • In the book, two senators are informed of the covert operation in the Oval Office and decide to keep the operation secret. In the film, Ryan ends up testifying in front of a Senate committee about the operation.
  • In the book, Cutter had the FBI tailing Cortez, whereupon they meet on the porch of a house. In the film, the surveillance on Cutter's meeting with Cortez seemed to be accidental, and takes place in a high-rise hotel.
  • In the book, Cortez used books (including the ones Ryan is shown using in the film) and Ryan never researches at all. The film shows Cortez and Ryan both researching to determine the source of the bomb; Cortez is shown using computer resources and Ryan using books.

Further production notes

The film was originally given an "R" rating by the MPAA, similar to its predecessor Patriot Games, but in a rare appeal the producers fought for and received a final "PG-13" rating. The producers of Air Force One (also starring Harrison Ford) were inspired by this to try and overcome an assigned "R" rating in 1997 but were unsuccessful.

Clear and Present Danger's Laserdisc release is notable for being the first to have its soundtrack encoded in Dolby Digital AC-3.

Footage from the scene where Jack Ryan and party are ambushed in Bogotá is used in JAG episode 1.06. In JAG, Harm and party are ambushed in Lima.

The footage of the F-18 flying away after dropping the bomb on the hacienda was used in the opening credits to every episode of JAG.

During the rescue operation, the film crew helicopter is visible in the window of the helicopter that Ryan had bought.

The final honors at Arlington National Cemetery are not in the correct order nor complete for what a U.S. Navy Admiral would receive. The portrayal was backwards and lacked the gun salute to which a flag officer is entitled.[1]

This film is also notably the only sequel Harrison Ford has starred in outside of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.

References

  1. ^ Arlington National Cemetery:: Ceremonies

This is based on the true story of SOCOM's anti-drug force, "Task Force Black" which was made up of U.S. Army Special Forces, Columbian Lanceros (Columbian Rangers), some members of the 82nd Airborne and USAF CCT's (Combat Control Teams).

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