Rating: 
Summary: Fun Propoganda....with some gaping holes
Review: I was rather surprised that Clint Eastwood would be involved in such propoganda. That aside, it did make for a suspenseful story...with a couple of really obvious missteps:1. Why was Gant SO easily persuaded to go along with the mission. I expected at least a half hour or so of rebellion on the part of this ex-Air Force pilot. Instead, he gave in almost instantaneously. 2. Has anyone ever seen the sun come out so fast as it did after Gant pulled the plane from the hangar? Wasn't it supposed to be the middle of the night? All of a sudden, the sun was out when the plane took off. I've seen this kind of screw-up before...I remember seeing it once on the "Adam-12" television show....but never in a major motion picture. I can't comment as to the reality of the planes, etc., because I am not familiar enough. But if they can't get night and day straight, I have to wonder if ANY thought was put into reality.
Rating: 
Summary: Great flick, laughable special effects.
Review: I'm praying they did something creative with the upcoming DVD release but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Rating: 
Summary: One of my old time favorites!
Review: I've always loved this movie. I think it's a great movie. It's always been entertaining, and you really have to rate it according to when it was made (the early 80's). But I have to say one thing: What ever happened to just sitting down and allowing yourself to be entertained? There are so many people who feel they need to psycho-analyze every little thing about a flick. If everything was so real, it wouldn't make much of a movie. And please don't listen to Leonard Maltin (as if anything this critic had to say had any value). I say, just sit down, shutup, and relax. This is classic Eastwood, and fun to watch. (Note to Leonard Maltin: Stuff it. No one's interested in your dribble).
Rating:
Summary: I Can't Stop Watching this Film!!!
Review: I've seen this film at least seven times, and I enjoyed it just as much each time.
This is a very enjoyable cold war action/spy drama. Tense action carried out in Clint Eastwood style.
If you like Clint Eastwood. You'll like this film. Some have pointed out some continuity errors in the film, but these don't spoil the story. The characters are acted in such a way as to make you care about what happens to them.
It's looely based on the books. The movie ends in a way I won't spoil. But I will say that after you see this movie you should search out the books, Firefox, Firefox Down (they are selling on Amazon; as used for a penny)
Rating:
Summary: "Go Ahead...Mig My Day."
Review: If you liked "The Hunt for Red October" and you're a BIG Clint Eastwood fan, you're still not likely to cheer "Firefox". With lame-o generic spy genre characters, obvious "clip and paste" special effects and the burden of having to believe that Eastwood's character was born Russian, "Firefox" taxes the audience severely. The young Smithers-esque intellience guy that gets giddy as a school girl everytime Eastwood does anything and Freddie Jones who's character is completely unintelligable throughout the whole movie (even though he's speakin English) are as distracting as dancers with pulled hamstrings. Add a "psychic" Russian general who can predict Eastwood's every move and a "super jet" that appears to be as aerodynamic as a dictionary and you've got yourself one pretty bad flick. So why the two stars? Well, it IS Eastwood and he IS kicking Ruskie butt...
Rating:
Summary: "Go Ahead...Mig My Day."
Review: If you liked "The Hunt for Red October" and you're a BIG Clint Eastwood fan, you're still not likely to cheer "Firefox". With lame-o generic spy genre characters, obvious "clip and paste" special effects and the burden of having to believe that Eastwood's character was born Russian, "Firefox" taxes the audience severely. The young Smithers-esque intellience guy that gets giddy as a school girl everytime Eastwood does anything and Freddie Jones who's character is completely unintelligable throughout the whole movie (even though he's speakin English) are as distracting as dancers with pulled hamstrings. Add a "psychic" Russian general who can predict Eastwood's every move and a "super jet" that appears to be as aerodynamic as a dictionary and you've got yourself one pretty bad flick. So why the two stars? Well, it IS Eastwood and he IS kicking Ruskie butt...
Rating:
Summary: "Gant, can you fly that plane? Really fly it?"
Review: In 1982, while the Cold War was yet raging between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in an exciting action film about espionage called "Firefox". Clint Eastwood plays Major Mitchell Gant, a retired pilot from the U.S. Air Force who suffers from delayed psychological stress disorder from when he fought in the Vietnam War. Being the only pilot qualified to fly Soviet Air Force jets who is also fluent in Russian, SIS agent Kenneth Aubrey (Freddie Jones) has U.S. AF pilot Capt. Arthur Buckholz (David Huffman) recruit Gant to be the primary operative in a U.S.-sponsored espionage mission. The goal is to steal a technologically superior, top-secret prototype jet fighter that is code-named Firefox out of the Soviet Union. Gant, of course, is not particularly interested, but returns to Washington with Capt. Buckholz. There he is given specific training that will enable him to enter the Soviet Union unnoticed. Once in the Soviet Union, Gant meets a Russian who works for the SIS, Pavel Upenskoy (Warren Clarke). The Soviet scientists who reluctantly developed the thought-controlled prototype fighter are a Jewish husband and wife team, Dr. Pyotr Baranovich (Nigel Hawthorne) and Natalia (Dimitra Arliss). The film is fraught with tension, drama and excitement as Gant makes his way to infiltrate the Soviet AF base to steal the prototype fighter. Special effects used in the film were superb for the early 1980's, though some may regard them as being dated by today's standards. Other memorable characters in the film include Soviet General Vladimirov (Klaus Löwitsch), the Communist Party First Secretary (Stefan Schnabel) and Soviet AF pilot Lt. Col. Voskov (Kai Wulff). The film is not perfect, but with a superb Cold War plot, good dialog, engaging characters and good special effects, I rate "Firefox" with 4 out of 5 stars. I am very happy that the film was released on DVD in widescreen format. Not everyone who watches the film will enjoy it, but technophiles, fans of sci-fi & action films and Clint Eastwood fans more than likely will.
Rating:
Summary: "Gant, can you fly that plane? Really fly it?"
Review: In 1982, while the Cold War was yet raging between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in an exciting action film about espionage called "Firefox". Clint Eastwood plays Major Mitchell Gant, a retired pilot from the U.S. Air Force who suffers from delayed psychological stress disorder from when he fought in the Vietnam War. Being the only pilot qualified to fly Soviet Air Force jets who is also fluent in Russian, SIS agent Kenneth Aubrey (Freddie Jones) has U.S. AF pilot Capt. Arthur Buckholz (David Huffman) recruit Gant to be the primary operative in a U.S.-sponsored espionage mission. The goal is to steal a technologically superior, top-secret prototype jet fighter that is code-named Firefox out of the Soviet Union. Gant, of course, is not particularly interested, but returns to Washington with Capt. Buckholz. There he is given specific training that will enable him to enter the Soviet Union unnoticed. Once in the Soviet Union, Gant meets a Russian who works for the SIS, Pavel Upenskoy (Warren Clarke). The Soviet scientists who reluctantly developed the thought-controlled prototype fighter are a Jewish husband and wife team, Dr. Pyotr Baranovich (Nigel Hawthorne) and Natalia (Dimitra Arliss). The film is fraught with tension, drama and excitement as Gant makes his way to infiltrate the Soviet AF base to steal the prototype fighter. Special effects used in the film were superb for the early 1980's, though some may regard them as being dated by today's standards. Other memorable characters in the film include Soviet General Vladimirov (Klaus Löwitsch), the Communist Party First Secretary (Stefan Schnabel) and Soviet AF pilot Lt. Col. Voskov (Kai Wulff). The film is not perfect, but with a superb Cold War plot, good dialog, engaging characters and good special effects, I rate "Firefox" with 4 out of 5 stars. I am very happy that the film was released on DVD in widescreen format. Not everyone who watches the film will enjoy it, but technophiles, fans of sci-fi & action films and Clint Eastwood fans more than likely will.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but Should be Better
Review: Less a shoot 'em up than a Cold War spy thriller, "Firefox" is an earnest effort that nonetheless yields mixed results. On one hand, the premise and pacing are decidely adult--this is supposed to be a throwback to the better spy thrillers of the 60s, where the action is tempered by chess-like moves and countermoves rather than comic-book-style quick solutions. But like so many 80s films, "Firefox" sometimes compromises its vision, pandering to the lowest common denominator by offering cheesy, jingoistic lines and special effects sequences in place of further character or plot development. Eastwood is well cast as Mitchell Gant, a shell-shocked American pilot sent to steal a prototype Soviet plane that threatens to upset the arms balance. The longer--and more interesting--part of the movie concerns Gant's journey behind the Iron Curtain, as well as his meeting with dissidents prepared to help him. Here, "Firefox" functions well as a thriller, offering genuine suspense and pathos, especially for the team of scientists prepared to sacrifice their lives to see his mission succeed. The actual theft of the plane and subsequent cat-and-mouse aerial antics, however, seem rather one-note by comparison: there are too many repetitious moments in the cockpit and the various control centers, where people pour over maps and radar screens while looking pensive. The acting is generally fine, but the script seems to run out of things for everyone to do--after all, Gant's basically just piloting a plane while everyone is trying to figure out where he's going. Even the climactic fighter battle lacks a sense of genuine tension, partly because characterization drops out and partly because the outcome already seems decided by that point in the movie. Like "Ice Station Zebra," an earlier film with a similar sensibility and execution, the journey is more interesting than the destination.
Rating:
Summary: FIREFOX RUNS OUT FUEL!
Review: Okay, let me start by saying that I do really like this film, but not in ways you think. As an "Eastwood" I think its one of his worse. But, I think Clint, when he read the book, fell in love with the best part of it...the fighter scenes! When I saw this thing WAAAY back in '82, I really enjoyed it. What did I know..I was a kid!! The film to me know looks really weird, especially the performances of the Russians. The script made the Soviet Union like it was Nazi, Germany (Whoa! Don't get me wrong, I know the USSR was not a fun place to live during that period); after awhile expected the military characters to raise their arms in a Heil Hitler salute. Most of them were performed by German character actors! The actor who steals it for me is the one who played General Vladimirov, he's so icy--but he does crack and curse out the 1st secretary. Great scene. The first 90 minutes will kill you--just faast forward to the last hour, the scenes with firefox 1 and 2 flying over the polar icecap is breathtaking. Clint's "in-the-cockpit" shot are very realistic, he really did his homework on that one. Everything said and done, Firefox is worth a look if you're a diehard Clint fan or even a John Dykstra one. Also Maurice Jarre music is fun filled (sometimes a little too close to Grand Prix for my tastes). Enjoy!
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