It’s Your Last Chance To See Harrison Ford’s Craziest Action Movie
Harrison Ford's Air Force One will leave Netflix on March 1.
According to What’s on Netflix, Harrison Ford’s nail-biting action thriller Air Force One is leaving Netflix in March 2023. For those who haven’t seen it, the 1997 film is about a group of terrorists who take over the presidential airplane, and about the kick-ass President who has to stop them himself.
Harrison Ford stars as said kick-ass President James Marshall, who also just so happens to understand Russian, the language the terrorists are speaking. While the plane is being hijacked, he pretends to escape the plane while the other passengers, including his wife and daughter, are taken hostage. Using his also-useful skills as a Vietnam War veteran, he launches his own plan to save everyone on board.
Aside from Harrison Ford, Air Force One also stars Gary Oldman as Egor Korshunov, the leader of the hijackers. Glenn Close plays Kathryn Bennet, who was the first (fictional) female Vice President of the U.S. long before Kamala Harris got the job, and Wendy Crewson plays First Lady Grace Marshall.
To make the film as realistic as possible, the crew was given a tour of the real Air Force One before production began. While this was mostly very useful in getting the crew into the story, it also led to some complications. The film’s character of Deputy Press Secretary Melanie Mitchell was based on the tour guide who led them around on their real-life tour, so having to film the execution of the fictional version of her was said to be distressing to the crew.
Another interesting fact about the film is that the “escape pod” Harrison Ford’s character was supposed to use to escape the plane when it was being hijacked has appeared in two other films as well … but it doesn’t actually exist. There is no escape pod on the real Air Force One plane, so if this scenario ever happened in real life, President Biden would have to find another way off the plane.
The role of President Marshall was originally offered to Kevin Costner, but he turned it down. So, the role went to Harrison Ford, who was already famous for his action-hero skills. After breaking through in the Star Wars films as Han Solo, Ford went on to make a real career out of action movies, the most famous of which are the Indiana Jones films. He has also starred in Blade Runner (both the original 1982 version and Blade Runner 2049 from 2017), and has famously played Jack Ryan in spy thriller films like Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger based on the novels by Tom Clancy.
The critical response to Air Force One was mostly positive, and sitting President Bill Clinton liked it so much that he saw the film twice while he was in office. At the end of 2022, it was reported that there may be an Air Force One sequel in the works, in which Harrison Ford would reprise his role as President Marshall. So far, this has not been confirmed by the actor and it is not clear what the plot would be, but the upcoming fifth Indiana Jones film is proof that 80-year-old Ford is still up for anything when it comes to action movies.
Be sure to catch Harrison Ford in Air Force One on Netflix before it leaves the streamer on March 1.
