Cliffhanger (1993)

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writers (WGA):

John Long (premise)
Michael France (screen story)

Release Date:

28 May 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

Hang on!

Plot:

A botched mid-air heist results in suitcases full of cash being searched for by various groups throughout the Rocky Mountains.

Plot Keywords:

Money | Mountain | Rockies | Heist | Snow

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Sylvester Stallone	...	Gabe Walker
John Lithgow	...	Qualen
Michael Rooker	...	Hal Tucker
Janine Turner	...	Jessie Deighan
Rex Linn	...	Travers
Caroline Goodall	...	Kristel
Leon	...	Kynette
Craig Fairbrass	...	Delmar
Gregory Scott Cummins	...	Ryan
Denis Forest	...	Heldon
Michelle Joyner	...	Sarah
Max Perlich	...	Evan
Paul Winfield	...	Walter Wright
Ralph Waite	...	Frank
Trey Brownell	...	Brett

Also Known As:

Cliffhanger - l'ultima sfida (Italy)
Cliffhanger, traque au sommet (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

113 min | UK:112 min

Country:

Italy | France | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (35 mm prints) (Europe) | Dolby SR (35 mm prints) (USA)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:K-18 (original rating) | New Zealand:R16 | South Korea:12 | Philippines:R-18 | Singapore:NC-16 (re-rating) | Singapore:PG (cut) | Norway:15 (cut theatrical version) | Norway:18 (uncut) | UK:15 (uncut version, re-rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:18 | Netherlands:16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | UK:15 (cut) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Carolco Pictures

Trivia:

The credits include a message which explains that the Black Diamond harness used in the opening scene was specially modified so that it would fail.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Gabe lights the flare, the night-vision point-of-view shot momentarily breaks up into static, like a faulty video display. This is not how night-vision works.

Quotes:

Hal Tucker: Gravity's a bitch, ain't it?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Love and Death on Long Island (1997)

Soundtrack:

DO YOU NEED SOME?

Lithgow owns

Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone), of the mountain climbing rescue team. Gabe is haunted by an incident from his past when he couldn't save the girlfriend of his best friend Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker) from falling to her death. Gabe has left rescue work and has set up business in Denver. He returns to the mountain rescue office to persuade his lover Jessie (Janine Turner) to quit and come with him. While he is asking Jessie to go with him, things are happening in the skies overhead. A gang of crooks, headed by Eric Qualen (John Lithgow), they hijack a U.S. Treasury plane carrying millions. But the plane crashes, and the thieves are stranded on top of a mountain with three cases of money scattered around the wreckage and with no way to get down to retrieve the cases. They put in a phony distress call that is received by the rescue team. Gabe agrees to take part in one last rescue, and they head to help rescue the thieves. But Qualen forces them to climb through the dangerous snow covered peaks to find the cash. Cliffhanger was a pretty entertaining film, when I first saw it the girl falling bothered me for months. I can't say enough about John Lithgow he was awesome as Qualen, he should play more bad guys.