Sniper (1993)

Director:

Luis Llosa

Writers (WGA):

Michael Frost Beckner (written by) &
Crash Leyland (written by)

Release Date:

29 January 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

One Shot. One Kill. No Exceptions.

Plot:

Tough guy Thomas Beckett is a US Marine working in the Panamanian jungle. His job is to seek out rebels and remove them using his sniper skills...

Plot Keywords:

Sniper | Jungle | Sniper Rifle | Drug Lord | Helicopter

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Tom Berenger	...	Thomas Beckett
Billy Zane	...	Richard Miller
J.T. Walsh	...	Chester Van Damme
Aden Young	...	Doug Papich
Ken Radley	...	El Cirujano
Reynaldo Arenas	...	Cacique (as Reinaldo Arenas)
Gary Swanson	...	NSC Officer in Washington
Hank Garrett	...	Admiral in Washington
Frederick Miragliotta	...	General Miguel Alavarez
Vanessa Steele	...	Mrs. Alvarez
Carlos Álvarez	...	Raul Ochoa
Tyler Coppin	...	Ripoly (as Tyler Copin)
Teo Gebert	...	Ripolys Friend
Edward Wiley	...	DeSilva
William Curtin	...	Mountain Top Pilot

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA | Peru

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #31859) | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:15 | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Germany:18 (cut) | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Baltimore Pictures

Trivia:

Historically, Thomas Becket was the archbishop of Canterbury in England from 1162 until he was martyred in 1170, during the reign of King Henry II.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Miller prepares to shoot the drug runner on the boat, Beckett tells him to adjust his scope two clicks right. Miller uses the knob for two clicks in elevation.

Quotes:

Thomas Beckett: What's that?
Richard Miller: Got it out of the catalogue when I was with D.C. SWAT. We called it "Gucciflage".
Thomas Beckett: [laughs] "Gucciflage"?
Richard Miller: [smirks] Yeah.
Thomas Beckett: You gonna wear that?
Richard Miller: Yeah.
Thomas Beckett: Let me see it.
[gets handed the "Gucciflage", inspects it, stretches it out, and then flings it out the train window]
Richard Miller: [frustrated] Nice shot!
Thomas Beckett: Ain't no room for Peter Pan on this hunt. You wear Corporal Papich's tree tux that I gave you.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

Soundtrack:

Medicine Man

Solitary Killer

****SPOILERS**** The film "Sniper" is undoubtedly based on the exploits of legendary US Marine sniper Carlos "Gunny" Hathcock. The unassuming soft-spoken Mister Rogers look-alike who ran up a score of as much as 300 confirmed and unconfirmed Vietcong and North Vietnamese military kills during his two tours in "Nam".Which shows just how deadly and effective a trained military sniper really is.

Tom Berenger is cool clam and deadly as Sgt.Thomas Beckett who's at the end of his career as a top US Marine sniper but who later in the movie realizes that a life as a civilian will be pointless. Since there's nothing outside for him to do with his skills that he learned in the US Marines unless he decides to become a mob hit-man. Backett reluctantly accepts his fate as a lifetime professional killer for his country.

The story of the film "Sniper" is focused on Sgt.Beckett with the assistance of former sharp shooting silver medalist and US government agent Richard Miller, Billy Zane, being sent deep inside the Panamanian jungle. The two snipers are to take out rebel General Miguel Alveraze, Frederick Miraglittoa, and Colombian drug king-pin Raul Ochoa, Carlos Alveraze, who's supporting him in a planned a military take-over of the country.

We see earlier in the movie Sgt. Beckett scope and take out a rebel leader which I feel was the best scene in "Sniper". For it shows step by step how Sgt. Beckett with the help of his spotter Cpt. Papich, Aden Young, does his job. There's also a sub-plot that was later aborted in the movie about a rebel sniper DeSilva, Eward Wiley, who was stalking Beckett and who later killed Papich as they were both waiting to be lifted out of the jungle by a military helicopter. You would have thought that a deadly cat and mouse was being played out between the two that would culminate when the movie ended but Sgt. Beckett had no trouble at all in dispatching DeSilva early in the film by using an unsuspecting Miller as bait.

What hurt the movie the most was ironically the last fifteen or so minutes when the story went from a one shot one kill sniper movie to a Rambo-like ending with Sgt. Beckett and Agent Miller fighting off an entire battalion of rebels with bullets flying as thick as a London fog.

"Sniper" is still well worth watching for the fact that it tells the story about a person who until now has not really been glamorized in war movies: A solitary killer who kills with the precision and skill of a master diamond cutter or accomplished neurosurgeon and who does it in total secrecy.