Cliffhanger is a 1993 American action thriller film directed and co-produced by Renny Harlin and co-written by and starring Sylvester Stallone alongside John Lithgow, Michael Rooker and Janine Turner. Based on a concept by climber John Long, the film follows Gabe (Stallone), a mountain climber who becomes embroiled in a heist of a U.S. Treasury plane flying through the Rocky Mountains. The film premiered at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, and was released in the United States on May 28, 1993, by TriStar Pictures. It received positive reviews and earned $255 million worldwide, becoming the 7th highest-grossing film of 1993.
Plot[]
Rangers Gabriel "Gabe" Walker and his girlfriend Jessie Deighan are dispatched to rescue their friend Hal Tucker and his girlfriend, Sarah after Hal suffered a knee injury and stranded them on a peak in the Colorado Rockies. As they try to rescue Sarah, part of her harness breaks. Although Gabe is initially able to grab her, her gloved hand slips out and she falls to her death. Hal blames Gabe for Sarah's death and Gabe is overcome with guilt, taking an extended leave.
Eight months later, Gabe returns to the ranger station to gather his remaining possessions and persuade Jessie to leave with him. While there, they receive a distress call from a group of stranded climbers. Hal goes to locate the climbers and Jessie persuades Gabe to help out. Hal remains bitter towards Gabe over Sarah's death, at one point threatening to push Gabe off a ledge. When they find the climbers, they discover the distress call was a fake and are taken prisoner by a ruthless gang of international thieves led by psychopathic former Military Intelligence operative Eric Qualen. The surviving thieves are the brutal Kynette, sadistic Delmar, pilot Kristel, Ryan, and Heldon. Qualen, along with turncoat U.S. Treasury agent Richard Travers, were able to steal three suitcases full of uncirculated bills valuing over $100 million from a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 on a mid-air transfer to a Lockheed Jetstar. Their escape plan backfired when a supposedly dead FBI agent shoots and damages the hydraulics, sending their plane crashing into the mountain, and they now require Gabe and Hal's help to locate the cases with the help of beacon locators.
At gunpoint, Hal and Gabe lead them to the first case, located upwards on a steep rock face. Gabe is tethered and forced to climb up the face to reach the case, but when Qualen plans to have Gabe killed once he's got the case, Hal warns him not to come down. Before Delmar pulls him back and holds him at gunpoint, Qualen orders two thieves to try to yank him down, prompting Gabe to sever the rope. Qualen orders Heldon to open fire on Gabe, causing an avalanche that kills Heldon. When they see the money from the first case fluttering away, Qualen believes Gabe is dead, and orders Hal to lead them onward. Gabe races ahead to find Jessie at an abandoned cabin, recovering old mountaineering gear to reach the second case before Qualen does. Night falls on the mountain and by the time Qualen arrives, Gabe and Jessie have emptied the case and left only a single bill with the taunting message "Want to trade?" on it. Qualen orders his men to split up, one of whom, Ryan, spots Gabe and Jessie before attempting to shoot them; however, Gabe blinds him, dropping the assault rifle before tackling the man down a snowy incline. After sending Ryan over the cliff before using a climbing pickaxe to prevent following off, both groups take shelter: Gabe and Jessie burn the money for warmth and fall asleep.
When morning breaks, Gabe and Jessie resolve to beat Qualen to the last case. Elsewhere, when Hal sees two friends, Evan and Brett, he warns them away before Qualen orders his men to open fire. Brett is killed while Evan is wounded, though he manages to run off the mountain and parachute to safety. Frank, having not heard from Gabe or the others, scouts the mountain in the helicopter, spots Evan's parachute, and gets him to safety while contacting the authorities. Upon Gabe impaling Kynette on a stalactite in a cavern after luring him, he attempts to call for help from Frank, their rescue helicopter pilot, on one of the mercenaries' radios, but Hal alerts him to explosives Qualen has rigged above them on the mountain. Gabe and Jessie escape the falling debris in time. Meanwhile, the mercenaries flag down Frank in the helicopter, but by the time he realizes it's a trap it is too late and Delmar fatally shoots him. While hugging Frank's body, Hal discreetly grabs Frank's knife. When Travers attempts to ditch the group, Qualen forces him to stay by betraying and killing Kristel, so Qualen is the only pilot. As the mercenaries split up to look for the last case, Hal uses the knife to stab Delmar in his leg, kill him with his shotgun, and escape. In the meantime, Travers sees Gabe and gives chase. While on the surface of a frozen river, Travers observes Gabe under the ice and tries to kill him, but Gabe uses his bolt gun to shoot Travers, and his lifeless body is carried away by the river current.
However, at the same time, Qualen takes Jessie hostage when she waves down the helicopter, believing that Frank is flying it: Qualen tells Gabe and Hal over the radio that he is holding Jessie captive on board the helicopter, demanding Gabe and Hal surrender the money from the third case at a high elevated rendezvous point and threatens to kill her should they refuse to cooperate. Gabe and Hal agree, and they meet at a cliffside bridge; however, Qualen tries to challenge Gabe into throwing the case into the helicopter, but when he also threatens to kill Jessie again, Gabe orders Qualen to free her at a safe distance away from the cliff. Qualen reluctantly agrees, and uses a winch to lower Jessie to the ground; once Jessie is safely down, however, Gabe throws the bag of money into the helicopter's rotors, shredding the money. Enraged, Qualen attempts to use the helicopter to kill Gabe, but Gabe has used the winch cable to tether the helicopter to a steel ladder up the cliff face; Hal arrives and helps by shooting down the helicopter. The ladder snaps and leaves Gabe and Qualen atop the wreckage of the helicopter hanging by the cable: Gabe fights Qualen and manages to climb to safety as the wreckage snaps off the cable and falls to the bottom of the mountain, killing Qualen. Gabe reunites with Jessie and Hal as they are found by Treasury agents led by Walter Wright in a helicopter, arranging to send a rescue helicopter as the trio is seen sitting on top of a mountain peak, reminiscent of Gabe, Hal, and Sarah at the beginning.
Cast[]
- Sylvester Stallone as Ranger Gabriel "Gabe" Walker, a former mountain climber and rescue ranger haunted by his failure to save the girlfriend of his best friend, Hal Tucker
- John Lithgow as Eric Qualen, a psychopathic British former military intelligence officer, now leader of the gang of thieves trying to rob $100 million from the U.S. Treasury. Lithgow was originally cast as the film's secondary villain, but was promoted after Christopher Walken left the film.
- Michael Rooker as Ranger Harold "Hal" Tucker, Gabe's best friend and a mountain ranger who blames Gabe for failing to save Sarah
- Janine Turner as Ranger Jessica "Jessie" Deighan, a helicopter pilot and Gabe's girlfriend working in the same mountain search-and-rescue group and whom Gabe has become distant from since failing to save Sarah
- Rex Linn as Richard Travers, a mentally unstable U.S. Treasury agent who is a double agent working for Qualen as his lieutenant
- Caroline Goodall as Kristel, Qualen's pilot and companion
- Leon Robinson as Kynette, Qualen's brutal henchman
- Craig Fairbrass as Delmar, Qualen's sadistic ex-English football player-turned-henchman.
- Gregory Scott Cummins as Ryan, Qualen's henchman
- Denis Forest as Heldon, Qualen's henchman
- Michelle Joyner as Sarah, Hal's ill-fated girlfriend who falls to her death after Gabe failed to save her
- Paul Winfield as Walter Wright, a U.S. Treasury agent and Travers' superior who discovered Qualen's plot to rob the money from the U.S. Treasury
- Ralph Waite as Ranger Frank, a search-and-rescue pilot working for Gabe, Jessie and Hal
- Max Perlich as Evan, a thrill-seeking young man who is friends with Gabe and Hal
- Trey Brownell as Brett, Evan's friend who is also a thrill-seeker
- Vyto Ruginis as Matheson, an undercover FBI agent who foils the mid-air robbery
- John Finn as FBI Agent Michaels
- Bruce McGill as Treasury Agent
- Zach Grenier as Davis, Wright's assistant
- Jeff McCarthy as the pilot
- Wolfgang Güllich as Gabe Walker (stunt double)
Theatrical Trailer[]
Official Trailer Cliffhanger (1993)