The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper

It's really hard to take this movie seriously, especially to anyone who is fascinated by the D.B. Cooper story. I think my biggest problem with the movie is that it just starts with Cooper jumping out of the plane. There is no stage of the actual highjacking and little realism of the jump itself (it happened at night time during a storm). During the actual highjacking, the bomb was not left behind by the highjacker and there was never a stewardess locked in a bathroom. The movie seems to be a parody of the events with a cheesy-hillbilly soundtrack. You almost expect a Jerry Reed/Cledus cameo or even Cheech & Chong at some point. My problem is they had the opportunity to do so much more with it and failed miserably. In recent years, the alleged highjacker was supposedly identified (see Brad Meltzer's decoded). I, for one, love the D.B. Cooper story and hope that someone will serve the story justice, but may be somewhat undeserving seeing as how the "Dan Cooper" who made the infamous jump literally flew from justice himself.

Plays like a backpacker's version of Midnight Run (1988), with Duvall in the de Niro role and Williams in Grodin's. Except this one substitutes mindless action for character development and rust bucket jalopies for clever dialog. The result is more tiresome than funny, despite the attractive cast. In fact, Williams plays DB Cooper's part like it's all a big joke that only he thinks is funny—I agree with the reviewer who finds him way too cutesy. In fact, that could apply to the entire movie.

Worse-- any well-meaning viewer hoping for insight into the heist itself will be sorely disappointed. We see nothing of the crime except for the dramatic dive from the airliner. I suspect that's because threats to blow up the plane would have "serious-ed up" the movie. Then Williams' Cooper would no longer be humorous at all. The one worthy aspect links Cooper to army ranger training, seemingly apt preparation for such a daring wilderness crime.

The movie does have two scenic attractions. There's the great snow-capped panorama of Jackson Hole that keeps the eye entertained whatever the nonsense on the ground. Second is Kathryn Harrold's Hannah. In skintight jeans she presents another kind of natural grandeur that may give backpacking a whole new look. Despite the visuals, however, the topic deserves better than the third-rate Keystone Cops treatment it gets here.

I understand people who were disappointed that the movie did not really dig into the real story of Coopers, hijaking a passenger plane by threatening with a bomb. He jumped out with a parachute, along with 200.000$, now worth about 1,5 mio$ and vanished completely. The traceable money was never found, and not spend, at least not in the US :-)

This true story only serves as a pretext to make a run and chase road movie, which I actually enjoyed, because of many original funny and sometimes spectacular scenes. I won't tell anything to not spoil your fun.

Suffice to say, that the script has 10x more ideas than most of todays movies. Be it his escape from the forest, or the chase with junk cars.

Each situation entertains the viewers good mood, if watching with a positive attitude and without expectations.

The movie starts with a plane, and ends with a plane.

I know what it takes to fly these old warbirds, and the stunts are fantastic, with no visual content cheating by a shaky camera or computer software.

I really would have given it a 6+, because it is a bit simple minded, and lacks sometimes a little bit in coherence.

The mysterious hijacker with the alias D.B. Cooper (Treat Williams) jumps out of the back of the plane. The bomb is fake. Bill Gruen (Robert Duvall) is an investigator for the insurance company out $200k in ransom. He discovers that Cooper's real identity is his Ranger trainee and Vietnam hero Jim Meade. Meade had prepared by hiding equipment and a jeep. He drives out of the forest during deer season. Also on the chase for the reward is old war buddy Remson. Gruen zero in on Meade's wife Hannah (Kathryn Harrold).

There is a fair cat and mouse chase with Williams and Duvall. It isn't all logical. It's not that intense. It rambles a bit. It has a light fun tone. It's inspired by the real case but isn't real even with the start. Duvall keeps this movie just compelling enough to watch.

The subject of this work is the infamous D. B. Cooper, who high jacked a jet over Washington state in 1971 by utilizing a bogus bomb, collected $200,000 from the airline company, and then parachuted toward ostensible oblivion, evading one of the most extensive collections of law enforcement personnel in United States history. The production, burdened with serious problems from its outset, with directors John Frankenheimer and Buzz Kulik being replaced in turn by Roger Spottiswoode, is marked by obvious re-shooting as continuity is at times seemingly abandoned. Nonetheless, although flaws abound and logic is sparse, the film succeeds as entertainment, and since the fate of Cooper may ever remain unknown, recounting his story from whole cloth is suitable, with this version fashioned from American poet J. D. Reed's debut novel, "Free Fall". As action opens, Cooper (Treat Williams) is preparing to leap to hoped-for safety into forested Washington (played by Oregon), and he is seen as he eludes state troopers by hiding his bagged stash of 20 dollar bills inside of a freshly slain buck (Cooper jumped with, among his supplies, a collapsible rifle within his pack, and it is deer hunting season). Apparently, the only man capable of tracking the fugitive is Bill Gruen (Robert Duvall), the victim airlines' insurance company investigator and coincidentally the former Army Ranger instructor of Cooper, whose actual name is Jim Meade, and soon Gruen has trailed Meade to his home where he has joined his wife Hannah (Kathryn Harrold). Jim and Hannah head for Mexico, with Gruen close behind, as is one Remson (Paul Gleason), another former Ranger mate of Meade, with an agenda of his own, and subsequent events are stuffed with outrageous incident including a dangerous raft pursuit through Wyoming's Snake River rapids. As is no novelty, Duvall gathers in the acting laurels here with his nuanced reading as a persistent insurance company investigator. Because of its false starts, the film has too much dross to be effectively tidied up by Spottiswoode, but scoring by James Horner is consistently interesting, a musical blend featuring battling banjos, along with jew's harps, dobros, and other instruments of folkish characteristics that highlight British grounded whirligig dances. The D. B. Cooper high jacking is an incomplete story because there is no certainty as to his fate, and a variety of tales may be invented as a result; this one, in spite of its weaknesses, may be enjoyed on its own terms as it provides solid entertainment and a correctly ambiguous ending.