Broken Arrow (1996)

Action visionairy John Woo (The Killer, Hard Boiled, Face/Off) directs this high-octane action thriller focused on a couple of "missing" nuclear missiles in the Rocky West and the brewing fight between two Air Force pilots who have different plans for them.  Deacon (John Travolta) hopes to use them to threaten to blow up an American city in exchange for a massive amount of money....while his former co-pilot Riley (Christian Slate) tries to stop him and secure the bombs.  Also among the cast are Samantha Mathis, Delroy Lindo, Frank Whaley, Bob Gunton, and Howie Long.  It also features an iconic score from Hans Zimmer....Ain't It Cool?!? 

Host: Geoff Gershon
Edited By Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

Transcript

BROKEN ARROW - 1996

Directed by John Woo

Starring John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Delroy Lindo, Frank Whaley, Bob Gunton, Jack Thompson, Kurtwood Smith, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Howie Long

Genre: Action Thriller 

Travolta and Zimmer are THE premiere attractions of this movie, everyone else is a co-star....even the director, John Woo. Woo does a good job of directing the action and keeping it moving but this was clearly BEFORE he was allowed to let his freak flag fly in Hollywood....which would happen the following year with Face.....Off. 😷

Slater's solid too as Air Force pilot Riley, he does nicely with the action stuff as does Samantha Mathis who's quite plucky as a park ranger named Terry - the best thing about their Pump Up the Volume reunion is that six years later, they still look QUITE fetching together. And it's a strange choice that we never see anything physical happen between them...nope we have to keep the plot moving and it's a solid plot about rogue nukes being smuggled in the Southwest by....

TRAVOLTA, there's no time for anyone else because we have to keep returning to him looking cool, finding new clever ways to hold a cigarette between two fingers when he's not gritting his teeth dishing out declarations like "I'm the man!" or "Ain't it cool!" (Sounds like a good name for a web site) (Audio clip) 

And Travolta's fun to watch as the dastardly Deacon which if I'm not mistaken WAS his first full-on "villain" role if we're not counting the snotty teenager in Carrie. This would be the first of many villain roles for Travolta and certainly a harbinger for him to get hammier and hammier for decades to come. He's clearly having the time of his life playing this disgruntled, passed-over Air Force major who's now threatening to nuke Denver....or is he?? 🤔

Fortunately there's just enough plot to keep this thing rolling...just enough for the stellar supporting cast (Bob Gunton, Frank Whaley, Kurtwood Smith) to have JUST enough to do besides sitting at war room tables looking concerned about what they're going to have to tell the President. :o No sorry we can't have too much dialogue from them because we need to hear more.....wait for it…..

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):

Now WHAT do we need more of?  ZIMMER, Hans Zimmer that is! His score is prevalent throughout and catchy as hell too...yeah he's got some of the rousing Crimson Tide or Gladiator-type flourishes in there but for the most part his music for this film is its own distinct character. Most of the time it doesn't even sound like an action score...it sounds more along the lines of what his theme music would be for a Spaghetti Western but with a mid-tempo synth beat driving it. Legendary bass guitarist Duane Eddy provides much of the melody and his guitar is always following Travolta's character whenever he appears, it all becomes pretty infectious even though it might be distracting at times. 🤔 It first appears memorably when Deacon struts on the screen NOW the clearcut villain….early in the film. (Audio clip) 

Seriously I just wanted to hear the score at several points, so hearing the whole goofy composition play out over the end credits was still one of the highlights of this movie for me.  So what is this track called?   You’ll be shocked to find out that it’s simply called “Broken Arrow.” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Yeah did I mention that Delroy Lindo was in this?   I’m referring to then-future and NOW RECENT Oscar nominee Delroy Lindo who was just recently nominated for Sinners….hope he wins too!  And he was LONG overdue by this point….a few years ago he was simply AMAZING in Spike Lee’s Da Five Bloods.  But back in early ’96?  This was his BREAKOUT time as he was in a middle of several sterling performances going back to previous episode Malcolm X in ’92….also previous episodes Get Shorty, Clockers….a few years later, he KILLED it in Heist and The Last Castle too. (Audio clip) 

So WHAT does Lindo get to do with the role of Colonel Max Wilkins, the key military officer on the ground whom Slater’s Riley needs to enlist?  Well not very much….he actually gets killed unceremoniously at the beginning of the climax.  Oh well….at least he has ONE pretty good yet predictable line.(Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Even though there ARE a few fun action sequences for ME, the standout sequence has always been the nuclear explosion which occurs underground at around the halfway point.  Not only the explosion itself but the build-up to it which features some pretty clever dialogue between our two leads. (Audio clip) 

And when it goes off, we don’t really see much of an actual explosion, more of an IMPLOSION as it occurs hundreds of feet underground.  Yes Woo and crew are clearly using CGI to portray this but I have to say that for ’96 or even modern day visual effects standards, it looks pretty damn convincing.  And its sufficiently raises the stakes for the remainder of the film as it’s now clear that our villain is fully comfortable setting one off…..(Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

TOUGH call here….Travolta Zimmer….Zimmer Travolta….it almost feels like a coin toss as BOTH performers inject by far the most personality into yet another sorta-Die Hard knockoff thriller from this era which comes PRETTY close to feeling more like a generic action thriller.  But it’s NOT thanks to them and at the end of the day, I have to choose Travolta….I have made no bones about it in several previous episodes from Saturday Night Fever to Urban Cowboy to Get Shorty that I have always LOVED Travolta as an actor even when he’s going over-the-top in pure trash.  Would I rank this even among his Top Five Performances?  Nah, he plays a more entertaining version of a similar unhinged villain the following year in Face/Off…..but he not only has ALL of the best lines here, he just makes MEALS of them.  And the way his character dies is just pure goofy insanity.  For elevating this film with his gritted teeth and cigarette acumen – among other things – John Travolta is the MVP. (Audio clip)     

Final Rating: 3.25 stars out of 5 

Now reaching it’s 30th Anniversary as a well-liked solid box office hit, Broken Arrow is really just a showcase for its main star and composer - if you really enjoy watching/hearing Travolta and Zimmer strut their stuff, then it's always worth a rewatch. However if you really want to see a more overall satisfying collaboration between Travolta and Woo, I would still recommend just watching previous episode Face/Off again...John Powell did the bombastic score for that one and it's quite Zimmeresque, so you can't go wrong. ;)

Streaming on crunchyroll

And that ends another AINT IT COOL review!