Air Force One
Unclear and Present Danger
Jamelle Bouie
4.7 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 7 February 2025
⏱️ 82 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by Max Read — of the Max Read Substack — to talk Air Force One, the 1997 action thriller directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring none other than Harrison Ford as The President. Air Force One also stars Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson, Paul Guilfoyle, William H. Macy, Liesel Matthews and Dean Stockwell.
In Air Force One, as I’m sure you know, the president’s aircraft is hijacked by a group of terrorists who demand the release of their country’s imprisoned dictator. Rather than flee for safety, President James Marshall decides to take things into his own hands, confronting the terrorists one by one in an attempt to retake his plane. You can find Air Force One to buy or rent on Amazon Prime and Apple TV. The tagline for Air Force One is “Harrison Ford is the President of the United States.”
For our next episode, we will cover Richard Donner’s Conspiracy Theory, starring Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts and Patrick Stewart.
Be sure to sign up for our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Tonight I come to you with a pledge to change America's policy. |
| 0:03.0 | Atrocity and terror are not political weapons. |
| 0:06.0 | And to those who would use them, your day is over. |
| 0:10.0 | In a speech tonight in Moscow, the president issued a direct challenge to terrorist nations around the world. |
| 0:16.0 | But the question remains, what are the risks involved in such a bold policy initiative? |
| 0:20.0 | They hated your speech, didn't they? We're afraid we won't have the guts to back it up. Air Force One, clear for takeoff. Thank you for your hospitality, Moscow. Everybody does! We've got it! ...to the emergency call! Where's my family? The President's plane, Air Force One, has been hijacked. |
| 0:40.3 | What do they want? |
| 0:42.3 | They want General Raddock release from prison. |
| 0:44.3 | I will execute the hostage every half an hour. |
| 0:47.3 | What are our airborne scenarios? |
| 0:49.3 | Toronto airborne scenarios. |
| 0:51.3 | My husband will not negotiate. His wife, his daughter, I think he'll negotiate. |
| 0:58.0 | How the hell did this happen? How the hell did they get Air Force One? |
| 1:01.0 | Your national security advisor has been executed. |
| 1:05.0 | He just bought you another half hour. |
| 1:07.0 | Sir, you parachute. |
| 1:08.0 | I'm not leaving without my family. |
| 1:10.0 | You know who I am? |
| 1:11.6 | I'm the President of the United States. |
| 1:13.6 | Jim isn't making this decision as a president. |
| 1:18.6 | He's making it as a husband and a father. |
| 1:20.6 | Oh! |
... |
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