Unclear and Present Danger

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched the (rightfully) forgotten thriller The Jackal, a loose adaptation of The Day of the Jackal directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier and Diane Venora.In The Jackal, Willis plays the titular assassin, a feared hitman who has been hired by Russian mobsters to assassinate the director of the FBI, in retaliation for American activity in Russia. As the Jackal makes his arrangements, FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston (Poitier) and Russian Police Major Valentina Koslova (Venora) scour their sources for leads in a search that leads to imprisoned IRA sniper Declan Mulqueen (Gere). Mulqueen knows the Jackal and will help the FBI find him — if he gets his freedom in return. What follows is a chase across the world, as Carter, Koslova and Mulqueen race to stop the Jackal, whose ultimate target is the First Lady of the United States.The tagline for The Jackal was “How do you stop an assassin who has no identity?”You can find The Jackal to rent or purchase on Apple TV or Amazon Prime.Episodes come out roughly every two weeks, so we’ll see you then with an episode on Tomorrow Never Dies, the second entry in Pierce Brosnan’s run as James Bond.Over on Patreon, we have an episode on the first Mobile Suit Gundam compliation film. We’re also doing a weekly politics show on the news of the day. Joining us by heading over to patreon.com/unclearpod. Our producer is Connor Lynch and our artwork is by Rachel Eck.

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched Red Corner, a 1997 legal thriller directed by Jon Avnet and starring Richard Gere, Bai Ling, Bradley Whitford and Peter Donat.In Red Corner, Richard Gere plays Jack Moore,, an American businessman who becomes entangled in nightmarish legal ordeal after he spends the evening with a Chinese fashion model and wakes up the next morning to find that she has been brutally murdered.Jack insists that he’s innocent, but learns that the Chinese legal system is very different than what he’s used to in the United States. He is denied access to an American lawyer, interrogated without counsel, and pressured to sign a confession rather than defend himself. His state-assigned advocate, Shen Yuelin, assumes that Jack is guilty. But as she investigates the case, and grows closer to her client, she starts to doubt her conclusions. Gradually convinced of Jack’s innocence, she uncovers signs of a larger conspiracy involving high-ranking officials and powerful business interests. As political and legal pressures mount, Jack and Shen race against time to try to expose the truth, navigating a perilous maze of corruption and authoritarian control.You can find Red Corner to rent or stream on Amazon and Apple TV.For our next episode, we will cover Paul Verhoeven’s adaptation of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers.  

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched The Assignment, a 1997 political thriller directed by Christian Duguay and starring Aidan Quinn, Donald Sutherland and Ben Kingsley.In The Assignment, Aidan Quinn plays Annibal Ramirez, a U.S. naval officer recruited by CIA agent Jack Shaw — played by Sutherland — for a special operation to capture the elusive terrorist Carlos the Jackal. Shaw, with the help of Mossad agent Amos, played by Kingsley, trains Ramirez to impersonate the terrorist so convincingly that he can infiltrate Carlos’s network and destroy it from within. As Ramirez dives deeper into his double life, the lines between his identity and that of Carlos begin to blur, testing his sanity, loyalty, and sense of self. The tension escalates as the mission nears its climax, forcing Ramirez to confront not only Carlos but the cost of becoming the enemy in order to defeat him.The tagline for The Assignment was “You can find The Assignment to rent or stream on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.Episodes come out roughly every two weeks, and we will see you then with an episode on the 1997 made-for-TV submarine movie Hostile Waters, directed by David Drury and starring Rutger Hauer, Martin Sheen and Max von Sydow. And don’t forget our Patreon, where we cover the movies of the Cold War. Our most recent episode is on the Gene Hackman neo-noir Night Moves. For just $5 a month, you get two episodes a month, plus our Unclearpod community chat on Patreon. Come join us!

On this week's episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched The Peacemaker, a 1997 political action thriller directed by Mimi Leder and staring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman.When a train carrying nuclear warheads crashes in rural Russia, nuclear specialist Dr. Julia Kelly is brought in by the U.S. government to investigate. She quickly discovers the incident was no accident, but part of a larger conspiracy to steal the warheads. Assigned to work with her is Lt. Col. Thomas Devoe, a brash U.S. Army intelligence officer who specializes in field operations.Together, Kelly and Devoe uncover a plot involving a rogue Russian general and a vengeful Yugoslav diplomat named Dusan Gavrić. Gavrić plans to detonate a nuclear bomb in New York City as a twisted act of personal vengeance and a misguided attempt at political "peace."As they chase the warheads across Europe, facing betrayals and dangerous obstacles, Kelly’s strategic thinking and Devoe’s action-driven instincts clash but ultimately complement each other. Their pursuit culminates in a high-stakes showdown in Manhattan, where they must stop Gavrić before he detonates the bomb in a crowded area. Risking everything, they race against the clock to prevent a catastrophic attack and avert a global crisis.The tagline for The Peacemaker was "Every nuclear device in the world has been accounted for...accept for one."You can find The Peacemaker to rent or purchase on Apple TV or Amazon Prime.Our next episode will be on Executive Power, a little-known political thriller directed by David L. Corley. Here is a brief plot synopsis.While protecting the U.S. President, Secret Service agent Nick Sager helps him to dispose of the body of a young girl, who accidentally died during an adulterous encounter. Some time later, a few weeks before the elections, the disillusioned ex-agent is approached by his former partner. The President’s former aide, and one of few people who knew about the cover-up, is found dead in mysterious circumstances.You can find Executive Power to rent on Amazon Prime.Our producer is Connor Lynch and our artwork is by Rachel Eck. You can reach out to us over email at unclearandpresentfeedback@fastmail.com

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watched the 1997 action thriller Conspiracy Theory, directed by Richard Donner (which explains a lot) and starring Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts and Patrick Stewart.In Conspiracy Theory, Gibson plays Jerry Fletcher, a cab driver who is consumed with all manner of conspiracies, using his captive audiences to share his ideas and delusions. He is fixated on Alice Sutton, played by Roberts, a Justice Department lawyer who tolerates him because he once saved her from a mugging. When Gibson is kidnapped by secretive government agents — led by the mysterious Dr. Jonas, played by Patrick Stewart — both he and Sutton become embroiled in a genuine conspiracy that centers on Fletcher’s mysterious past and raises difficult questions about the circumstances behind the murder of Sutton’s father.Conspiracy Theory was a hit, grossing a total of $137 million and displacing Air Force One at the box office. The critical response was mixed but not altogether negative, with most reviewers criticizing its script and plotting but ultimately holding it up as a serviceable thriller. The taglines for Conspiracy Theory were: “They knew too much.”“What you know could kill you.”“What if your most paranoid nightmares had just come true?”“Jerry Fletcher sees conspiracies everywhere. One has turned out to be true. Now his enemies want him dead. And she's the only one he can trust.”You can find Conspiracy Theory to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.Episodes of the main feed come out every two weeks, and so we’ll see you then with Enemy of the State, the 1998 conspiracy thriller starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman.And don’t forget about our Patreon! You can sign up at patreon.com/unclearpod. For just $5/month, you get two episodes on the films of the Cold War. As always, our producer is Connor Lynch and our artwork is by Rachel Eck.

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched Contact, the 1997 science-fiction drama directed by Robert Zemeckis. Based on the book by Carl Sagan, Contact stars Jodie Foster as Dr. Ellie Arroway, a SETI scientist who discovers extraterrestrial life and is eventually chosen to make first contact with the alien life. Foster is joined by a stacked cast of character actors, including Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, Tom Skerritt, William Fichtner, John Hunt, Rob Lowe and Angela Bassett. In their conversation, Jamelle and John discuss the distinctly neoliberal politics of the film as well as the extent to which Contact is a prominent example of the “end of history” utopianism that marked political and cultural life as the 1990s came to a close.You can find Contact to rent or purchase on Amazon or Apple TV.For the next episode of the podcast, Jamelle and John will watch Air Force One, directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Harrison Ford as the president who punches. And don’t forget the Patreon, where they watch the political and military thrillers of the Cold War and talk about the politics of those decades! On the most recent episode of the Patreon, Jamelle and John watched the 1970 political drama WUSA. You can listen to that and more at patreon.com/unclearpod.Our producer is Connor Lynch and our artwork is by Rachel Eck.

In The Saint, Kilmer plays Simon Templar, a professional thief known as “The Saint” for using Catholic saints as aliases. He steals a microchip from a Russian oil company but is caught by the owner’s son. He is then hired by the owner, a billionaire oligarch named Tretiak, to steal a cold fusion formula discovered by Emma Russell, an American chemist. Tretiak plans to use the formula to monopolize the Russian energy market. Once he obtains the formula, he also plans to kill Simon.Simon seduces Emma but falls for her. He abandons his plan to steal from her until Tretiak threatens to kidnap her. At this point the plot becomes a little convoluted to me but here’s what I think happens.Simon does end up stealing the formula but when analyzed, Tretiak finds that it is useless to him. His plan now is to sell the incomplete formula to the Russian president and then attack him for spending billions on worthless technology, using the resulting chaos to make himself president. Emma finishes the formula, Simon delivers it to a scientist who hopes to use it for good, and in a confrontation in Red Square, Tretiak is exposed as a fraud when it becomes clear that the formula works. Emma and Simon reunite, they start a relationship and it is revealed that Simon has donated billions to charity using money from Tretiak’s accounts. All ends well!The taglines for The Saint were “A man without a name, can never be identified. A man who doesn't exist, can never be caught. A man who doesn't love, can never truly be alive.” And “Never reveal your name. Never turn your back. Never surrender your heart.”You can find The Saint to stream on demand on Amazon Prime or for rent or purchase on Amazon and Apple TV.The Saint was released on April 4, 1997, so let’s check out the New York Times for that day.Don’t forget 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. The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on the 1979 thriller Hardcore.Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.