A speculation on the fate of the famous hijacker who parachuted with his ransom and disappeared in the mountains. Has Cooper succeeded in following a meticulous plan to disappear into anonymity despite the best efforts of a dogged cop?
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Reviews
Save your money for something good and enjoyable
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
The acting in this movie is really good.
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.
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.
Many who were adults in 1981 and slightly prior, recall the name D. B. Cooper, who hijacked a Boeing - 727, laden with passengers demanding a ransom, and will release them but keep the crew and plane, to be ordered to fly over the Rockies of his choosing.Crew was ordered to stay in the front of the aircraft whilst D. B. Cooper was preparing for the jump, many investigators believed he was a former highly trained army specialist, ex-paratrooper and studied his preference of aircraft well.He used the tail stairs to jump out of the plane, at night, and was never seen again. However, months later some people found some of the money near a small river or creek, and some believed he may have died of his injuries. Others claimed some money The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper is a story of what might have happened, at least one scenario was generated in this full chase scene by the Insurance Bounty hunter (Duvuall) and lots of bantering for some folks would simply put you on the floor.The chase however goes both ways. Duvuall manages to locate the loot, for himself! Williams tries to find him through the use of a bi-plane and the chase begins again.And it ends wildly, and certainly enjoyable for many. And remember too that D. B. Cooper back then was regarded as a folk hero.It certainly should be considered a candidate for update or new release with different actors. Increase the action and the comedy, could be a hit.In closing, Boeing and McDonald Douglas DC-9's, retooled all their aircraft of this configuration (rear stairs from the tail area) so that it could not be opened while in flight.
You could do a lot worse than this slight yet amiable what-if fest that speculates on just how D.B. Cooper got away with all that money. Robert Duvall shines as the insurance company's bounty hunter but Treat Williams comes off somewhat bland as the title character. He's just too boringly cutesy, if that makes any sense. Yet if you told me to choose between this and say RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, D.B. sure gets my vote.