The Rock (1996)

The Rock is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and written by David Weisberg and Douglas S. Cook. The film stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris, with William Forsythe and Michael Biehn co-starring. In the film, the Pentagon assigns a team comprising an FBI chemist and a former SAS captain with a team of SEALs to break into Alcatraz, where a rogue general and a rogue group of Marines have seized all the tourists on the island and have threatened to launch rockets filled with nerve gas upon San Francisco unless the U.S. government pays $100 million to the next-of-kin of 83 men who were killed on missions that the general led and that the Pentagon denied. The Rock was dedicated to the memory of co-producer Don Simpson, who died five months before its release. The film received positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for Best Sound at the 69th Academy Awards. It was also a financial success, earning box-office receipts of over $335 million against a production budget of $75 million, and became the fourth highest-grossing film of 1996.

Plot.

Disillusioned Brigadier General Francis Hummel and his second-in-command Major Tom Baxter lead a rogue group of U.S. Force Recon Marines against a heavily guarded naval weapons depot to steal a stockpile of 16 VX gas-loaded M55 rockets, ultimately losing one of their own men in the process. The next day, along with newly recruited Captains Frye and Darrow, Hummel and his men seize control of Alcatraz Island, taking 81 tourists hostage. Hummel threatens to launch the rockets against San Francisco unless the U.S. government pays him $100 million from a military slush fund, which he will distribute to his men and the families of Recon Marines who died on clandestine missions under his command, but whose deaths were not compensated. The Department of Defense and FBI develop a plan to retake the island using a U.S.

Navy SEAL team led by Commander Anderson, the FBI’s top chemical weapons specialist, Dr. Stanley Goodspeed, and the only inmate to ever escape Alcatraz: John Mason. FBI Director James Womack bribes Mason with a pardon (which Womack subsequently destroys) and Mason is set up in a hotel. He escapes, resulting in a car chase with Goodspeed through the streets of San Francisco as Mason seeks out his estranged daughter, Jade. They meet but she accuses him of escaping again when Goodspeed arrives; he covers for Mason by telling Jade that Mason is aiding the FBI. The team successfully infiltrates Alcatraz, but Hummel’s men are alerted to their presence and ambush them in a shower room. Anderson and all of the SEALs are killed, leaving only Mason and Goodspeed alive. Goodspeed wants to finish the mission and attempts to strong-arm Mason into helping.

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Mason, seeing his chance to escape custody, disarms Goodspeed. Mason changes his mind about helping Goodspeed when the Marines, having found the weapons and radio missing from Anderson’s second-in-command, start using bombs to ferret out the survivors. Mason and Goodspeed eliminate several teams of Marines and disable twelve of the fifteen rockets by removing their guidance chips. Hummel threatens to execute a hostage if they do not surrender and return the chips; Mason destroys them before surrendering to Hummel to try reasoning with him and stall for time. Goodspeed disables another rocket but then gets captured. With the incursion team lost, the backup plan is initiated: an airstrike by F/A-18Cs with thermite plasma, which will neutralize the poison gas but also kill everyone on the island.

Production.

Jonathan Hensleigh participated in writing the script, which became the subject of a dispute with the Writers Guild of America. The spec script (by David Weisberg and Douglas Cook) was reworked by several writers, but other than the original team, Mark Rosner was the only one granted official credit by guild arbitration. The rule is that the credited writing team must contribute 50% of the final script (effectively limiting credits to the screenplay’s initial authors, plus one re-write team). Despite their work on the script, neither Hensleigh nor Aaron Sorkin was credited in the film. The director Michael Bay wrote an open letter of protest, in which he criticized the arbitration procedure as a “sham” and a “travesty”. He said Hensleigh had worked closely with him on the movie and should have received screen credit. Quentin Tarantino was also an uncredited screenwriter. Los Angeles-based British screenwriting team Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais were brought in at Connery’s request to rewrite his lines, but ended up altering much of the film’s dialogue.

Censorship.

In the original UK DVD release, the scene in which Connery throws a knife through Scarpetti’s throat and says “you must never hesitate” to Cage was cut, although the scene was shown on British television. Consequently, a later scene in which Connery says to Cage, “I’m rather glad you didn’t hesitate too long,” lost its impact on viewers who had not seen the first scene. Other cuts included the reduction of multiple gunshot impacts into Gamble’s feet in the morgue down to a single hit; a close-up of his screaming face as the air conditioner falls onto him; a sound cut to Mason snapping a Marine’s neck and two bloody gunshot wounds (to Hummel and Baxter), both near the end of the film.

Box office.

Produced on a $75 million budget, The Rock grossed a total of $134 million in the U.S. and Canada and $201 million elsewhere, for a worldwide total of $335 million. It was the seventh-highest grossing film for the U.S. box office in 1996, and the fourth highest-grossing U.S. film worldwide that year.

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Accolades.

The Rock won several minor awards, including ‘Best On-Screen Duo’ for Connery and Cage at the MTV Movie Awards. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound (Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Keith A. Wester). The film was selected for a limited edition DVD release by the Criterion Collection, a distributor of primarily arthouse films it categorizes as “important classic and contemporary films” and “cinema at its finest”. In an essay supporting the selection of The Rock, Roger Ebert, who was strongly critical of most of Bay’s later films, gave the film 3 1/2 out of four stars, calling it “an action picture that rises to the top of the genre because of a literate, witty screenplay and skilled craftsmanship in the direction and special effects.” In 2014, Time Out polled several film critics, directors, actors and stunt actors to list their top action films. The Rock was listed at 74th place on the list.

Cast:

Sean Connery as John Patrick Mason
Nicolas Cage as Stanley Goodspeed
Ed Harris as General Francis
Michael Biehn as Commander Anderson
William Forsythe as Ernest Paxton
David Morse as Major Tom Baxter
John Spencer as FBI Director James Womack
John C. McGinley as Captain Hendrix,
Tony Todd as Captain Darrow
Bokeem Woodbine as Sergeant Crisp
Danny Nucci as Lieutenant Shepard
Claire Forlani as Jade Angelou
Vanessa Marcil as Carla Pestalozzi
Gregory Sporleder as Captain Frye

The Rock (1996) Biography, Plot, Production, Box office, Accolades, Scene.