The Devil S Own In Line Of Fire

the devil s ownan intelligent suspense thriller by award winning director alan j pakula francis frankie mcguire brad pitt is an ira terrorist fueled by the need to avenge his father s execution which he witnessed as a child in belfast northern ireland mcguire comes to new york under an alias on a mission to acquire missiles for use back home in the northern irish fight for independence from the british needing a hideout he s placed in the home of irish american tom o meara harrison ford an ethical family man whose background as a veteran cop presents a perfect cover however an unexpected bond develops between the two men and frankie finds himself viewing o meara as a long lost father figure yet the men s friendship is doomed by the weight of frankie s lies his secret mission and the violent world that he belongs to one that is bound to invade his protector s house the film revealing a complex plot and equally complex characters was the last directorial effort from pakula who died in a tragic car accident in the line of fireaging secret service agent frank horrigan clint eastwood on duty the day john f kennedy was assassinated in dallas is still unable to forget his failure on that fateful day even as he nears retirement in 1993 when mitch leary john malkovich a psychotic man calling himself booth threatens to kill the current president horrigan is the only one who takes the threat seriously over time a cat and mouse game develops between the potential assassin and the agent horrigan sees the game as a chance to redeem his earlier failure and escape a life that has fallen into alcoholism and self pity with his only allies his partner dylan mcdermott who realizes he can t handle being a secret service agent and wants to resign and a female agent rene russo whom he alternately annoys and attracts horrigan takes on leary one on one in a fight to save the president his job and his self respect directed with panache and precision by wolfgang petersen in the line of fire i