Con Air

Simon West’s 1997 film puts the paroled ranger Cameron Poe aboard a transport carrying the country’s heaviest prisoners, hijacked in the air. The plane is not a sealed box. It sets down at Carson City for a prisoner exchange, then at Lerner Airfield in the desert, and the last act leaves it altogether: the plane comes down on the Las Vegas Strip and the chase ends on a fire truck. The pressure is released and rebuilt three times. The convicts stay single trait turns rather than people the film digs into. Three real C-123 Providers played the Jailbird: one flew, one taxied at Wendover, one was destroyed. On 21 October 1996 that third aircraft was set on an old bus chassis and run along a purpose built track into the lobby of the Sands hotel, already due for demolition. LeAnn Rimes recorded “How Do I Live” first; producers found her voice too pop and used Trisha Yearwood’s instead. The Academy nominated the film for Music (Original Song) and Sound, and Titanic won both. Britain passed it 15 in cinemas and 18 on video. A good fit if you want the film to keep landing rather than stay locked in one cabin. Not for you if the cutting between Poe’s letters home and the convict turns will grate.