The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper (1981)

The Worst Film Ever

the audience applauded

Crappy film

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

D B Cooper was the pseudonym (mistakenly adopted by the media after the fact) of an unidentified skyjacker who parachuted from a commercial aircraft in appalling conditiond, at night, somewhere between Washington State and Oregon in 1971; he'd extorted $200 000 from the airline after threatening the crew with a presumed dummy bomb. Despite a massive investigation, a dozen suspects, numerous copycat episodes (all of whom were arrested), Cooper was never caught or conclusively identified. To my knowledge, this is the only dramatic attempt to bring this fascinating mystery to the big (or small) screen. Unfortunately, despite an interesting cast, it's a misfire. Treat Williams - seemingly unsure whether to play the role straight or for laughs - does not convince as the eponymous Cooper, disinterested Robert Duvall phones it in as a dull insurance investigator, Paul Gleason overacts gloriously while Kathryn Harold gives it her best shot as Cooper's girlfriend.Too many changes in director scuppered what should have been a tense mystery or an energetic comedy (think Smokey and The Bandit). Events seem to take forever to get going - it's flat and lifeless throughout, with a couple of jarring chases thrown in an attempt to jolt some life into affairs.Ironically, a portion of the money was found in a riverbed a year after the release - this reignited interest in the Cooper case, but by then this film was already forgotten.

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.

Here is a fine example of some good ol' Hollywood exploitation. They took the story of famed airplane hijacker D.B. Cooper and decided to make it into a "what if..." scenario by adapting a fictional novel called "Free Fall." Talk about a missed opportunity! Cooper (Treat Williams) lands easily in the woods of Oregon. Just as easily, insurance investigator Gruen (Robert Duvall), whose company is out the ransom money, discovers Cooper is a former charge of his from the Army and begins his pursuit. If you can distance the idea that this is about D.B. Cooper, it is a pretty entertaining chase flick in the SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT vein. I'm sure they threw the Cooper name on there to get the public interested which is a disservice to the film itself. Co-starring Kathryn Harrold, Ed Flanders, R.G. Armstrong and Paul Gleason (in a really scummy turn).

Hey, in a way, this movie is the ultimate metaphor, for then and now, let me explain -- what "little guy" doesn't want to "beat the man" or whatever, that's what this movie was made for, that guy, that frustrated everyday working "little" guy who dreams of beating the big people who stick it to him day in and day out, and I have to agree with the last reviewer on Kathryn Harrold, she was hot-stuff in this movie, the cherry on top of the metaphorically good ice cream sundae that this movie is as the fun, exciting escapist romp it is. The very idea of this movie is one of the last for the "little guy" beating the "big guys" who stick it to him and knock him down. That's it.