Main Cast: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Vicki Lewis
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 124 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The intense world of air-traffic controllers is played for both drama and laughs in Pushing Tin. John Cusack plays Nick Falzone, the top air traffic controller at New York's Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) Center, where he negotiates air traffic and landing patterns for the Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports, America's most congested airspace. It's a tough, stressful job that's highly demanding and Nick is very good at it -- and he takes no small amount of pride in that. So Nick is less than enthusiastic when a new controller comes on board; Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) transferred into TRACON from the Southwest, in search of a greater challenge. In direct contrast to the wired edginess of Nick's personality, Russell is a model of Zen cool who is so focused on planes it's said he once stood in the wake of a 747 just to know what it felt like. Soon work becomes a constant competition between Russell and Nick, and their competitiveness doesn't stop when work is over. However, the rivalry begins to take a different turn when Nick takes notice of Russell's beautiful but hard-drinking wife Mary (Angelina Jolie), while Nick's wife Connie (Cate Blanchett) finds herself more than a bit intrigued by Russell. Pushing Tin was written by Glen Charles and Les Charles, who previously received notice for their television work on such series as M*A*S*H, Cheers and Taxi, and directed by British filmmaker Mike Newell, who's last project, Donnie Brasco, also took him into a little seen side of New York City. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Jake Weber - Barry Plotkin; Kurt Fuller - Ed Clabes; Matt Ross - Ron Hewitt; Jerry Grayson - Leo Morton; Michael Willis - Pat Feeney; Shaun Majumder
Credit
John Dondertman - Art Director, Marie-Sylvie Deveau - Costume Designer, David J.Webb - First Assistant Director, Mike Newell - Director, Philip Pfeiffer - Second Unit Director, Jon Gregory - Editor, Alan Greenspan - Executive Producer, Michael Flynn - Executive Producer, Anne Dudley - Composer (Music Score), Bruno Rubeo - Production Designer, Gale Tattersall - Cinematographer, Art Linson - Producer, Gordon White - Set Designer, Elis Lam - Set Designer, Clive Thomasson - Set Designer, VIFX - Special Effects, Blue Sky - Special Effects, Bruce Carwardine - Sound/Sound Designer, Les Charles - Screenwriter, Glen Charles - Screenwriter, Philip Pfeiffer - Second Unit Director Of Photography, Boyd Shermis - Visual Effects Supervisor
Pushing Tin is a 1999 comedy-drama film directed by Mike Newell. It centers on a cocky air traffic controller (John Cusack) who quarrels over proving "who's more of a man" with fellow employee Bell (Billy Bob Thornton). It is filmed partially on location in and around Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The reality that the movie was filmed in Canada, rather than the American setting, was particularly obvious when Cusack's character is seen driving past a VIA Rail station, an institution not seen in the United States.
Nick "The Zone" Falzone and his fellow controllers at New York TRACON pride themselves on their ability to handle the intense pressure and stress of being an air traffic controller for one of the busiest airspaces in the country, even boasting of the 50% drop-out rate for new additions to the staff that are unable to "hack it" and quit. The controllers and their families enjoy a very close bond and have formed a tight-knit community of sorts, although it is presented that most male controllers have gone through multiple marriages and do not have what is seen as a normal family life.
Russell Bell, a new transfer from the west, arrives and is introduced to the group, along with his rather mysterious, younger wife Mary. On his first day at the controls, and having been warned of the failure rate of new transfers, Bell initially seems to be on the way to a quick exit: despite warnings from Falzone, he has two planes headed directly towards each other with a third plane passing between. But, with steady nerves and unwavering determination, Bell handles the air traffic smoothly, earning the praise of a pilot and the respect of his new colleagues. Falzone feels challenged by the new controller's ability to out-perform him at seemingly every task and warns his supervisor that Bell is a loose cannon. The supervisor shrugs off the warning, saying simply that Bell "pushes tin" and gets the planes where they need to be on time.
At the supermarket, Falzone encounters Russell's wife Mary, who is sobbing in the middle of an aisle. Consoling her, Nick asks her to accompany him to dinner on the pretext that they should not eat alone, as Russell has left Mary for the night without explanation. After dinner, and a number of drinks, Nick ends up back at the Bell's house, where he and Mary commit adultery.
Meanwhile, Nick's relationship with his wife, Connie, is struggling. She seems intrigued by Russell, and begins to study French after borrowing a tape from him. Connie also seems suspicious of Nick's faithfulness. As his personal life begins to descend into turmoil, Nick's performance at works suffers, and the once cocky, boastful controller that was admired by his coworkers is sent home after nearly causing multiple airliners to crash.
It is only after befriending Russell that Nick is able to pull his personal life back together and return to his previous, steady demeanor at the controls.
This film is well-regarded in gay film circles, as it successfully portrays the friendship-to-love story between the two main male characters. The relationship fully blossoms in the "climactic" runway scene [1].
