| Sniper |
Theatrical Release Poster |
| Directed by |
Luis Llosa |
| Produced by |
Robert L. Rosen |
| Written by |
Michael Frost Beckner
Crash Leyland |
| Starring |
Tom Berenger
Billy Zane
With J.T. Walsh |
| Music by |
Gary Chang |
| Cinematography |
Bill Butler |
| Editing by |
M. Scott Smith |
| Distributed by |
TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) |
January 29, 1993 |
| Running time |
99 min. |
| Language |
English |
| Followed by |
Sniper 2 |
Sniper is a 1993 action film starring Tom Berenger and Billy Zane as American snipers on an assassination mission in Panama.
Plot
The movie starts off with Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett (Berenger), an experienced sniper, and his spotter Cpl. Papich (Young) assassinating a Panamanian rebel leader in the jungle. Afterward, they take up a position in an isolated part of the jungle and wait out until nighttime for an extraction. However, they are extracted at daylight much to the dismay of Beckett. An experienced rebel sniper, formerly trained by Beckett, kills Papich as the two reach the helicopter, but Beckett is able to retrieve his body and bring it to the helicopter. Infuriated, Beckett blames the helicopter CO for Papich's death.
Beckett is paired up with the contrastingly inexperienced, and civilian, Richard Miller (Zane). Their goal: to eliminate a rebel general who is being financed by a reclusive Panamanian drug lord. Miller is a SWAT team sharpshooter but lacks combat experience and has no confirmed kills to his name. When he is on the way to the staging area, his helicopter is attacked by a guerrilla with an assault rifle, who kills most of the men in it. Miller takes out his rifle and acquires a bead on the man, but is unable to pull the trigger. Fortunately, the chopper's dying machine gunner manages to kill the guerrilla before succumbing to his wounds.
When Beckett and Miller set off, friction immediately occurs between them, based in part on Beckett's insistence on deviating from the mission plan that Miller was given, but mostly on the fact that Miller (though nominally in command) has no experience or aptitude for jungle operations. Early on, they encounter a group of Indians, who agree to lead them past the rebel guerrillas, in return for a favor. They want the team to eliminate El Cirujano ("the Surgeon"), a torture master who's working with the rebels, listed as a target of opportunity.
Beckett agrees to do so, and informs Miller that he expects Miller to make the kill: the general is setting up a meeting with the drug lord, allowing the sniper team the opportunity to kill both men. However, Beckett is not certain of Miller's reliability. Miller proves him right by deliberately missing the shot. One of the Indians is killed by rebel return fire, and they refuse to help the team any further.
The two men continue to their target and along the way they head to a village priest that would provide details to the mission. However the priest was tortured and murdered by Alvarez's men before the two men can arrive. That night Beckett and Miller set up camp in the jungle and wait until dawn to move out. As Miller falls asleep, Beckett remains on guard. That night, the two are tracked by the very sniper who earlier killed Papich. Beckett uses Miller as bait to draw the sniper out, but kills him before Miller can be harmed. Miller is infuriated by this.
The two men reach the general's hacienda and take up positions while wearing ghillie suits. While they are waiting for their targets to emerge, Miller is seen. Beckett kills Miller's attacker while Miller shoots and kills the drug lord. The two rendezvous outside the compound, where Beckett insists on them going back to kill the general as well. Miller refuses and an argument erupts, leading to an exchange of fire between Beckett and Miller, as the latter follows orders to eliminate Beckett if he threatens the mission, which ends when Miller runs out of ammunition. Miller then calms down afterward under pressure from Beckett. As rebels close in on the two, Beckett attempts to provide cover fire for Miller but is subsequently captured by rebels. Miller is able to escape.
Miller that night heads to the base camp where Beckett is being held. Inside, he encounters the general and kills him with his knife, then sees Beckett being tortured and getting his trigger finger amputated by El Cirujano. Beckett mouths to Miller to shoot both Cirujano and Beckett himself with one shot, but instead Miller kills Cirujano and rescues Beckett. The two men reach their pick-up point and are safely extracted, after Beckett saves Miller's life by killing an ambusher.
Weapons
In the movie, Beckett uses an M40, Miller uses an SR9T, and the enemy sniper uses a Dragunov Sniper Rifle.
Sequels
Sniper spawned two sequels. The TV movie Sniper 2 in 2002 and the direct to video Sniper 3 in 2004.
External links
