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Plot summary
Cameron Poe, a decorated Army Ranger, is convicted of involuntary manslaughter after he kills a drunken bar patron who attacked him and his pregnant wife, Tricia. Paroled after eight years, he boards the Jailbird, a prison transport plane bound for Alabama, hoping to meet his daughter Casey on her birthday. His diabetic cellmate, Mike "Baby-O" O'Dell, flies with him. The other passengers are convicts headed to a new supermax, among them Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones and William "Billy Bedlam" Bedford. U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin oversees the flight. Once airborne, Grissom and Jones break free of their restraints and take the plane.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Con Air (1997)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
The climactic finale was originally planned as a crash at the White House, but Las Vegas was more in keeping with the theme of convicts “cashing in”; the Sands was going to be demolished anyway, so the production arranged to blow up the front of the building.- On August 29, 1996, Phillip Swartz, a welder employed by Special Effects Unlimited, was crushed to death at Wendover when a static model of the C-123 used in the film fell on him; the film credits end with “In Memory of Phil Swartz”.
- The C-123 was sold to All West Freight Inc. in Delta Junction, Alaska, in December 2003, and on August 1, 2010 it was destroyed when it crashed into Mount Healy in Denali National Park, killing its three member flight crew.
- Bruce Willis turned down the role of Grissom; Michael Biehn, Jason Isaacs, Mickey Rourke, Willem Dafoe and Tom Sizemore auditioned for it, and Malkovich, who had been considered early, took the part.
- Director Simon West and Buscemi based his character on the real-life serial killers Ed Gein, Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and Edmund Kemper.
- Jesse Borrego studied the Colombian narcoterrorist kingpin Pablo Escobar for his portrayal of Francisco Cindino, the South American drug baron and terrorist who helps Grissom plot the hijacking offscreen.
