Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: one of the most dizzying opening scenes.
Three years after Rocky V, Sylvester Stallone swapped his boxing gloves for climbing mitts. Far from the ring, the American actor climbed the mountains, perched several meters above the ground. You will probably have understood, we are talking about the thriller Cliffhanger.
Released in theaters in 1993, this film directed by Renny Harlin (who also produced Die Hard 2), follows the adventures of Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone), an experienced mountaineer traumatized by the death of his girlfriend, Sarah, whom he failed to save.
Following this tragedy, he decides to abandon his job, but nevertheless returns to service when his friend, Jessie (Janine Turner), asks him to join a team of rescuers in the Rockies during a plane crash.
The problem: the survivors are in fact thugs looking for loot. They decide to take all the members hostage and use them to find large sums of money.
In the cast of this thriller halfway between an action and adventure film, we find Michael Rooker (notably known for his role as Merle Dixon in The Walking Dead), but also John Lithgow (Interstellar) and Caroline Goodall ( Hook).
Dizziness guaranteed!
And the least we can say is that the first minutes of the film immediately put you in the mood, to the point of traumatizing millions of spectators suffering from acrophobia (fear of heights).
And for good reason, in a long and distressing sequence, Sarah, Gabe Walker's partner, finds herself suspended above the void… then falls to her death.
An incredible opening scene which, for more than thirty years, has prevented a large number of spectators from taking up climbing. So, if you dream of a career as a mountaineer, you better have your heart set on it. It is not for nothing that on the poster, these two words are written in capital letters: “HANG ON”.
Nevertheless, when it was released in theaters, this dizzying thriller caused a sensation with more than $250 million in revenue worldwide. In France, it even reached ninth place in the annual box office with more than 2.6 million spectators.
Moreover, Cliffhanger was also nominated three times for the Oscars in 1994 (Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound), and at the Cannes Film Festival in the Out-of-competition category. A success… dizzying!
Tonight on C8 at 9:20 p.m.
