When CIA analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.When CIA analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.When CIA analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.
- Awards
- 1 win & 3 nominations
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
The Life and Times of Harrison Ford
The Life and Times of Harrison Ford
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe attack on members of the Royal Family at the beginning of the film was inspired by a similar true-life attempt to kidnap Princess Anne on March 20, 1974. She was in her car when a man shot her guard and driver. She was subsequently helped by a passerby who attacked the criminal and saved her.
- GoofsWhile it is true that the average British police officer does not carry a firearm, there is no way that a convicted high-profile IRA terrorist would be escorted without an armed guard.
- Quotes
Jack Ryan: I want to know where Sean Miller and Kevin O'Donnell are.
Paddy O'Neil: [scoffs] Let me try and understand this. You want me to sell out my fellow lrishmen to you? Is that why you came down here? You don't understand me at all.
Jack Ryan: Oh, l think l do.
Paddy O'Neil: Look, I don't give a damn what they've done, but the day that l sell out my countrymen will be the day that I put a bullet through my own head.
Jack Ryan: That's it, then, huh?
Paddy O'Neil: That's it. You know, on second thought, maybe I won't have a drink with you
Jack Ryan: Okay, then I'll go home.
Paddy O'Neil: Have a safe trip.
Jack Ryan: I'll go home and call the TV stations, give them what they want: let them take their cameras into my daughter's hospital room, put it on the evening news.
[getting in Paddy's face]
Jack Ryan: I don't give a shit whether you did it or not, and neither will anyone else. But I will put such a stranglehold on your gun money, you'll be out in the streets throwing rocks! I will *fucking* destroy you! I will make it my mission in life!
- Alternate versionsThe German TV-version has got a few cuts.
- ConnectionsEdited into EBN: Commercial Entertainment Product (1992)
- SoundtracksTheme from Harry's Game
Performed by Clannad
There are a number of fairly obvious goofs and plot holes. No member of the British Royal Family could serve as a Government minister, as they are constitutionally obliged to remain politically neutral. If a foreign citizen were being made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (one of the highest awards in the British honours system) he would be invited to a formal ceremony in Buckingham Palace to be knighted by the Queen in person. He would not be presented with the decoration in his own home by a junior member of the Royal Family. It seems unlikely that any Irish republican terror group would carry out an attack on American citizens on American soil, as to do so would risk losing the support their cause has long enjoyed among sections of the Irish-American community. As others have pointed out, it seems illogical for Ryan to take his family to their isolated summer home to get them away from Miller; doubtless the CIA could have found a safer location for them.
The film lacks the political implications of "Clear and Present Danger", Philip Noyce's next attempt to film a Tom Clancy thriller which involved Watergate-type misconduct by the President and his closest aides. (That film also starred Harrison Ford as Ryan). Despite the involvement of the IRA, "Patriot Games" makes no attempt to analyse the complexities of the Northern Ireland situation. The film also lacks any detailed characterisation. The moral divisions are straightforward- Ryan, his wife Cathy and his CIA colleagues are good and Miller and his gang are bad.
The film does, however, have a strong hero in Harrison Ford. Ford has always been good in the thriller genre, and gives another good performance here as Ryan, combining decency with a strong sense of intelligence. Anne Archer and Sean Bean are also good as Cathy and the villainous Miller. There is a good cameo from Polly Walker as Miller's glamorous but ruthless female associate Annette. Despite the occasional implausibilities of the plot, this is a tense and fast-moving thriller with some good action sequences. It is not Ford's best thriller (that must be either "Witness" or "The Fugitive"), but it is nevertheless a good one. 7/10
- JamesHitchcock
- Feb 25, 2008
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Juego de patriotas
- Filming locations
- 1920 Scientists Cliff Road, Port Republic, Maryland, USA(Ryan's house aerial view)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $45,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $83,351,587
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $18,511,191
- Jun 7, 1992
- Gross worldwide
- $178,051,587
- Runtime1 hour 57 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
- 2.35 : 1