One of the world’s most baffling, enduring mysteries is the saga of D.B. Cooper. Back in 1971, a man with that alias hijacked an airplane in the airspace between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Cooper extorted $200,000 and then parachuted out of the plane. Nobody knows if he survived. Many posit that Cooper (or the man pretending to be Cooper) survived his ordeal.
In the film, Cooper is actually Jim Meade (Treat Williams), an ex-military man constantly scheming to get rich. The hijacking is his dream realized. Once Meade escapes the wilderness, he reconnects with his wife Hannah (Kathryn Harrold). Hot on Meade’s trail are insurance investigator Bill Gruen (Robert Duvall), who was also Meade’s Army sergeant, and old Army buddy Ransom (Paul Gleason), who wants some of the ill-gotten cash for himself.
Part heist film, part chase film, and part romantic comedy, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper doesn’t do any of these genres particularly well. The actual Cooper case has almost nothing to do with the film. Duvall, Williams, and Gleason are all better than the material they’re given. Hannah and Jim’s relationship is implausible and frankly doesn’t make any sense. Meade’s relationships with both Gruen and Ransom deserve more exploration. Little is known about the “real” D.B. Cooper. But Treat Williams and company are dead on arrival in this dud. Not recommended for classic film programming.
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