The Best Die Hard Rip-Off Is One You've Never Seen

Cliffhanger's Fight Scenes Are Brutal & Explosive

The first of these big set-pieces is Qualen's heist, which involves the aforementioned aerial transfer that got Cliffhanger its record-breaking moment. Michael France and Stallone's script does an excellent job of messing with expectations here, positioning a newly transferred FBI agent (Vyto Ruginis) as the likely traitor in collusion with the film's soon-to-be-revealed villains.

However, it transpires that Travers (Rex Linn) along with one of the pilots are the real turncoats. After seemingly murdering everyone on board we're treated to the great transfer scene itself, but this is then followed up by Ruginis' FBI guy recovering from his wounds, getting up, and then single-handedly ruining his killers' day by firing an Uzi and causing the plane to crash land. This leads to the stolen money getting scattered across the mountains, as well as to Gabe and his old friend Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker) being held at gunpoint to guide the crooks around - albeit fully aware that the moment they outlive their usefulness, they're likely to die.

Much like its protagonists precariously navigate the mountaintops, a core element of Cliffhanger's success is how well it balances its unsuspecting mean streak with more traditional eighties action camp. Fights are brutal and bloody, and innocent bystanders are deliberately bumped off by Qualen's crew.

At the same time, Lithgow's performance as Qualen lives up to every English villain stereotype in the book. When he's not needling his men for making mistakes, he's punctuating their evil with diabolically snappy one-liners. This can sometimes jar with how committed Rooker and Stallone are with their respective performances - as if Qualen and his men have taken a magic ticket to a different movie - but it's a balancing act Cliffhanger (mostly) manages to pull off.