Forever Young (1992 film)

Forever Young
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Steve Miner
Written by	J. J. Abrams
Produced by	Bruce Davey
Starring	Mel Gibson Elijah Wood Isabel Glasser George Wendt Jamie Lee Curtis
Cinematography	Russell Boyd
Edited by	Jon Poll
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Production company	Icon Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	December 11, 1992 (1992-12-11)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$128 million

Forever Young is a 1992 American science fiction-romantic drama film directed by Steve Miner and starring Mel Gibson, Elijah Wood, and Jamie Lee Curtis. The screenplay was written by J. J. Abrams from an original story named "The Rest of Daniel".

Plot

In 1939, Captain Daniel McCormick is a United States Army Air Corps test pilot. After a successful run and subsequent crash landing in a prototype North American B-25 Mitchell bomber at Alexander Field in Northern California, McCormick is greeted by his longtime friend, scientist Harry Finley. Finley confides that his latest experiment, "Project B", has succeeded in building a prototype chamber for cryonic freezing. McCormick's girlfriend, Helen, goes into a coma following an accident, with doctors doubting she will ever recover. McCormick insists he be put into suspended animation for one year, so he will not have to watch Helen die.

Fifty-three years later in 1992, 10-year-old Nat Cooper and friend Felix are playing inside the military storage warehouse housing the chamber, accidentally activating it and waking McCormick, leaving Nat’s coat behind. McCormick awakens and escapes before realising what year it is. He first approaches the military about his experiences, but they dismiss him as crazed; McCormick becomes more determined to learn what happened to him.

McCormick follows the address on the jacket back to Nat, befriending him. While hiding in Nat's treehouse, he rescues Nat’s mother Claire from her abusive ex-boyfriend. Claire fixes up his wound and a bond develops between the two; she allows McCormick to stay. McCormick discovers his body is failing as his age begins to catch up to him.

McCormick tracks down Finley’s daughter Susan, who informs her father died in a fire before she was born. She gives McCormick her father’s journals, detailing the cryogenic process, and discovers the rapid ageing is irreversible. Susan also reveals Helen is still alive, but they escape before the FBI, who is now after McCormick, catch up to them.

Claire drives McCormick to an air show and commandeers a B-25 bomber to fly to Helen, with Nat stowing on board. Claire gives Harry’s journals to the FBI, for their plans to replicate and modernise the experiment. McCormick suffers another ageing attack, forcing Nat to land the plane in the field near Helen’s house. The now elderly McCormick reunites with Helen, and asks her to marry him, which she happily accepts.

Cast

Actor	Role
Mel Gibson	Captain Daniel McCormick, USAAC
Jamie Lee Curtis	Claire Cooper
Elijah Wood	Nat Cooper
Isabel Glasser	Helen
George Wendt	Harry Finley
Joe Morton	Cameron
Nicolas Surovy	John
David Marshall Grant	Lt. Col. Wilcox, USAF
Robert Hy Gorman	Felix
Millie Slavin	Susan Finley
Michael Goorjian	Steven
Veronica Lauren	Alice
Art LaFleur	Alice's Father
Eric Pierpoint	Fred
Richard Ryder	Pilots at Airshow
Michael Briggs	Pilots at Airshow
Walton Goggins	Gate MP

B-25 Mitchell

Production

In November 1990, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to "The Rest of Daniel" for $2 million, the most ever paid for a screenplay. Ostensibly purchased as a star vehicle for Gibson, he turned down the opportunity to direct the feature.

A North American B-25J Mitchell known as "Photo Fanny" (from the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California) is featured prominently in the film, both as the B-25 prototype and later as the restored warbird McCormick flies to his beloved.

Reception

Critically, Forever Young met with mixed reviews, Roger Ebert noted, "[Forever Young] is not one of the most inspired (of the time travel movies), even though it has its heart in the right place." Box Office characterized it as "gooey sentiment and melodrama", playing on Gibson's name. Rita Kempley from the Washington Post dismissed the film as "A pablum of schmaltz and science fiction ..." The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 57% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 5.47/10.

Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A-" on scale of A+ to F.

Box office

Despite the lukewarm reviews, mostly focused on the script, the film did well with audiences, and took in $127,956,187 worldwide. Forever Young opened to a first weekend gross of $5,609,875 and went on to gross $55,956,187 in the domestic market. It grossed approximately $72,000,000 in the foreign market. A Hollywood premiere was turned into a fund-raiser for two of Gibson's charities, the West Hollywood Alcohol and Drug Recovery Center and the Santa Monica Homeless Drop-in Center. A total of $70,000 was raised for both charities.

See also

• Cryostasis
• Idiocracy
• Late for Dinner
• The Philadelphia Experiment

References

Bibliography

• Clarkson, Wensley. Mel Gibson: Man on a Mission. London: John Blake, 2004. ISBN 1-85782-537-3.
• McCarty, John. The Films of Mel Gibson. New York: Citadel, 2001. ISBN 0-8065-2226-7.

External links

• Forever Young at IMDb
• Forever Young at AllMovie
• Forever Young at the TCM Movie Database
• Forever Young at Rotten Tomatoes