In the Line of Fire is a 1993 American thriller film about a psychopath who attempts to assassinate the President of the United States and the Secret Service agent who tracks him. The film was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and stars Clint Eastwood as Agent Frank Horrigan and John Malkovich as assassin Mitch Leary.
Eastwood's character is the sole active-duty Secret Service agent remaining from the detail guarding John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, at the time of his assassination in 1963. Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott, Gary Cole, John Mahoney, and Fred Thompson also star. The film was co-produced by Columbia Pictures and Castle Rock Entertainment, with Columbia handling distribution. It is also notable for being the last film in which Eastwood starred that he did not also direct. Petersen also originally offered the role of Leary to Robert De Niro, who turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with A Bronx Tale.
A sub-plot of the film is the President's reelection campaign. For the scenes of campaign rallies the filmmakers used digitally-altered scenes from Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign events.
