Nick Falzone (John Cusack) is a control freak. An air traffic control freak.

He "pushes tin" at New York’s Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) center. Part catacomb, part frat house, TRACON is the chaotic air traffic facility on Long Island that handles up to 7,000 flights a day into and out of the finite airspace above Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports. Nick works the Newark radar scopes, the busiest of them all, and he is the best of the best. If you don’t believe it, just ask him.

That is, until Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) comes to town. After stints in Albuquerque, Phoenix and Denver, Russell — a cross between a motorcycle-riding cowboy and a Zen master — has come to New York looking for heavier traffic. This is the same guy who once stood in the turbulence wake of a departing 747 just to see what it felt like. Call him crazy…he’ll take it as a compliment.

Fueled by caffeine and machismo, a rivalry ensues between Nick and Russell. The one-upmanship becomes a contest of wits and wills, where stress is the great equalizer and bravado is the lowest common denominator, a game where the winner — not the loser — could lose it all…his job, his marriage, his mind.

Directed by
Mike Newell
Philip C Pfeiffer

Cast
John Cusack - Nick Falzone
Richard Bauer - of One of the Pilots
Jim Codrington - of One of the Pilots
Billy Bob Thornton - Russell Bell
Cate Blanchett - Connie Falzone
William Colgate - of One of the Pilots
Angelina Jolie - Mary Bell
Craig Eldridge - of One of the Pilots
Jake Weber - Barry Plotkin
Peter Graham - of One of the Pilots
Kurt Fuller - Ed Clabes
Pete James Howarth - of One of the Pilots
Ray Kahnert - of One of the Pilots
Vicki Lewis - Tina Leary
Robert B Kennedy - of One of the Pilots

Production Co.
Linson Films
3 Miles Apart Productions Ltd

Produced by
Art Linson
Alan Greenspan
Michael Flynn
Lee Berger

Studios
Fox 2000
New Regency Films Inc

Writer
Glen Charles
Darcy Frey
Les Charles

Music
Adam Hamilton
Richard Dehr
Michael Connell
Anne Dudley