In the Line of Fire is a 1993 American political action thriller film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich and Rene Russo.

Eastwood's character is the sole remaining active-duty Secret Service agent from the detail that was guarding John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas at the time of his assassination in 1963.

He finds a collage of photographs and newspaper articles on famous assassinations, a model-building magazine, and a Time cover with the President's head, on which a gunsight-crosshairs has been drawn in red marker.

Horrigan is the only remaining active agent who was guarding the President that day, and is wracked with guilt over his failure to react quickly enough to the first shot to shield Kennedy from the subsequent fatal bullet.

He tells Horrigan that, like John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald, he plans to kill the President of the United States, who is running for reelection and is making many public appearances around the country.

Horrigan, despite his age, asks to return to the Presidential Protective Division, where he begins a relationship with fellow agent Lilly Raines.

Booth escapes Horrigan and D'Andrea after one such call from Lafayette Park, but inadvertently leaves a palm print on a passing car.

Leary, who has already killed several people as he prepares for the assassination, uses his model-making skills to mould a zip gun out of composite material to evade metal detectors.

Though Horrigan offers to pull him up to safety, he declares that he would only save him because it's his job, and Leary ultimately commits suicide by letting go and falling to his death.

Apple was inspired and intrigued by a vivid early childhood memory of meeting Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson in person, surrounded by Secret Service Agents with earpieces in dark suits and sunglasses.

[6] Disney rejected a treatment for TV starring Tom Selleck, and after a bidding war Castle Rock Entertainment bought the script for $1.4 million in April 1992.

[5][7] Clint Eastwood and Wolfgang Petersen offered the role of Leary to Robert De Niro, who turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with A Bronx Tale.

The site's consensus states: "A straightforward thriller of the highest order, In the Line of Fire benefits from Wolfgang Petersen's taut direction and charismatic performances from Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich.

[15] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote: "It's movie making of the high, smooth, commercial order that Hollywood prides itself on but achieves with singular infrequency.