Writers:

J.D. Reed (book), Jeffrey Alan Fiskin (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert Duvall, Treat Williams, Kathryn Harrold

The mysterious 1971 hijacking of an airliner by a bold thief who parachuted into legend over the Pacific Northwest became fodder for this action comedy that's mostly speculative. Treat Williams stars as Jim Meade, an ambitious former Army man who devises a clever scheme to hold up an airliner for $200,000. Masquerading as "D.B. Cooper," he succeeds, and after landing safely in the deep woods, he seeks out his wife Hannah (Kathryn Harrold), whom he had left months earlier. They reconcile and head for the Mexican border. However, Jim soon has two people hot on his trail. Bob Gruen (Robert Duvall) was Jim's sergeant in the armed forces. Now an insurance investigator, Bob becomes convinced that only his talented former underling could have pulled off the job and sets out to capture him. At the same time, Jim's seedy former Army pal Remson (Paul Gleason) comes to the same conclusion and pursues the Meades, hoping to get a cut of the loot. Based on the book by J.D. Reed, the film failed to ignite interest at the box office, despite a publicity stunt by Universal Pictures offering a million dollars for information leading to the arrest of the real Cooper.