Out of all the aircraft that have appeared in movies and television, the fictional MiG-31 Firefox is still my all-time favorite.
When I was a little boy, I was intrigued by a true story my brother told me about a pilot who stole a Russian-made Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 Foxbat, which allowed Americans to reverse engineer one of the fastest fighter jets of the Cold War.
Based on the Craig Thomas novel of the same title, Firefox shares a similar premise, in which an American Air Force pilot becomes a spy assigned to steal the highly advanced MiG-31 Firefox from the Soviet Union. In addition to having stealth technology, the fighter plane can fly at the supersonic speed of Mach 5 and employs a "thought-guidance" weapons system. (Incidentally, there was a real MiG-31 named Foxhound, which replaced the MiG-25 Foxbat.)
George Lucas has a knack for creating some of the most captivating characters, even when they have little screen time compared to others. One of those was Admiral Piett, played by British actor Kenneth Colley, in the original Star Wars trilogy. He had a few scenes in The Empire Strikes Back and was initially not expected to return in the next film, but the Imperial officer was such a fan favorite that George Lucas wrote and brought him back in for The Return of the Jedi.
Thankfully, Kenneth Connelly had another supporting role in Firefox. He and Clint Eastwood were among an outstanding cast of mostly unknowns in the film. Firefox is a Cold War spy thriller, but don't expect a James Bond-type of action movie. Released in 1982, Firefox may have been forgotten, but overall, the film has aged well and remains one of the very best and underrated films directed by Clint Eastwood.
Rest in peace, Kenneth Colley.
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