Director Sergio Leone combined a European sensibility with an American story to make something entirely new, and also launched Clint Eastwood's film career.
You may remember, a few years ago in 2015, reading a news story about two American soldiers and their buddy who saved a whole train full of people traveling to France from terrorist hijackers. It’s your classic tale of American bravery in the face of grave danger, and so is right up the alley of someone like Clint Eastwood. The actor-turned-director, whose latest efforts include American-bravery-in-the-face-of-grave-danger movies such as American Sniper and Sully, has decided to take on the story of the train, titled The 15:17 to Paris.
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 was struck by a flock of geese during takeoff from LaGuardia Airport. The plane’s captain, Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger, successfully brought the plane down in the Hudson River, where all 155 passengers and crew members were evacuated and survived. It was an incredible story, one that played out in real time on the news; I vividly remember being at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and watching the whole rescue play out on television.