This movie is adapted from the book by Tom Clancy and is a sequel to the hit patriotic Games. Directed by Phillip Noyce it starts Harrison Ford, Ann Archer, and Henry Czerny. It deals with the struggle of Jack Ryan, the US intelligence chief against the Columbian drug cartels.
Jack Ryan is appointed as the Deputy Director (Intelligence) after his boss is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In the mean time, one of the President’s close friends are found murdered by the Deli drug cartel of Columbia. The President considers the drug cartels to be of clear and present danger to the United States and asks the security advisor to bring down the cartels. Cutter, the security advisor selects Jack to head the operations and he is presented with the task of getting congressional approval. Jack gets the approval and the funds required for the operation provided no troops and black ops are used in that country.
Cutter to keep jack out of the loop engages the CIA deputy director Ritter for a parallel operations. Ritter and a secret field operative Clark under take the mission and travel to Columbia to disarm the drug cartels.

The king pin of one of the gangs Ernesto Escobedo looses 600 million dollars due to the freezing of his assets. He deputes Felix Cortex his intelligence chief to sort out the problem. Cortex acts as a romantic interest to Moira Wolfson the secretary of FBI director Emil Jacobs and gets the inside information about Ritter’s operations. Cortex has an hidden agenda, as to head the drug cartels himself. To fulfill his ambitions he assassinates Emil Jacobs in a car bomb accident in which only Jack Ryan survives. An enraged United States orders the bombing of the Cartels. In this operation many drug lords and innocent men and women are massacred. Cutter is dismayed but keeps Jack off the information.
Jack and Cortex find out that the the US Government had ordered the killings. Cortex inks a deal with Cutter, to cut down the US operation in return for the lesser degree of drug shipments to the US. He also promises that the drug cartels will give an impression of the US wining the drug war to dupe the public. Cutter agrees and ask Ritter to delete the files.
Jack hacks in to Ritter’s files and confronts him about the duplicity. Ritter taunts him saying that he has permission to act from the President himself and Jack would be responsible for all his actions, as he had asked for funding from the Congress. In the mean time the foot soldiers lead by John Clark are ambushed and Jack leaves to save them. He convinces Clark and the soldiers about Ritter’s cunning and they decide to unmask him.
Jack provided Escobedo with Cortez’s activities and the enraged Escobedo orders his execution. Cortex kills Escobedo and is in turn killed by Clark’s men. Ryan and co escape from Columbia with the prisoners and reach the States. Jack confronts the President about his culpability and is offered favors. A disgusted Jack declines and leaves the President to depose before a congressional committee. This was a big box office success and was followed by the prequel Sum Of All Fears in 2002. A good movie for all action buff’s.

Alistair MacLean is a Scottish writer who specialized in writing thrillers and crime stories. He was third son of a Scottish minister and joined the Royal Navy during the world war two. He was a senior torpedo operator at the height of his career. He was in the thick of the war theater during the world war and saw action on many fronts especially the arctic north. After retiring he started penning his novels based on the war he saw and many of them became best sellers. Maclean never looked back as a writer until his death in 1987.
Puppet on a Chain is Alistair MacLean’s detective thriller set in the Netherlands. This book describes the underbelly of the city where drugs and devastation rule. The protagonist is Paul Sharman who is an ex army officer now head of the interpol Narcotics bureau and is based in London. He comes to the Netherlands to investigate a series of disappearances and drug offenses. The drug king pin rules the narcotic ring covering the entire continent. They use a wide range of torturous tactics to keep their hold on the empire. The title of the story gives away the method of torture applied by these drug lords to shut off dissidence.

As soon as he lands in Amsterdams Schipol Airport, he is ambushed and knocked down injuring his solar plexus. His only contact in Netherlands is shot down before his own eyes. The police seem very reluctant to pursue the assailants, but try to fix charges against him. Paul Sharman with him dry and sarcastic humor however decides to go ahead with the investigations. He is aided by two female operatives. One of them is an experienced agent and the other is a rookie. MacLean describes them as breathtakingly beautiful and I find this very uncharacteristic of him. His careless banter with these female operatives add zing to the proceedings.
Soon Sharman realizes that his presence is not desired in Holland and many times he is followed and ambushed. He is beaten and left to die and it is a wonder for many a reader how he escapes. Sometimes it almost borders on absurd, but he is the hero and the story must go on. So the nine lives that Sharman seems to leads saves him time and time again, and he follows his follower who lead him to a ware house which is filled with rubber toys and neatly stacked books. The books are called the Gabriel Bible and are scooped up from inside. Thee inscription outside the book reads “With the Compliments of the First Reformed Church of the American Huguenot Society”. This sets his thinking process along the methodology adopted by the smugglers to smuggle drugs across the border.
The high adrenaline chase is full of boat chases and murders across Amsterdam. Sharman is a no nonsense thug who does not feel any qualms of bumping anybody. Soon he is fighting the war in the Netherlands and must save him and his associate. So who wins this cat and mouse game? No answerer’s for guessing that! but there are many surprises while on the way. A great book for thrill seekers.

A thriller directed by Peter Weir starring Harrison Ford, Kelly Macgillis and Lukas Haas, it was released in 1985 to critical and box office acclaim.
The plot involves a young Amish widow Rachel Lapp who is taking her son Samuel for a trip to Baltimore to see the outside world. Samuel in the rest room witness a murder of a police officer Zenovich. Samuel sees only one of the murderers who happens to be a tall black man. Rachel and Samuel are taken by the police as witnesses and are introduced to captain John Book and Sergeant Carter. Samuel as the principal witness has to identify the killer and fails to find the right man in the police line-up. As he saunters around in the police head quarters he sees a newspaper clipping of a police officer Mcfee and recognizes him as the killer.
Book reports this development to his superior, Captain Paul Schaffer and is asked to investigate further. He informs Book, that Mcfee had raided a drug hideout and did not report his findings. Zenovich was killed for investigating Mcfee’s drug offenses. Schaffer advices Book to keep the report a secret, till they can find some clinching evidence.

Book escorts Rachel and Samuel to a safe hotel where they are ambushed by Mcfee. Book shoots Mcfee and realizes that Schaffer would be the traitor. Book seriously wounded decides to go in to hiding with the Lapps. He calls up Carter and asks him to remove all the files relating to the Lapp’s and his investigations. Book informs Rachel about the situation and escorts them to their home in Lancaster city.
A severely wounded Book, tries to leave the Amish colony after he ha safely escorted the Lapps. But he faints having lost a lot of blood and Rachel’s father in-law reluctantly agrees to keep him there. As he recovers he helps Eli, Rachel’s father-in-law around the house doing small carpentry and other odd jobs. He finds it difficult to adjust to the Amish way of life, but soon it grows on him. He takes Samuel under his wing and bond starts to develop between them.
Various culture clashes happens as Book adjusts himself to the Amish way. He is forced to surrender his fire arm as the Amish believe in non violence. He does the community jobs like building towers for residents and Samuel helps him to work the machines like a silo. Book enjoys his life with the Amish and also develops a soft corner for Rachel. He also fights others who mock the Amish. Rachel and Book are attracted to each other to the discomfiture of her suiter Hockleitner. Eli and other residents also disapprove of this alliance.
Book in the mean time telephones Carter for information and the villains kill him. Realizing that the game has gone too far, he calls up Schaffer and challenges him. Soon Schaffer and Co reach Lancaster and both Mcfee and Fergie are killed. Schaffer holds Rachel hostage, but the arrival of all residents, make him realize that his game is up. Book arrests and hands him to the Sheriff. But he also comes to the understanding that he cannot be part of the Amish for ever, and returns to the world with his love for Rachel.
Witness was a box office winner and was also nominated for 8 academy awards wining two for the best screen play and editing. It was also a toast at the BAFTA Awards. A good simple movie.