November 13 1981 

A little-seen, escapist crime caper proffering a speculative back story to a real-life unsolved mystery, The Pursuit Of D.B. Cooper, starring Robert Duvall and Treat Williams, opens in limited release. On Nov. 24, 1971, after successfully parachuting into the night from a hijacked passenger plane with a $200,000 ransom, the man the media refers to as D.B. Cooper (here named Jim Meade) hooks up with his wife and goes on the run when a former Army buddy, now working as an insurance investigator, cottons on to his identity and gives chase. Written by Jeffrey Allen Fiskin, with uncredited input from W.D.Richter and Ron Shelton, both John Frankenheimer and Buzz Kulik have a hand in directing the troubled production before Roger Spottiswoode is brought in to oversee a major reshoot.

 

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