Pushing Tin (1999) John Cusack Nick Falzone Billy Bob Thornton Russell Bell Cate Blanchett Connie Falzone Angelina Jolie Mary Bell Jake Weber Barry Plotkin Kurt Fuller Ed Clabes Vicki Lewis Tina Leary Matt Ross Ron Hewitt Jerry Grayson Leo Morton Michael Willis Pat Feeney Philip Akin Paul Mike O'Malley Pete Neil Crone (II) Tom Matt Gordon Ken Joe Pingue (II) Mark Shaun Majumder New Controller Dwight C. McFee Veteran Controller Directed by: Mike Newell, Philip C. Pfeiffer Produced by: Alan Greenspan, Michael Flynn, Lee Berger A feud develops between two air traffic controllers: one cocky and determined while the other is restrained and laidback, which inevitably affects their lives. =========== Nick Falzone is a control freak. An air traffic control freak. He 'pushes tin' at New York's Terminal Radar Approach Control center. Part catacomb, part frat house, TRACON is the chaotic air traffic facility on Long Island that handles up to 7,000 flights a day into and out of the finite airspace above Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports. Nick works the Newark radar scopes, the busiest of them all, and he is the best of the best. That is, until Russell Bell comes to town. After stints in Albuquerque, Phoenix and Denver, Russell--a cross between a motorcycle-riding cowboy and Zen master-- has come to New York looking for heavier traffic. Once Russell stood in the turbulence wake of a departing 747 just to see what it felt like. Call him crazy... he'll take it as a compliment. Fueled by caffeine and machismo, a rivarly ensues between Nick and Russell. The one-upmanship becomes a contest of wit and wills--a game where the winner--not the loser--could lose it all... his job, his marriage, his mind. ========== Nick and the other boys (and Vicki Lewis) working the hotspot of air traffic control in New York are impressed with themselves, to say the least. They thrive on the no-room-for-error, fast-paced job and let it infect their lives. The undisputed king of pushing tin, "The Zone" Falzone, rules his workplace and his wedded life with the same short-attention span that gets planes where they need to be in the nick of time. That is, until Russell Bell, a new transfer with a reputation for recklessness but a record of pure perfection shatters the tensely-held status quo. The game of one-upmanship between the two flies so high as to lead Nick into Russell's bed with his wife. His sanity slipping just as fast as his hold on #1, Cusack's controller is thrown out-of-control when Thornton's wanderer quietly leaves town. Nick must now find a way to regain his sanity and repair his marriage before he breaks down completely. ========== Nick "The Zone" Falzone is an air traffic controller at New York TRACON, where it's busy 24 hours a day. He's acknowledged as the best, until a quiet guy Russell Bell arrives on the scene from the Southwest somewhere. Russell and his wife Mary don't quite fit into the close-knit community of controllers and their wives, and a rivalry soon builds.