Read more about Cameron Poe at: Wikipedia Official Site: Touchstone Pictures Con Air is an 1997 American action-thriller film directed by Simon West and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of The Rock. It stars Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich. The film borrows its title from the nickname of the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System. While scanning a newspaper article, Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg first learned of the special program, then visited its Oklahoma City base "to get an eyewitness perspective of the incredible operation, which quickly formed the genesis for Con Air." Former Army Ranger Cameron Poe is sentenced to a maximum-security federal penitentiary for using excessive force and killing a drunk man who had been attempting to assault his pregnant wife, Tricia. Eight years later, Poe is paroled on good behavior, and eager to see his daughter Casey whom he has never met. Poe is arranged to be flown back home to Alabama on the C-123 Jailbird where he will be released on landing; several other prisoners, including his diabetic cellmate and friend Mike "Baby-O" O'Dell and criminal mastermind Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, are also being transported to a new Supermax prison. DEA agent Duncan Malloy wishes to bring aboard one of his agents, Willie Sims, as a prisoner to coax more information out of drug lord Francisco Cindino before he is incarcerated. Vince Larkin, the U.S. Marshal overseeing the transfer, agrees to it, but is unaware that Malloy has armed Sims with a gun. Shortly after takeoff, Grissom incites a riot that allows them to hijack the Jailbird; Sims is killed when he attempts to stop Grissom. Grissom orders the aircraft to continue to Carson City for a scheduled prisoner transfer, where they will offload the guards and pilots disguised as prisoners in the middle of a dust-storm. Although he could have left the Jailbird during the transfer, Poe feigns cooperation with Grissom but leaves a recording device from Sims' body on one of the guards being offloaded. Among the new prisoners boarding the aircraft are Cindino, who masterminded their escape, their new pilot Swamp Thing, and serial killer Garland Greene, who even has the respect of Cyrus. Grissom orders another prisoner, Joe "Pinball" Parker, to remove the transponder and plant it on another aircraft. Moments before the Jailbird takes off, the guards discover the clue Poe left behind and alert Malloy and Larkin. Pinball is unable to make it aboard the Jailbird on time and his body is lodged in the landing gear as the aircraft takes off when the security forces are alerted. Poe secretly writes a message to Larkin explaining Grissom's plan on Pinball's shirt and pushes the body out, where it lands in the middle of Fresno, California. Larkin calls for the National Guard to go to Lerner Airfield, an abandoned airbase, while using Malloy's sportscar to beat the Jailbird there.
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Cameron Poe
