Reception
The film was screened in out of competition at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, Best Sound (Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer and Tim Cooney), Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Visual Effects.
The film was generally praised by critics, receiving a 82% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 33 reviews. Although the movie was a box-office success, it was nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Supporting Actor (John Lithgow), Worst Supporting Actress (Janine Turner) and Worst Screenplay in the 1993 Golden Raspberry Awards. Although most people enjoyed Lithgow's performance, he was criticized for his inauthentic-sounding British accent, especially when next to native British-thespians Fairbrass and Goodall.
Generally disliked is the film's unrealistic portrayal of rock climbing. One example is the feature of the bolt-gun which fires bolts directly into rock, forgoing the usual rock-drilling and bolt-hammering used in rock-climbing. This ignores certain material properties of rock that should cause the bolt-gun's impact site to shatter and explode with flaky projectiles. The bolt gun is considered the most serious of the film's technical inaccuracies. Further examples are showing athletic moves, which have no use in real climbing, or free soloing with—then also completely useless—gear.
Read more about this topic: Cliffhanger (film)
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—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)