Air Force One is a 1997 American action-thriller film written by Andrew W. Marlowe and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It stars Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, and Glenn Close as well as the following actors: Xander Berkeley, William H. Macy, Dean Stockwell and Paul Guilfoyle. It was rated R by the MPAA for its "intense violence".

The film begins with a joint special operations mission composed of Russian Spetsnaz and American Delta Force operatives to capture General Ivan Radek, the dictator of a "terrorist regime" in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. Three weeks later, James Marshall, the President of the United States, gives a speech at a state dinner in Moscow, telling the world that the United States will no longer negotiate with terrorists or fail to intervene in dictatorial regimes (a subplot that seems to reference the Bosnian and Kosovo Wars). Afterwards, Marshall, much of his Cabinet and his advisors board Air Force One to return to the U.S. Just before takeoff, they are joined by Marshall's family, First Lady Grace and First Daughter Alice. Meanwhile, six Kazakh terrorists, led by Ivan Korshunov and posing as a Russian news crew, have boarded the plane and shortly after take-off are able to hijack the plane and kill several people with help from Gibbs, a mole in the Secret Service. Agents hustle a reluctant Marshall to the escape pod before Korshunov's men can capture him. In the cockpit, the pilots attempt to make an emergency landing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. However, the hijackers breach the cockpit, shoot the pilots, and set course for Kazakhstan.

Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft may carry the "Air Force One" call sign while the president is on board. Air Force One is a prominent symbol of the American presidency and its power, with the aircraft being the most famous and most photographed in the world.

The idea of designating specific military aircraft to transport the President arose in 1943, when officials of the United States Army Air Forces – the predecessor to the U.S. Air Force – became concerned with relying on commercial airlines to transport the President. A C-87 Liberator Express was reconfigured for use as a presidential transport; however, it was rejected by the Secret Service amid concerns over the aircraft's safety record. A C-54 Skymaster was then converted for presidential use; this aircraft, dubbed the Sacred Cow, transported President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in February 1945, and was subsequently used for another two years by President Harry S. Truman.

Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His career has spanned six decades and includes roles in several Hollywood blockbusters, including Presumed Innocent, The Fugitive, Air Force One, and What Lies Beneath. At one point, four of the top six box-office hits of all time included one of his roles. Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry.

In 1997, Ford was ranked No. 1 in Empire's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. As of July 2008^[update], the United States domestic box office grosses of Ford's films total over US$3.5 billion, with worldwide grosses surpassing $6 billion, making Ford the third highest grossing U.S. domestic box-office star. Ford is the husband of actress Calista Flockhart.