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."

Honorably Discharged Army Ranger Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) is sentenced to a maximum-security federal penitentiary to serve a 7 to 10-year term for using his military knowledge to kill a drunk man who had been attempting to assault his pregnant wife Tricia (Monica Potter). Eight years later, Poe is paroled on good conduct, and is eager to see his daughter Casey (Landry Allbright) whom he has never met. Poe is arranged to be flown back home to Alabama on the C-123 Jailbird aircraft (Callsign: "Elmer Fudd") where he will be released on landing; several other prisoners, including his diabetic cellmate and friend Mike "Baby-O" O'Dell (Mykelti Williamson) and the criminal mastermind Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (John Malkovich), are also being flown to be transferred to a new supermax prison. DEA Agent Duncan Malloy (Colm Meaney) wishes to place one of his agents, Willie Sims (José Zúñiga), disguised as a prisoner to coax more information out of drug lord Francisco Cindino (Jesse Borrego) before he is incarcerated. Vince Larkin (John Cusack), the U.S. Marshal overseeing the transfer, agrees on the one condition that Sims does not carry a weapon, but Malloy manages to arm Sims with a gun before boarding.