When Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin began casting their sci-fi adventure movie "Stargate," their wish list for the role of Colonel Jonathan J. "Jack" O'Neil consisted of one name: Kurt Russell. There was no back-up option, and there was a very good reason for this. Jack is a no-nonsense military man who basically plays the straight man to James Spader's loosey-goosey Dr. Daniel Jackson. He is a charisma vacuum. So, rather than cast a hardass type in the mold of Lee Marvin (who was quite dead at the time), Emmerich and Devlin opted to cast a film star every right thinking person in the world loves.

Though "Stargate" is little more than a serviceable B-movie with impressive production values, O'Neil's grudging allyship with Jackson gives the movie some much needed zip. A touch of on-set

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