attack is the best defense

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Movie
German title attack is the best defense
Original title Best Defense
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1984
length 89 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Willard Huyck
script Willard Huyck,
Gloria Katz
production Gloria Katz
music Patrick Williams
camera Donald Peterman
cut Sidney Wolinsky
occupation

Attack is the best defense (Original title: Best Defense ) is an American comedy film from 1984 . Directed by Willard Huyck , who also wrote the screenplay based on the novel Easy and Hard Ways Out by Robert Grossbach .

action

The film contains two storylines that are several years apart, but are interwoven in the film.

At a presentation by the United States Army in Kuwait, Lieutenant TM Landry commands the new XM-10 Annihilator tank , which still has some teething problems. The demonstration ends in a bigger fiasco: the tank leaves the presentation area uncontrollably and flattens everything that gets in its way.

This is where the second storyline begins. Wylie Cooper is an engineer involved in developing the central electronics unit for targeting the XM-10. The results are devastating, a test destroys the prototype and the company is on the verge of bankruptcy.

In a bar he meets the chief developer of a competing company who is working on a similar device. He has made a deal with the KGB and wants to sell the research results to the Russians in this very place. While talking to Wylie, however, he revises his opinion and passes the disk with the research results to Wylie, who just overlooks his competitor being put into a car by a blond man and kidnapped.

The next day, Wylie's colleague Steve Loparino finds the disk in Wylie's files and informs colleagues and supervisors about the improved design. Although Wylie does not want it, he gets the fame for it, he is promoted, receives a company car and at company expense a new home for himself and his family, who previously had to live in modest circumstances.

Meanwhile, the tank crew on an odyssey is informed that a war has broken out between Iraq and Kuwait and that they are in the middle of the combat zone. Your mission is to return to your unity.

During a presentation in the event hall of a hotel between his company and the Army, Wylie gets closer to his colleague Clair Lewis, and the two of them want to meet in a room for a lunchtime. On the way there, Wylie is intercepted by the KGB agent from the pub. He tells Wylie that he murdered the chief developer of the competing company and that he knows that he just copied the development. He blackmailed him into disclosing the information and promised him tens of thousands of dollars in return. Wylie agrees. While he then meets with Clair, it emerges that the FBI is in the picture about everything going on. He is forced to pretend to enter into the deal with the KGB agent so that he can be arrested. At the agreed meeting in the hotel parking lot, there is a shooting in which the KGB agent is killed.

Meanwhile, Landry reaches his unit. His new orders are to support trapped comrades at the front. Reluctantly, he agrees and begins his task. As promised, Wylie comes out of the affair with the FBI and KGB unmolested. He is promoted from his boss to the new chief developer. He realizes, however, that the latest development stage of the target system has a glaring flaw as soon as it gets too warm. The company tries to cover up the problem in order to look good during a test by the Army so that the contract can be won.

Now you can see the tank crew in combat, trying desperately to fire the weapons. Apparently due to overheating of the system it is not possible to put an approaching attack helicopter out of action.

While the Army is just about to award the contract, Wylie storms the presentation and can provide information about the problems. He also has a solution ready that can cool the target system. The contract is therefore concluded anyway. In the tank, the focus shifts to the cooling system developed by Wylie. When activated, the missile launch sequence can be activated and the attacking helicopter is destroyed.

The film ends with acclaimed heroes Lieutenant TM Landry and Wylie Cooper.

synchronization

role actor speaker
Wylie Cooper Dudley Moore Elmar Wepper
Lieutenant TM Landry Eddie Murphy Randolf Kronberg
Laura Cooper Kate Capshaw Dagmar Heller
Steve Loparino George Dzundza Hartmut Neugebauer
KBG agent Jeff David Rasche Peter Fricke

Reviews

Trevor Johnston wrote in Time Out London that the film was "depressingly unfunny" ("dismally unfunny").

The lexicon of international films wrote that the film was "turbulent military clothing about the development of a" miracle "tank, from construction to military use, with a clearly ironic allusion to the practices of the American arms industry and the Pentagon". The "funny situation comedy" is "well played".

The magazine Cinema described the film as "rough slapstick with a few question marks". When the Gulf War, shown in the "shallow slapstick", became a reality eight years later, the "1983 still halfway funny" film got "an unpleasant bitter aftertaste".

backgrounds

  • The film was shot in Hollywood and Israel .
  • Production costs were estimated at 18 million US dollars . The film grossed approximately $ 19.3 million in the United States.
  • The film was initially shot and completed without the scenes set in Kuwait. After the film was poorly received at screenings, the role was created for Eddie Murphy.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Film review by Trevor Johnston, accessed January 2, 2008 ( Memento August 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Attack is the best defense in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed January 2, 2008
  3. ↑ Cinema, accessed January 2, 2008
  4. ^ Filming locations for Best Defense, accessed January 2, 2008
  5. ↑ Box office / business for Best Defense, accessed January 2, 2008
  6. ↑ [1]