Missing (1982)

When an idealistic writer disappears during the Right Wing military coup in 1973 Chile, his wife and American businessman father try to find him.

Director:

Costa-Gavras

Writers:

Costa-Gavras (screenplay), Donald Stewart (screenplay),

Stars:

Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron

Won 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Lemmon	...	Ed Horman
Sissy Spacek	...	Beth Horman
Melanie Mayron	...	Terry Simon
John Shea	...	Charles Horman
Charles Cioffi	...	Captain Ray Tower
David Clennon	...	Consul Phil Putnam
Richard Venture	...	U.S. Ambassador
Jerry Hardin	...	Colonel Sean Patrick
Richard Bradford	...	Andrew Babcock
Joe Regalbuto	...	Frank Teruggi
Keith Szarabajka	...	David Holloway
John Doolittle	...	Dave McGeary
Janice Rule	...	Kate Newman
Ward Costello	...	Congressman
Hansford Rowe	...	Senator

Storyline

In September1973, in Chile, the American journalist Charles Horman arrives in Valparaiso with his friend Terry Simon to meet his wife Beth and bring her back to New York with him. However, they are surprised by the military coup d'état sponsored by the US Government to replace President Salvador Allende and Charles is arrested by the military force. His father Ed Horman, a conservative businessman from New York, arrives in Chile to seek out his missing son with Beth. He goes to the American Consulate to meet the Consul that promises the best efforts to find Charles while the skeptical Beth does not trust on the word of the American authorities. The nationalism and confidence of Ed in his government changes when he finds the truth about what happened with his beloved son.

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Plot Keywords:

american | search | political intrigue | coup | bureaucracy | 

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Genres:

Drama | History | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

12 March 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Desaparecido

Filming Locations:

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the first American film of Greek director Costa-Gavras a fact publicized on the movie's DVD cover.

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Goofs

In the scene where Jack Lemmon is at the State Department early in the movie trying to get information about Charlie, there is the presidential portrait of Richard Nixon on the wall in the background and a more personal photo of him on Marine One on the credenza behind the desk. That photograph, with fingers in the V-peace sign, was taken upon his final departure from the White House in 1974 and could not have been on someone's desk in 1973.

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Quotes

U.S. Ambassador: We're not involved, Mr Horman. Our position has been completely nuetral.
Ed Horman: That is a bald face lie, sir. How can you say a thing like that when you have army colonels, you have naval engineers, they're all over Viña Del Mar!
U.S. Ambassador: Please sit down. Look, it's very obvious you're harbouring some misconception regarding our role here.
Ed Horman: What is your role here? Besides inducing a regime that murders thousands of human beings?
U.S. Ambassador: Let's level with each other, sir. If you hadn't been personally involved in this ...
[...]

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Connections

References The Cocoanuts (1929)

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Soundtracks

"ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL"
(1940)
Written by Peter Tinturin (uncredited) and Jack Lawrence (uncredited)
Performed by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra (as Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra)
Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.

User Reviews

Shooting people is wrong - even for governments

During the Cold War (1945-1990) it was the policy of successive US governments to maintain authoritarian right –wing governments in power all around the world if there was a possibility that they might be replaced by one from the left, democratic or otherwise. As the US ambassador in this film reminds us `we act in the interests of the United States', not in the interests of the country which happens to be suffering under a fascist dictatorship. We can accept this on an intellectual level – how else can the US government establishment act - but in this movie Costa-Gavras uses his very considerable skills as a film-maker to rouse even diehard conservatives to anger over the methods used to ensure Pax Americana.

He does this by dramatising the real-life story of one of their number, Ed Holman (Jack Lemmon), a businessman from New York and a crusty Christian Scientist with faith in Truth, into the aftermath of a military coup in an un-named South American country the capital of which is called Santiago. (I think we can safely assume the country is Chile, though the locations appear to be Mexican.) His son Charles (John Shea), a vaguely left-wing journalist and writer, living in the city with his wife Beth (Sissy Spacek), has disappeared after being arrested a few days after the coup and carted off to a makeshift concentration camp in the National Stadium. Initially, Ed believes the people at the American consulate and embassy really are there to help him, but it soon turns out they have an agenda of their own. Ed and his son's wife start out on bad terms but Ed comes to appreciate her bravery in the face of a very unstable situation. He also comes to realise the moral worth of his son, who he had previously regarded as a bit of a playboy, much as he had loved him,.

An almost surreal feature of the movie is that people behave almost normally despite the obvious signs of murder and mayhem going on in the background. In fact the only time the `comfortable classes' are disturbed is when there is an earthquake affecting Ed's Santiago hotel. Otherwise, the guests are happy to watch from the upstairs terrace the military killing people in the streets. Of course General Pinochet still has considerable support in Chile, and in August 2000 your reviewer witnessed a large demonstration outside the Supreme Court in Santiago against a decision lifting the Life Senator's immunity from prosecution. It was a very well-dressed crowd.

Ed's odyssey through hospitals, morgues, police stations and the National Stadium is intercut with flashbacks which make it plain enough what has happened. Yet in classic thriller fashion we are kept on the edge of our seats with what will happen next. Politics aside, this film succeeds as a thriller involving believable people rather than stereotypes. Jack Lemmon gives the dramatic performance of a lifetime as Ed, the fuddy-duddy who really does care and leaves no stone unturned to find the truth.

Nearly 30 years later, Chile has a democratic government, Pinochet is too infirm to stand trial, Nixon is dead and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is an elder statesman on the celebrity circuit. The only communist regime in Latin America, Castro's Cuba, is still there. This film reminds us that immoral policy, whether or not it achieves its objectives, remains immoral. The fact that US foreign policy is regarded as being in the interests of the United States does not make it more moral, even if you happen to be a citizen of that country, where as Ed reminds us at the end, remains one in which you can at least sue for justice. Sadly, Ed did not succeed.