Deal of the Century (1983)

Director:

William Friedkin

Writers:

Paul Brickman (writer)
Bernard Edelman (book)
(more)

Release Date:

4 November 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

Chevy Chase and his partners are arms dealers. They sell second-rate weapons to third world nations. But they're not out to stick it to anyone.

Plot:

Arms dealers from several companies vie to sell the most expensive and highest tech weapons to a South American dictator...

Plot Keywords:

Dictator | Arms Dealer | Aggression | Shot In The Foot | Used Car Salesman

Cast

Chevy Chase	...	Eddie Muntz
Sigourney Weaver	...	Catherine DeVoto
Gregory Hines	...	Ray Kasternak
Vince Edwards	...	Frank Stryker
William Marquez	...	Gen. Cordosa
Eduardo Ricard	...	Col. Salgado
Richard Herd	...	Lyle
Graham Jarvis	...	Babers
Wallace Shawn	...	Harold DeVoto
Randi Brooks	...	Ms. Della Rosa
Ebbe Roe Smith	...	Bob
Richard Libertini	...	Masaggi
J.W. Smith	...	Will
Carmencristina Moreno	...	Woman Singer (as Carmen Moreno)
Charles Levin	...	Dr. Rechtin
Pepe Serna	...	Vardis
Wilfredo Hernández	...	Rojas
John Davey	...	Pilot on Screen
Miguel Pinero	...	Molino
Maurice Marsac	...	Frenchman
Joe Ross	...	Russian Translator
Jonathan Terry	...	Gaylord
Robert Cornthwaite	...	Huddleston
Gwil Richards	...	Rev. Borman
Kelly Lange	...	Newscaster
Ken Letner	...	Sen. Bryce
JoMarie Payton	...	Baptist #1 (as Jo Marie Payton-Noble)
Tony Plana	...	Chicano Man
Betty Cole	...	Baptist #2
John Hancock	...	Baptist Minister
Helen Martin	...	Baptist #3
Eddie Hice	...	Bagman
David Haskell	...	Rockwell Official
Ray Manzarek	...	Charlie Simbo
David Hall	...	Rick Penido
Alex Colon	...	Street Robber
John Reilly	...	Swain
James Staley	...	JWT Assoc
Stephen Keep Mills	...	Promoter (as Stephen Keep)
Louis Giambalvo	...	Freddie Muntz
Robert Alan Browne	...	Man from Grumman
Bradford English	...	Man from McDonnell Douglas
Jim Ishida	...	Masaggi's Aide #1
Michael Yama	...	Masaggi's Aide #2
Judith Baldwin	...	Luckup Hostess #1
Jan McGill	...	Luckup Hostess #2
Frank Lugo	...	Station Wagon Driver
Loyda Ramos	...	Chicano Woman
Wendy Solomon	...	Freddie's Wife
John Stinson	...	Helicopter Reporter
Janet Louise Smith	...	Woman in Commercial
Jesus Carmona	...	Accordionist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Angel	...	Announcer (uncredited)
Robert David Hall	...	Ray Penido (uncredited)
Patti Negri	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
William Friedkin

Writing credits
Robert Towne		uncredited &
Robert Garland		uncredited
Paul Brickman		writer
Bernard Edelman		book

Produced by
Jon Avnet	....	executive producer
Paul Brickman	....	executive producer
David Salven	....	associate producer
Steve Tisch	....	executive producer
Bud Yorkin	....	producer

Original Music by
Arthur B. Rubinstein

Cinematography by
Richard H. Kline

Film Editing by
Jere Huggins
Ned Humphreys
Bud S. Smith

Casting by
Nancy Klopper

Production Design by
Bill Malley

Set Decoration by
Richard C. Goddard

Costume Design by
Rita Riggs

Makeup Department
Frank Griffin	....	makeup artist
Kaye Pownall	....	hair stylist
Brad Wilder	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
David Salven	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Terence A. Donnelly	....	first assistant director
James M. Freitag	....	second assistant director
Bruce Logan	....	second unit director in charge of optical effects

Art Department
John Alvin	....	poster artist
Barry Bedig	....	property master
Stan Cockerell	....	assistant property master
Peter Van Zyl	....	greensman

Sound Department
Willie D. Burton	....	production sound mixer
Don Digirolamo	....	sound re-recording mixer
Stephen Hunter Flick	....	supervising sound effects editor
Robert Glass	....	sound re-recording mixer
Warren Hamilton Jr.	....	sound effects editor
J. Paul Huntsman	....	supervising dialogue editor
Chris Jenkins	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Christopher Jenkins)
Robert Knudson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Marvin E. Lewis	....	boom operator
Mark A. Mangini	....	sound effects editor
Andrew Patterson	....	dialogue editor
Christopher Flick	....	apprentice sound editor (uncredited)
John Roesch	....	foley artist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Joe Day	....	special effects
Mike Edmonson	....	special effects foreman
Scott Forbes	....	special effects technician
Chuck Gaspar	....	special effects
Doug Hubbard	....	special effects
Jeff Jarvis	....	special effects supervisor
Richard Stutsman	....	special effects technician
Diana Allen Williams	....	miniature model maker

Visual Effects by
William L. Arance	....	airbrush artist
Rocco Gioffre	....	matte artist
Michael Kelly	....	visual effects editor
Tom Pahk	....	model maker
David B. Sharp	....	model maker
Keith Shartle	....	production coordinator: DQI
Scott Squires	....	motion control supervisor
Robert C. Thomas	....	motion control gaffer
Hoyt Yeatman	....	motion control supervisor
Eric Guaglione	....	motion control miniature effects: optical camera assistant: DQI (uncredited)
David Merritt	....	model maker: Coast Special Effects (uncredited)

Stunts
John Ashby	....	stunts
Bruce Paul Barbour	....	stunt performer
John Escobar	....	stunts
Tony Kahana	....	stunts
Rick Sawaya	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Albert Bettcher	....	camera operator
Alan R. Disler	....	first assistant camera "a" camera
Kevin Jewison	....	second assistant camera
Jud Kehl	....	assistant camera
Dan Lerner	....	panaglide operator

Animation Department
Kerry Colonna	....	animation effects supervisor

Editorial Department
Donah Bassett	....	negative cutter
Aubrey Head	....	color timer
Bud S. Smith	....	supervising editor

Music Department
Mark Hoder	....	orchestrator
Abby Treloggen	....	music editor

Other crew
Allen Blaisdell	....	front projection operator
William Bowling	....	location manager
Betty A. Griffin	....	script supervisor
William Hogue	....	transportation captian
Ann Luly	....	misc crew
David Salven Jr.	....	location manager
Charles A. Tamburro	....	aerial coordinator / helicopter pilot
Rick Whitfield	....	video coordinator

Production Companies

• Warner Bros
• Dream Quest Images

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1983) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (1986) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1988) (USA) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (video)

Special Effects

• Available Light Productions
• Dream Quest Images

Also Known As:

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:PG | West Germany:16 | Iceland:L | UK:15 | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | Sweden:15 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Santa Barbara, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros

Trivia:

Cameo: [Wallace Shawn]As Harold DeVoto.

Goofs:

Continuity: The Cordosa guard falling into the lake (trying to retrieve the golf ball) appears out of sequence. Previously the guard has been seen retrieving the golf ball and throwing it back into play. A following scene shows the guard stepping/falling into the lake.

Quotes:

General Huddleston:[watching the Peacemaker malfunction] This is a great day for the Air Force, Senator.
Sen. Bryce:Why is that, General?
General Huddleston:Because the Navy ordered twenty of those disasters.
Navy Officers:Son of a bitch!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "At the Movies: The Stinkers of 1983" (1984)

Soundtrack:

Someone To Watch Over Me

You got me sold!

Eddie Muntz is a pervasive black market arms dealer who after a missed sale, meets a fellow salesman Harold in the same field for the US Luckup Corporation while in South America. After he commits suicide with the stress of waiting by the phone for the government dictator to ring him back to complete the deal. Eddie answers and takes over the deal which involves a new high-tech, non-pilot plane known as the Peacemaker. Soon enough everybody wants to get on this multi-million dollar deal. Eddie's work pal Ray has found god, and he's doing his best trying to keep him on the job and Harold's icy widow Catherine wants her share of the prize.

William Friedkin's "Deal Of the Century" is somewhere in between a black comedy and frank pot-shot on the international arms trade. It never distinguishes itself either way, but I think that's the point. Especially how nervously bizarre this turns out to be. I certainly enjoyed this misunderstood satirical item on an interestingly flavorers topic and the sardonically dark humour was neat treat to the senses. Those looking for a laugh-out-loud affair will only get humour that's rather broadly downbeat in tone, despite how over-blown they turn out to be. While, it didn't constantly make me laugh, it got some grimaces out of me. It can feel like a Chevy Chase vehicle most of the time, as the rest of the cast do pale in comparison. That's not their fault, because their characters don't have the material to lift them out of Chase's shadow. Chase is one of my favourite iconic 80's comedians and he immediately fits the role with his causally dry and quick-witted personality. Sigourney Weaver is there to look good in her steely firebrand performance and Gregory Hines doesn't look too interested throughout. There's a short comic performance by Wallace Shawn too.

The freshly ammo-packed story by Paul Bickerman is complicatedly knotty and obvious with its attacks. Creeping in were oddball situations and a surrealistic air on the worrying subject at hand. The snappy script works up a creative novelty, smearing it with sneering gags, spicy irony and that of Chase's slyly gruff voice-over narration to string scenes together. Super weapons to ensure peace, nicely put. As for William Friedkin's direction, well at first I didn't even know that this was on his resume. His style is extremely random and kinetic in just what's going to happen, but this unfocused mark goes on to morph its way into the premise. The interestingly high octane climax springs to mind. The production does look cheap, but the sweeping musical score creates the right vibe and there's strikingly framed camera-work. Explosions make there way in and the effects for the plane look rather hokey when its up in the air, but decent enough when on the ground.

While, I don't see too much love for this offering. It isn't significantly great and it can be clumsy, but I don't see it as a piece of absurd garbage that it's made out to be. Simply a delightful, if farcical romp that kept me highly entertained.