The Ambassador (1984)

An Amerian ambassador to Israel tries to bring peace to the Middle East, but his efforts are hampered when his wife has an affair with a PLO leader.

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

Ronald M. Cohen, Max Jack,

Stars:

Robert Mitchum, Ellen Burstyn, Rock Hudson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Mitchum	...	Peter Hacker
Ellen Burstyn	...	Alex Hacker
Rock Hudson	...	Frank Stevenson
Fabio Testi	...	Mustapha Hashimi
Donald Pleasence	...	Minister Eretz
Chelli Goldenberg	...	Rachel (as Heli Goldenberg)
Michal Bat-Adam	...	Tova
Ori Levy	...	Abe
Uri Gavriel	...	Assad
Zachi Noy	...	Ze'ev
Joseph Shiloach	...	Shimon
Shmulik Kraus	...	Stone
Yossi Virginsky	...	Asher
Yftach Katzur	...	Lenny
Shai Schwartz	...	Gadi

Storyline

Robert Mitchum plays a controversial U.S. ambassador to Israel who tries to solve the Palestinian question while being criticized by all factions, which takes a turn when his wife begins having an affair with a PLO chief. Rock Hudson (in his last theatrical movie role) plays Mitchum's chief security officer who saves his life in an assassination attempt and tries to help him resolve the conflicts around them.

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Plot Keywords:

israel | plo | ambassador | palestinian | middle east | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 January 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Peacemaker

Filming Locations:

Jerusalem, Israel

Company Credits

Production Co:

Northbrook Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (TVC)

Did You Know?

Trivia

The meaning and relevance of this film's 'The Ambassador' title is that it refers to the name of the central character, U.S. Ambassador Peter Hacker (played by Robert Mitchum), who is an American ambassador to Israel.

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Connections

Version of 52 Pick-Up (1986)

User Reviews

Robert Mitchum tries to get the peace ball rolling between Israeli and Palestinian youths

"The Ambassador" has Robert Mitchum playing the title role, Rock Hudson his security officer, and Ellen Burstyn his wife, who has been having an affair with Fabio Testi, a PLO man. Donald Pleasance is an Israeli minister. The real bad guys are Arab extremists and also a Bulgarian operative of the Russians.

The Mossad films Burstyn and Testi. A print is secretly made by the Bulgarian-led operatives, leading to blackmail demands. Mitchum handles this with superb maturity and diplomatic bearing. He and Burstyn act really grown up about it all, since their marriage has had many rocky spots.

Hudson comes across quite well as the man protecting his boss, who insists on taking chances to bring peace amid the deep conflicts.

Most of the movie is sound and suspenseful fiction, but where it goes overboard is in the excessive violence perpetrated by the shadowy extremists and also in a syrupy resolution. Another big minus is the kind of behavior that the plot has the ambassador executing. It's not just fiction but unreal fiction.

The movie doesn't deeply explore the political forces that have prevented peace for the almost 30 years that have passed since it was made. The picture can't be taken seriously on that score. One wonders what the picture is really about other than some sort of entertainment using a real world context that audiences will be curious about.