Best Defense (1984)

Director:

Willard Huyck

Writers:

Robert Grossbach (novel)
Gloria Katz (writer) ...

Release Date:

20 July 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Tagline:

Unfortunately, they're both on our side.

Plot:

Wylie is a lazy engineer. Landry is a Sergeant specialising in Armour. They have never met but their...

Plot Keywords:

Engineer | Tank | Marriage | Industrial Espionage | Helicopter

Cast

Dudley Moore	...	Wylie Cooper
Eddie Murphy	...	Lieutenant T.M. Landry
Kate Capshaw	...	Laura Cooper
George Dzundza	...	Steve Loparino
Helen Shaver	...	Clair Lewis
Mark Arnott	...	Harvey Brank
Peter Michael Goetz	...	Frank Joyner
Tom Noonan	...	Frank Holtzman
David Rasche	...	Jeff the 'KBG' Agent
Paul Comi	...	Chief Agent
Darryl Henriques	...	Col. Zayas, San Salvador
Joel Polis	...	First Agent
John A. Zee	...	Col. McGuinn
Matthew Laurance	...	Ali, Landry's Tank Crew
Christopher Maher	...	Sayyid, Landry's Tank Crew

Also Known As:

Best Defence (UK) (poster title)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | UK:15 (DVD rating) | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-12 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:12 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cinema Group Ventures

Trivia:

Eddie Murphy was credited as "Strategic Guest Star".

Quotes:

Chief Padilla, Guatemala: Boom. Dead. Communista.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Eddie Murphy Raw (1987)

Soundtrack:

A FUTURE IN ELEVATORS

what a sorry strip of celluloid

Thus movie is sorry in the broadest sense of the word. Paramount wished it wasn't there. Dudley Moore wished he was funny. Eddie Murphy wished he hadn't cried 'I love Iraq! I'm not in this war! I'm from Cleveland!'. The BBC wished it didn't broadcast the pile of trash. Kate Capshaw (Steven Spielberg's wife) wished she wasn't in it (humming the Indiana Jones theme so she must be longing for the Temple of Doom (1984) or something). US government wishes it wasn't involved in Arabia and that Eddie Murphy didn't drive around in a tank in Kuwait. As a gyroscope the movie keeps up its own pity and regret. The story destructs itself. The worst element of the movie is the score: it absolutely keeps on dragging low to the ground and pulls every potential idea of any other collaborator of this sorry project back into oblivion. Not strong, not viril and certainly not penetrating. You wouldn't believe there's actually a novel of this material.

A positive thing about the story is that the footage of the DIP-engineering process is alternated with footage from the present (two years later) with Eddie Murphy in a tank cruising Kuwait and Iraqi soil, approaching a climax. Bye bye belly button. Maybe Troma could distribute this more effectively. The only real comedy in this movie comes from the David Rasche. RIP rather than DIP: 2/10