3.6/10
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Best Defense (1984)

R | | Comedy , War | 20 July 1984 (USA)
Best Defense Poster
A military weapons engineer struggles to do his job responsibly, while a hapless tank commander has to live with the consequences in combat years later.

Director:

Willard Huyck

Writers:

Robert Grossbach (novel), Gloria Katz | 1 more credit »

Stars:

Dudley Moore, Eddie Murphy, Kate Capshaw | See full cast & crew »
Reviews

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From $2.99 (SD) on Prime Video

ON DISC
1 nomination. See more awards »

Photos

See all 25 photos »
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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 John A. Zee ... Col. McGuinn
Matthew Laurance ... Ali, Landry's Tank Crew
Christopher Maher Christopher Maher ... Sayyid, Landry's Tank Crew
See full cast »
Edit

Storyline

Wylie is a lazy engineer. Landry is a Sergeant specialising in Armour. They have never met but their lives become entangled when Landry must take the tank Wylie designed into combat. Wylie is waiting for his employer to go out of business when he meets another engineer who gives him a disk with the plans for a system that will save his employer. The other engineer is dead moments later leaving Wylie with the disk and credit for the design. Suddenly Wylie is no longer a hack, but the saviour of his company and finds his life is no longer the same. Written by John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

lingerie | woman on top | engineer | tank | military | See All (74) »

Taglines:

Unfortunately, they're both on our side. See more »

Genres:

Comedy | War

Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 July 1984 (USA) See more »

Also Known As:

Best Defence See more »

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA See more »
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Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,872,297, 22 July 1984, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$19,265,302
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinema Group Ventures,Paramount Pictures See more »
Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See full technical specs »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie portrays an invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. Little did the makers know this would actually happen six years later on August 2, 1990. See more »

Quotes

Chief Padilla, Guatemala: Boom. Dead. Communista.
See more »

Alternate Versions

ABC edited just 35 seconds from this film for its 1987 network television premiere. See more »

Connections

Referenced in Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987) See more »

Soundtracks

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Written by Willie Nelson
See more »

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User Reviews

 
Completely Defenseless.
8 June 2003 | by phillafella – See all my reviews

BEST DEFENSE is a desperately unfunny comedy starring Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy. Moore is an enigineer who is designing a new tank. Murphy is an Army soldier who takes the tank into combat in Kuwait. Dreary acting is not the only bad thing that comes out of this sorry turkey. After a failed test run, the filmmakers thought they could save grace by adding Murphy to the cast, but that only made things worse with plot holes and a nonsense story, resulting in one of the biggest mistakes ever.

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