3.6/10
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33 user 6 critic

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:

Writers:

(novel), | 1 more credit »

Stars:

, , | See full cast & crew »
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1 nomination. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
... Wylie Cooper
... Lieutenant T.M. Landry
... Laura Cooper
... Steve Loparino
... Clair Lewis
... Harvey Brank
... Frank Joyner
... Frank Holtzman
... Jeff the 'KBG' Agent
Paul Comi ... Chief Agent
Darryl Henriques ... Col. Zayas, San Salvador
... First Agent
John A. Zee ... Col. McGuinn
... Ali, Landry's Tank Crew
Christopher Maher ... Sayyid, Landry's Tank Crew
See full cast »
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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:

 »
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Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

20 July 1984 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Best Defence  »

Filming Locations:

 »
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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:

,  »
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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

When Dudley Moore and David Rasche characters go to the Japanese restaurant, the singer is performing "Close to You" in Japanese. See more »

Quotes

Wylie Cooper: Fat girls tend to come a lot.
See more »

Connections

References Gone with the Wind (1939) See more »

Soundtracks

MOON RIVER
Written by Johnny Mercer & Henry Mancini
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User Reviews

 
Ahead Of It's Time
11 January 2014 | by – See all my reviews

I'll go against the crowd and point out that this much-reviled movie actually was quite prescient in premise. It anticipated a lot of History... and a lot of Human Error.

Mayhap it was too 'out there' for audiences in 1984,...and mayhap it has become an easy target for arm chair critics to despise out-of-hand without due consideration....

But after Afghanistan and Iraq... After the highly-publicized and critical defense industry design errors such as the Osprey and basics such as protective armor in Hummvees and personal protective gear for troops on the ground.... After the loss of life due to a 'so-what-if-it-works-take-the -$$$-and- we'll-fix -it-later-if-we-have to' attitude prevalent in the defense manufacturing industry....

Can anyone really throw rocks at the plot line of 'Best Defense'...?

Sure, it could have been executed better... Sure, Dudley Moore was still under the character-success-type-casting curse of '10'; having to be a perpetually the befuddled Randy-But-Inept Nice Guy in his every movie role....

Sure Eddie Murphy was ...well...stuck being 'Eddie Murphy'... (but you really can't take that away from him, y'know !)

I still maintain that in the cold, hard light of 2014... 'Best Defense' makes A Lot Of Sense....(sadly, so..SO... sorry to say)
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