Doomsday Gun (1994)

When a brilliant munitions engineer contracts to build a super-gun for Saddam Hussein in 1988, he attracts the attention of several intelligence agencies.

Director:

Robert Young

Writers:

Walter Bernstein, Lionel Chetwynd

Stars:

Frank Langella, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Langella	...	Dr. Gerald Bull
Alan Arkin	...	Col. Yossi
Kevin Spacey	...	Jim Price
Michael Kitchen	...	Chris Cowley
Francesca Annis	...	Sophie
Aharon Ipalé	...	Maurouf
Zia Mohyeddin	...	Hashim
Tony Goldwyn	...	Donald Duvall
James Fox	...	Sir James Whittington
Rupert Graves	...	Jones
Clive Owen	...	Dov
Murray Melvin	...	Shop Manager
Marianne Denicourt	...	Monique
Alexandra Vandernoot	...	Marie
Roger Hammond	...	Mackler

Storyline

Dr Gerald Bull was a genius at designing and building superguns. (Very large long range guns capable of shooting more than 100 Miles.) When a plan by the CIA to export restricted material using him was exposed, the CIA denied all knowledge and he went to jail. He was later released to help Saddam Hussein build a new supergun capable of firing over 500 miles. Israel, upon learning of the supergun, fears it would be used against themselves.

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Plot Keywords:

supergun | cia | saddam hussein | engineer | gun | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 July 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

A szuperágyú

Filming Locations:

Belgium

Company Credits

Production Co:

Griffin Productions, HBO Showcase

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 141 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film cast includes two Oscar winners: Alan Arkin and Kevin Spacey and two Oscar nominees: Clive Owen' and Frank Langella.

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Goofs

Near the end of the film, when Monique hands Gerry his loaf of bread, the reflection of two crew members can be seen in the car window.

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Quotes

Jim Price: What do you want me to say, Gerry? You were fucked! Up, down, and sideways!

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Connections

References Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

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Soundtracks

Full Tilt
(uncredited)
Music by Andy Clark
KPM Music Ltd

User Reviews

Flawed criticism

One reviewer claimed that the idea of a Supergun was impractical due to the huge flame that could easily be observed from satellites, and that such a gun would take days to clean out and reload.

This is not correct.

A supergun can work, and is no more impractical than a fixed airbase or missile launch site.

The German superguns did work, and many rounds were fired both in testing and operationally - at Luxembourg.

Iran would have had difficulty destroying a firing site. Its ground attack capability was not good, and the gun itself would be a small target. Flames could not be seen from space, even if Iran did have a satellite over Iraq at the time of firing.

It would also have been an ideal weapon with which to launch projectiles against the state of Israel.